Hi all, merry xmas. Can someone please tell me how the house buying procedure works, specifically the pricing. Is it normal pratice to negotiate over an advertised house price? If a house is advertised at, say $275k CAD, would you expect to knock something off this price, or is the advertised price set instone? Also, what charges are associated with house buying (taxes etc), other than removal costs? I'm looking at the clarington area east of toronto.

Thanks...

Hi we bought a house in Toronto (East) in the summer and paid a bit over the asking price. We made an offer that we thought they wouldn't accept, as there were 12 other offers, and was quite surprised that we got the house. The first house we looked at but didn't bid for went $110,000 over. It really depends on how many others are interested in the house.
The land transfer tax was quite hefty as well.

its like the UK in that you can go in with an offer and much depends on many things - how long its been up for sale, how many other parties are interested, how much the seller needs to move on, if the seller has found somewhere else etc etc
We managed to knock just $9k off our house, but then others were interested and it had only been on the market for a week at the time

If you have a good realtor they should be able to work out how much you can try to knock off or if its a good idea due to the market etc

We have bought 3 house in NS.

The first we got approx 10% off. The 2nd about 10% and the 3rd about 18% off. As Howefamily says it depends on so many things...just like in the UK really.
The nice thing about buying a house here is that the conveyancing is so easy. It's all done within a few days not the huge headache you get in the UK.
BUT remember an offer is binding, subject to conditions. You can't just pull out cos you've changed your mind.

Most Canadian houses for sale are deliberately over priced. The seller will usually room for negotiation downward, so the sale quoted price is not expected to materialize. They may set a "not below" price in their minds.

Important to note that first time buyers in Ontario get a rebate of approximately $2000 on the LTT.

In order to be eligible, you mustn't have owned a property before (anywhere in the world).

Quite.

The whole house buying process appears, on the surface, to be similar to the UK. However, in many sublte ways the OP will not expect it is very differnet. A realtor will help with negotiating the price and writing an offer to purchase, and will also be able to show comparable proprties and give advice on the neighbourhoods. To be honest, the OP would be a bloody fool to try and do it themselves when they are fresh off the boat.

There is some info on closing costs here ... http://britishexpats.com/wiki/House_...g_Costs-Canada

In our case there is a saving in BC to be made on that front also... because only one of us has owned a house (elsewhere in the world) there is a way of legally sharing ownership (someone feel free to proffer the correct legal terminology) 99%-1% in favour on the person that is a first time buyer. This means we get a 99% saving on applicable property transfer tax. The precise legal aspects of this escape me at present as the option was only explained to be briefly (by a lawyer) on our last visit but it seems worth taking up on.

On negotiation.
It depends how long a house has been listed as to what the market might think it's worth. I was advised that property in our area of Vancouver Island has dropped by about 5-7% in the last 12 months.
The house we are buying was listed at 750k, we offered 690k and settled at 720k, so there is room for negotiation. There can also be Realtors fees to pay on your side also.

That would be "tenants in common" whereby you can split the ownership, as opposed to 'joint tenants' whereby it is normally a 50/50 split.

Realtor fees are only payable by the vendor/seller, not the purchaser/buyer.

Joint tenants each own 100% of the whole (i.e, no identifiable share). Only tenants in common have identifiable shares.

Having a trust document that states that one party is entitled to 99% of the equitable interest and the other only entitled to 1% could cause problems at a later date. One needs to determine if the saving obtained is worth such issues arising.

I stand corrected, lol. Yes, you are completely correct - I forgot that it is 100%, sorry.

That would be very unusual.

By way of determining if the savings are worth it.... (we all like savings )
Married couple (10 years) ... same source of funds for the property purchase (joint accounts)... I have owned property before (me) elsewhere in the world, my wife hasn't ever owned property.

I'd be interested as to how could that cause problems later in case we slip up here?

If it's a dodgy idea we won't bother.

Agree.... but it happens. Which is why I wrote.. there can be realtor fees to pay on your side. I was just highlighting to the OP what might happen.

Lets set the cat amongst the pigeons shall we? Contrary to popular practice we have agreed to pay our Realtors fees. OMG!!
The sellers are paying theirs. Our realtor, whom we were in country with a few weeks ago, has been acting on our behalf whilst we are out of the country.. he's helped us negotiate a 30k price reduction on the property by demonstrating to the sellers and their realtor that their price is not in touch with current market prices. We now have an agreed sale and a home to head to when we move. We're happy which is what counts I guess. Anyone want to spoil that warm fuzzy feeling?

Bankruptcy, dying intestate, etc. If you have identifiable shares, that element of the property belongs to you. Joint tenants do not have indentifiable shares so, if one party dies, the equitable interest automatically passes to the other and is not part of the deceased's estate.

It appears that it is being done purely to receive some form of reduction of something. I hope it works out for you.

Unless you have negotiated otherwise, either your vendor's realtor will be pocketing 100% of the commission or your realtor will be paid via you and paid via the commission s/he receives from the vendor's realtor. I can't see how it is a good deal for you.

Everything your realtor did for you is something that realtors are expected to do for their clients.