Picture this: you move into your dream home, only to discover that the local school for your child or children is shockingly terrible. You start to seriously regret not researching a little before making such a major investment.
There can be no doubt that finding the right catchment area for your children is one of the most high-ranking decisions when it comes to buying a new home for your family. So knowing just where to find these facts and figures about the area are absolutely key to finding the right one.
Our new free book called Show and Tell: Unlocking The Secrets of New Home Buying reveals the key websites to turn to for the best schools – and a host of other information to look at before you pick an area in which to live.
Once you’ve seen the statistics in cyber space, don’t forget that there is nothing like a physical meeting. Arrange to visit the school, see the principal and get a feel for whether it is the right fit for your family.
Doing this research now will save a lot of headaches later.
Unless you’re a skilled tradesman or construction manager, there are certain structural details within a new home that you simply won’t know how to spot on the surface.
But there have been some key advances in construction in recent years, so it’s worth finding out whether your home has been built using them. We turned to Intracorp’s site superintendent, Jeff Saunders, for help.
Ask: Is the building sealed?
Look at the building envelope – the roof, walls, windows, etc. Rainscreen technology allows any water that enters the area between the building paper and the exterior siding to exit and dry before it can enter the building itself.
Check out what’s happening with rainwater. Is rainwater collected rather than being fed back into the storm system? More and more developments are taking water off the roof via downspouts, which is then entered into buried perforated pipes that seep the water back into the ground.
Look for: Good Workmanship
The attitude of the construction crew as well as the cleanliness and tidiness of the construction site is a good indication of a professional team.
Look at the visible aspects of the work. Is the drywall smooth? Is the caulking between surfaces clean and even? Do the baseboards come together perfectly in every corner of every room? You’ll be able to tell fairly quickly if these jobs have been slapped together.
Is their proper landscaping with a green belt and visitors’ parking? Landscaping may feel like eye candy, but it’s very important.
Look at the density or general crowdedness of the project. Good construction should never make you feel cramped.
Ever wish there was a list of all of the little extra costs associated with buying a new home? Look no further – we’ve included one below.
Mortgage loan insurance premium
Appraisal fee
Deposit
Down payment
Estoppel certificate fee (does not apply in Quebec – condominium or strata purchase only)
Home inspection fee
Land registration fees (sometimes called a property transfer tax, deed registration fee, tariff or property purchases tax)
Prepaid property taxes and/or utility bills
Condo/strata fees
Property insurance
Cost of survey or certificate of location
Legal fees and disbursements
Title insurance
New Home Warranty Program fee
Home and property insurance
Life insurance premium on outstanding mortgage
Moving expenses
Furnishings
Buying a home is one of biggest purchases you’ll make in your lifetime. Needless to say, remembering all of the little details that go into that purchase can be overwhelming. So we thought we’d create a compact guide that gave potential homebuyers the inside scoop. We hope you found the above list helpful. For more tips like this, register online to receive you free copy of our new book for new home buyers called Show & Tell: Unlocking the Secrets of New Home Buying.
If you’re looking for a new home or are thinking about selling yours, we’ve recently published a new book called “Show & Tell: Unlocking the Secrets of New Home Buying” filled with insider tips and useful information. The following is a short excerpt from the book:
The way we live has changed greatly since our grandparents’ – and even our parents’ – generation. For an explanation of the modern landscape, we spoke with one of Vancouver’s foremost architects James Cheng, who apprenticed with the late Arthur Erickson. Since setting up his own practice in 1978, Cheng has become known worldwide for his large-scale condominium towers.
To understand great architecture, Cheng points out, it’s important to remember that you don’t need to be an expert. Follow your heart, he says, and you’ll know you’re in a unique city – whether it’s London, New York or Vancouver. ”When we design, we have to understand why people choose to live here. There’s a certain feeling here,” he says, pointing out that the city is designed to be walked around. Its design allows most homes to enjoy a view of the natural landscape: the water, the mountains.
“People like the view, so they like windows,” he explains. ”At the same time, they want natural light to come in, even on a grey day.” Vancouver is often dubbed the City of Glass because of its mostly glass-covered condo skyline.
If you’re in an urban setting and your home is smaller than the traditional home, he adds, having an abundance of glass works well. ”It makes everything feel more open,” he says, “and the connection to the exterior via a balcony is the same thing. You can expand your space, borrow from the outside in.”
