Hi everyone,

We are looking to move to Toronto, there is so much info to take in from this great site....

One quick and hopefully easy question

Could anyone tell me how long it takes to buy a house or condo?

or to put it another way

Once an offer is accepted, how long does all the official paperwork take until its possible to move in?

Thanks

The paperwork, etc., can be handled in as little as a week.

A very important factor is whether or not the sellers are still living in the house. If the sellers are still living in it, they often will insist on a month or six weeks or whatever to find a place themselves and move out. If the house is vacant, you often can negotiate a very quick possession date.
x

We came to Moncton (from Montreal) on a Thursday afternoon to Monday morning trip in April to look at houses on our shortlist. We viewed three on the afternoon, really liking one.

On the Friday we saw a few more in the morning - including our original number one choice that turned out to be really disappointing; showing one needs a proper look.

In viewing another (now two new favourites), I noticed a for sale sign across the road on a place only just listed. We arranged to see that in the afternoon.

It was brilliant and worth paying a little more than the others.

We offered, got the counter proposal and agreed all on the same evening. The inspection was done on the Saturday, leaving the rest of the weekend to explore.

Completion was mid June and was that long only because the seller was a teacher and had to stay to the end of the school year. Having two kids at school ourselves, that suited us too - although we had been prepared to complete earlier for the right home. That was the right home and the delay suited both parties

Except that the £/$ rate had dropped a bit more by then.

We had a mortgage agreed in principal before arriving, and a contract to purchase subject to financing in place. The whole transaction (mortgage paperwork, legal/title paperwork, transfer of funds - deposit and mortgage) got completed in a working day. We spent our first Friday here sat in either the solicitors, bank or land registry offices, then took possession the next day. It was busy and somewhat stressful, but shows what can be done if you're motivated.

In 2004 we decided to buy a house in the Okanagan. We came to Canada for a month to see family and spent two weeks in Kelowna. In the first week we viewed around 20 houses, found the one we wanted and organised the mortgage. In the second week we did contracts ect. It was ours in about a month total.

Helps to be motivated and have mortgage in place. Otherwise I guess it is just down to individual circumstances.

Good luck
L

The speed from offer to transfer can be very quick if needs be, it is totally down to the speed that the two lawyers can work. I have been told of deals done in a day, thats very very unusual but if everything is in place and prepared beforehand then its quite possible.


2 to 4 weeks is very normal, but its up to the Buyer & Seller to agree to a date and then get the lawyers to work to that date.

Thanks for all the answers, it definately seems quite a bit quicker than the UK

I want to know whether anybody know any related websites for job opportunity in Canada in other to facilitate my application

we recently bought a house (well 6 months ago), and it took less than 3 weeks from us looking round the house to us moving in. We were told it could have been done in a week if we wanted.

It is very much quicker and far simpler than in the UK.

What sort of credit history did they require? We have just come from the States, and would not have been able to get a mortgage/buy a house for at least a year - is this not the case in Canada? We are looking to rent on arrival, but if buying is that easy... We'd probably be looking at a 50% or so deposit.

From October 15th a minimum credit score of 620 (fair) is required, this will take 6 - 12 months for a new immigrant to achieve. (To get a credit score you need to get a 3-6 month loan when you arrive, most probably secured with an equal deposit and pay that off, plus a credit card which you will need to use, and pay off regularly.)

That may make a difference, the Banks are far less concerned with a credit history when the deposit is 35% or more. Contact a mortgage broker, they often have more flexible lenders than the Banks.

Our bank wanted a 35% deposit and a letter from our existing bank saying that we'd always paid our mortgage on time. Oh, they also wanted proof of our PR status - it may have been more difficult on a TWP.

Maybe different now given the current financial situation, but when we arrived (3yrs ago) a healthy deposit was all that was required and a letter of reference from Barclays. We were just here as tourists with no proof of job/income, so it was certainly the deposit that was important.