Buying property without work
 

Hi. I'm new to site and have found loads of valuable info but I need to know what the deal is if I want to buy a property outright but have no work before I buy.

Can I do this and if yes, would this help with my application for residency.

We want to do the same thing, buy outright and then find work but we don´t know who to ask neither.

My understanding is that if you can put down 25% or more then it shouldn't be a problem. Someoneposted somewhere that if you can keep a years mortgage payments in the bank to cover it. Banks here seem less flexible than in Britain so use a mortgage broker.

It won't help your application to already have a house AFAIK but if you want somewhere to move to then its probably a good idea. I understand that there are no restrictions for non residents to purchase a house but you will have problems getting a mortgage.

I found this site www.canadamortgage.com useful to ask such questions and the response if fairly rapid.

Try also www.mortgagesincanada.com and www.chc-schl.gc.ca
might be helpful.

Thanks Smokey. Thought it would make more sense to buy somewhere if possible as we are initially planning to move for one year and see how it goes.

Seems a waste to throw money away on renting. I'll check out those websites ;)

Forgot to ask a dumb question, what does AFAIK mean?

have a look at www.mls.ca and it'll give you an idea of property prices in your chosen area - it's quite an eye-opener!

As far as I know

I've had a look at this site already and have had a realtor get involved already. Is it a good idea to get them involved? He says he can get us a mortgage but I think he is assuming we will be working

I'd say be careful as realtors are different creatures from estate agents. I won't repeat what mine tells me about our local ones but its not complimentary. Mine will tell me about the good and 'bad' areas and why they are so. He has a mixed reception here because he's so honest and calls a spade a spade. He's one that I trust and is being very helpful. For example he sent a large package from here when we emailed him when all the 6 others didn;t bother to reply.
Its not like the UK so do some investigating before you make a commitment. The local Real Estate Board might be able to help a bit. So too should google groups.

I would also ask if he is on any financial incentive re mortgages. A mortgage broker may get you a better deal BUT as you don't have a SIN number yet, you'd better ask if you can indeed even apply for a mortgage.
I'll be interested to know what happens as it unfolds.

Hi Smokey

The company I've been dealing with are called Royal LePage and they advertise themselves as estate agents but if you know different it would be good to know.

If they are realtors do you know any good estate agents in the Toronto or GTA area as we're going over there in 4 weeks and intended on meeting up with one of the Royal LePage agents to get a feel for the different areas in Ontario, house types and prices.

Re mortgage without a SIN - I did get an email from a mortgage broker whom the agent had contacted him but I told the broker I didn't have a SIN or a job yet and I've heard nada back yet from either of them. Will keep you posted.

Hi there,
RPL are a large company but as to their reputation I wouldn't be able to say. It seems down to each individual realtor and the majority of them are self employed so watch it! If you look at www.mls.ca somewhere at the bottom of the screen theres an icon for all the real estate boards in Canada. Each realtor must be registered witgh them which includes taking exams and ongoing training. It includes financing and mortgages together with contracts and valuing property - they all do it just about the same way!. When we hit Calgary, three people personally recommended their realtors as ..good at this, or good at that. I've read in many different places this is the way to go but I guess its a personal thing.
I did check with mine for you that as far as he knows too you won;t be able to get a mortgage without the magical SIN - all to do with tax reporting etc.
I don't know much about T.O. though I did visit for a week. Told to aviod Hamilton like the plague as instances of cancers are the highest in Toronto. She lives in Scarborough which we did like and visited Oshawa which we didn't (but loved gthe double decker trains!). Best I can say is do your homework. Some realtor sites give you things like crime rates or area information and I did a lot of researching via www.sympatico.ca and toronto.com

So where are you thinking of???

Pat.

I would recommend Ruth Smith from Remax. Very helpful and knowledgable. Her email is [email protected]

Mel

Buying property without work
 

Thanks for tip Mel. I'll check her out.

Pat

Was recommended either Oakville or Burlington as you seem to get more for your money and they are nicer places to live......apparently.

We'd like to buy instead of renting for obvious reasons but even renting has it's drawback as most rentals are for a min 1 yr with references.

I'm an optimist but after reading what I have on this forum it seems to be difficult to either get PR or there is a load of red tape attached if you genuinely want to visit Canada for a year and can support yourself without working What do you think? Is it easy to feel discouraged or should I just be the eternal optimist and hope things are different for us? Who knows.......

Ah well.....back to the keyboard....my phone company are well pleased with me this month. Cheers mate.

Have one for me :beer:

Jackie

Buying a house
 

Hi there,

Just one thing, be careful if you ever want to sell your home and buy another in Canada. Real Estate fees are 6% which we thought quite high. We bought a place in Stratford, Ontario, initially but after a few months of living there, we decided to move on to somewhere more scenic. When we came to sell, we couldn't believe the fees we had to pay, so be warned! However, if you are only intending to stay for a year, I guess this wouldn't affect you.

Best of luck in your house purchase!

Sheryl

Re: Buying a house
 

Hi Sheryl,
Do you mean that the buyer A's realtor charges their client 6% even though there is no property to sell and the seller B's charges their client the same???