To read the full interview with James Cheng, register now to receive your free copy of Show & Tell.
It’s easy to be blinded by myriad mortgage terms – and find yourself utterly confused when deciding which product has your name on it.
In actual fact, however, in simplistic terms it all boils down to knowing yourself. Be really truthful (this is about you and you alone) when you are thinking about what suits you and your lifestyle. Then ask the question: are you a risk taker who easily copes with possible change each month, or do you want to know precisely what will happen?
As mortgage specialist Jason Chiang of TD Canada Trust explains in a our new free book called Show and Tell: New Home Buying Secrets (register here for your free copy), this is the starting point in working out whether a fixed or a variable rate mortgage works for you. “Mortgages,” Chiang emphasizes, “are really dependent on each individual situation.”
A fixed rate is for a set period – three or five years, perhaps – and affords the security of knowing what your payments will be – no matter how the bank rate fluctuates. “With a fixed term product you never have to worry during that term about interest rates moving, so your payments are set,” he says.
A variable rate brings more risk: your usually lower payments will be affected by any change in overall interest rates. Bank rates are based on the Federal interest rate and look out for press reports of expected shifts: is there an expectation that the rate may change significantly over the next year or two? If it does go up, will you still be able to make your payments?
Just remember, whichever you decide, it’s all about you.
If you’ve relied on the odd story in the media on people who pre-bought a home then found the development folded before they even moved in, it may well feel like a scary time for a potential real-estate purchase.
However, knowing all the risks – and, more notably, knowing how to avoid them – is key to making a sound home-buying decision, according to the experts in a new free book from Intracorp called Show and Tell: New Home Buying Secrets.
Ask the right questions before, and immediately after, signing a contract. First, research the developer, says Glenn Leung, a partner at the Vancouver law firm McCarthy Tétrault LLP. What are their prior projects, what is their reputation, what kind of developments have they built before?
In addition, says Don Forsgren, Intracorp’s president, try to find out if they are well established with a good track record over many years. “And will they stand behind their product?”
Then, when the contract is signed, it’s important to know you have a rescission period of seven days during which time you can either go forward with the deal or call it off. At this point, Leung adds, it is always worth taking the contract, as well as the disclosure statement (where the developer tells you everything about the development), to a lawyer to check it over. “Make sure that everything makes sense, because sometimes you just need to clarify things,” Leung concludes. “Good developers should be able to answer all your questions,” Forsgren adds.
Ask the right questions, and it looks like your informed decision will let you rest easy with your new home purchase.
Go on, admit it: We all like to pretend we never really watch TV. We’re too busy socializing at the latest high-octane hangout even on school nights, we cry, or too busy reading Malcolm Gladwell’s latest tome to switch on the boobtube.
But deny it all we like, we all love our TVs. We’re addicted to 24, Mad Men, Heroes – and Nancy Bendtsen, Vancouver’s arbiter of great taste and co-owner of Inform Interiors in Gastown, says it’s time we were all brutally honest about our habits.
“People used to say: ‘I never watch TV, I don’t want a TV in my living room,’” she says, “but, in fact most of us do watch TV.” Think of it as her liberating your TV – so often plonked in the worst places in a home, hidden away so that visitors don’t think that’s what we spend a chunk of our downtime doing.
“You spend all of your time in the horrid little room and no time in the living room,” she reveals in a new video and free book from Intracorp, Show and Tell: New Home Buying Secrets (which also features a plethora of insider tips). You can register to get a hard copy of the book or download a PDF here. Be upfront: Put your TV in your nicest room and luxuriate in there where you can also engage with other things such as your computer at the same time. Being truthful about our lifestyle leads to happier homes, it appears; leads to more comfortable lives.
Okay, so it might also shake-up some of the furniture on your must-have list when you’re moving into a new home. “If you don’t like to cook and you don’t like to entertain, why bother having a dining room?” Ms. Bendtsen shrugs. “Put your nice comfy stools up against your breakfast bar where you sit having your tea in the morning with your paper or laptop and call it a day.”
It’s time to break the rules. It’s time to take control. “Your home is supposed to be about you and the people in it,” she adds. “The exciting thing is you may come up with things that aren’t normal, but really work for you. And that is very cool.”
