The Real estate business have its own rich history in each country, therefore the today’s habits differ from place to place. This informative guide seeks to give you an idea of the process of buying property in Canada. If you’d like to find out more, please don’t hesitate to visit my Vancouver BC Real estate website.

Finding the right deal

At the beginning the agent explains the way their agency works to you and you are also given the ‘Working with a Real Estate Agent’ brochure, prepared by the BC Real Estate Association, which you have to sign.

Then your agent starts his or her search for suitable houses for you. If you are used to spontaneous showings, forget about them in Vancouver - here 3 people usually attend the showings (of course you as the buyer, the listing agent and your agent as well), which means organizing three schedules of usually very busy people. When your agent is successful in finding you the right property, your agent will provide the document ‘The Contract of Purchase and Sale’, which serves as an offer to the seller. You will not be able to propose the right price to the seller without some background information, so your agent will get them and together you come up with a price offer. Since Vancouver has extremely competitive real estate market, expect multiply offers: you will have to fight if you want to win.

Closing the contract

Once the seller accepts the contract, the deposit has to be wired to him. It’s usually 10% of the final sale price. One must keep in mind that it can take up to 14 days before the money reaches the Canadian bank. You might choose to use some solid third party services (e.g. House Global Foreign Exchange) that would guarantee a timely delivery of the deposit, since that’s part of the contract. When you have approved financing in place, are satisfied with the Home Inspection Report on the property, have read all the documentation on the property and have had all your questions answered then you remove subjects (Amendment to the Contract of Purchase and Sale prepared by the Agent). About the closing date - as a rule it is set two days earlier than the possession date, to which also all adjustments has to be finished.

Legal arrangements

Now it is time for the layers to play their part in preparing the documents, finishing the deal and transferring the title onto you. The federal and provincial taxes must be addressed at this time. You either have to be personally presented to sign the documents in Vancouver, or you can transferred to a law office near them where all the documents can be signed under seal. The funds then will have to be transferred to the Vancouver lawyer’s trust account.