Certainly in Hicksville here my realtor won't charge me for purchasing a property but the 6% is split between both realtors. No wonder there are so many realtors in Ontario.!!!!

Pat

Re: Buying a house
 

You pay the fees as the seller. When you buy your relator is the buyer's agent and gets his/her commission from the fees paid by the seller.

It can be darn fast here! From seeing the house to moving in took us 5 weeks :( and it could have been quicker - but we needed to give a months notice to the landlady!

Good Luck

Clare

Re: Buying property without work
 

Jackie,

I'm not sure if they will let you stay for a period of a year...think its six or nine months without a visa at all then I think you might need a visitor visa. It took in all about two years to get in on PR and most of that was waiting for our interview which they have mostly abolished so I don;t know how long it now takes. Have a look at www.cic.gc.ca it'll give you all the rules and regs.
Before we got the call up, we were on the verge of going to New Zealand. As we didn't qualify, we were going as students so it makes sense to check out ALL the categories...just in case! Maybe time to consider a new career??


Theres also several yahoo groups and joining one called britaintocanadaimmigration might be helpful too.

Just a last point though. Yes, it did take us a long time to get here and to be fair we wern';t going to come at first but I'm glad we did and in the permanent way too. It means WE can choose where we live not some bureaucrate or silly laws. Its worth perservering - there's a lot of opportunity that there isn;t in Britain...go back????...you'd have to be kiddin, matey!!!

Pat...off to the sun in our 30ish degrees without having to go to Spain!


:D :D :D :D :D

Re: Buying a house
 

Thanks Clare, thought I'd lost the plot a bit!!

Pat

Re: Buying a house
 

Whoops, made a bit of a boo boo there! Yes, you're right. When we sold our house, we had to pay 6% to the realtor but did not have to pay anything to the realtor for buying another place.

However, another point I should make is this. We were told that if we didn't have any real status here when we sold, there would be a non-resident's tax applicable of around 25% of the total price. Yikes! As I am a Canadian citizen, I was okay, but we had to prove that my other half was applying for his permanent residence status and provide a tax return as evidence of his intention to stay.

So if somebody were just to stay for a year and not get any status, they would possibly have to pay this extortionate tax when it came to selling their home and moving back to the UK.

Hope this makes sense. Sorry about any confusion... Sheryl

Re: Buying a house
 

That's an interesting point that I didn't know and perhaps anyone who's thinking of coming here should check out the taxation in Canada. Personally I'm on a steep learning curve with this one and am getting more and more horrified as I learn more. Talk about not having your eyes wide open! Itsa a scary concept as the onus is on you to get your tax return done (and get it right) . Definately not like Britain!

Pat.



:scared: :scared: :scared:

I got here 6 weeks ago and bough a house inthe first fortnight. I opened a bank account with HSBC and the gave me mortgage staright away without either myself or my wife working. They took a 35% deposit and held a years payments to one side. As soon as we have employment they will release those funds back into our account. The hunt for employment still goes on...:confused:

Bought my first home in Alberta last week...:beer:

Without credit rating (As I am new to Canada), I was forced to put up a 35% down payment even though I have a job and monthly upkeep of my mortgage is well below 33% (the magical figure) of my monthly salary.

Dont have to pay my realtor for buying. It's the seller's responsibility of paying the commision and it's around 7%.


As far as my understanding about tax.

You have to pay local city tax yearly based on their accessment. A good guess will be 1.5-2% of the property value you pay for. This is the "school tax, road maintenance tax etc for the area"

If you are not resident of Canada, you will be liable to "property gain tax". The amount of up to 25% you GAINED from selling the property will be taxable. NOT the principle amount you pay for the property.

If you are buying a NEW house, you have to pay the GST+PST(if applicable)

Re: Buying a house
 

We had the reverse scare when we moved back to the UK. We couldn't believe that the people trusted the government to "do" their taxes. Every year we have cringed at not be able to control our own taxes!!!!

:scared: :scared: :scared: :(

we always contact the tax office that deals with my husbands taxes and verify the correct amount was paid, you nearly always find you overpay and they will go back 5 years, we always get a tax rebate from them every year but the tax office will not tell you that you are owed money from them unless you ask.

Hi Hovis

Sorry not been on-line for a while but what you've said sounds really encouraging. Can I ask which area you live in?

Fortunately we are likely to have quite a bit of equity from our house in the UK so was thinking of buying a house outright but it's good to know that you can get a mortgage by paying 35% deposit even when you have no job and you never know we might need the spare equity if work is hard to come by.

Did you go to Canada through PR or just visiting?

Good luck with the job-hunting


:cool:

Thanks to every1 who has posted a reply to this query. Hope it helps others....certainly has helped us a lot.

Cheers

:beer:

A quick question - has anyone been able to obtain a mortgage with only 5% to 10% deposit or is 25-35% the norm? I'm thinking more of waiting a couple of years before buying so should both be working by then and would have about 5% saved up roughly. I thought this was OK but I'm beginning to wonder now!!