beagle1

Hello all,

Has anyone got any info/advice on buying a few acres of land in Canada? I've read through the literature on some of these estate agents' websites that are advertising acres of land in Nova Scotia, Brunswick, and Manitoba and they all seem to make it out to be a simple and straightforward process wether you're a canadian citizen or overseas buyer. Even the expat website quotes "The Canadian property market is very different to your stereotypical European market, although on further investigation it seems to be a lot simpler... and so on."

So, is it as straight forward as contacting an agent, visiting a prospective area and making a down payment on something you like? Bare in mind I'm still living in the UK so I wouldn't be applying for immigration rights or citizenship -the land would be used to build a cabin and would only be used for maybe 6 months of the year as a holiday / back to nature retreat.

Has anyone on here done this and if so what are the hidden pitfalls and costs (if any). What are the annual land taxes like? (these estate agents seem to gloss over that bit!). I would rather get some information from someone who has actually had first hand experience of buying land than relying on the glossy websites these agents tempt us with, so any advice or further information from someone whose been and done it would be much appreciated.

iaink

Buying is easy, credit / mortgages if you need one are a bit harder.

Isnt there a wiki on this? Its certainly something thats come up before anyway. It is different, with the exception of a few areas property here is not usually seen as the same sort of investment vehicle that people in the UK may look at it as. You buy a home to live in, not in the expectation that you can sell in a few years and make a big profit. (again some exceptions apply)

Annual Property taxes as a very general rule are ~1-2% of the assessed value of the property for residential homes, but some municipalities increase that % for second/ holiday homes. Vacant lots are cheaper.

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Category:Housing-Canada

Novocastrian

Maybe iaink will be better at finding the right search string than me, but I remember someone on this forum whose uncle or something had bought a plot of land in near-northern Ontario through one of those websites. It turned out not to exist.

Caveat emptor.

christmasoompa

That thread sprung to my mind as well. Here you go - http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=596994

iaink

Surely if you have visited it (As the OP indicated they would), then it exists? As you say though, buyer beware.

Novocastrian

Having re-skimmed the thread graciously retrieved by CO, my memory was faulty. The land may or may not have existed, what certainly didn't was title to it.

I'm not suggesting that this OP is getting into a scam situation, just offering a heads-up that such things are not unknown.

beagle1

Thanks everyone for the replies, especially christmasoompa for digging up the link. The company mentioned in that thread was one of the ones I was looking at prior to posting on here, and it looks like those websites are indeed scams.

rae

please keep us posted how you get on and what info you find. i have looked before and it sort of trails off on the other links. what i would be interested in hearing about are the experiences of those building on land, getting hooked up to power and the like, the actual build, plans drawn for them.
i wish grand designs would come to canada i loved that show.
best of luck.

Auld Yin

The bottom line is do not enter into any real estate transaction without hiring a lawyer to protect your interests, and not one suggested/referred by the selling entity.

R I C H

If you've any specific questions Rae, drop me a line. I purchased land for a business and for residential purposes, and went through the building process for both.

rae

thanks RICH, it was just a general curiosity. I would love to design and build my own home, its a dream perhaps i could actually realise here, though it still seems very daunting. I don't want to waste your time with a very lengthy reply, but perhaps you could generally share with us some simple experiences, such as...
did it cost you more do you think than buying a home?
how did you find dealing with local government for permission to build? what i mean by this is were they quite tight with the type and style of structure?
how did you find dealing with different service providers, simply hooking up power and water?
would you do it again?

thanks

johnh009

Try these people, they are reputable and have been around for years. They also have tax sale properties:

http://www.dignam.com/

R I C H

That's hard to say - it cost c$275 per sq/ft to build. If I'd purchased a similarly built (in terms of quality, location etc) home off a builder, then the only way it'd be cheaper is if it had been one of multiple homes being constructed, so economies of scale would come into play for the builder. I could certainly have built a much cheaper home, or purchased a bigger home for the same $ cost, but really I think the point of building a one-off custom home isn't necessarily to come out of the exercise thinking it's a cost saving exercise.

If you're content with a cookie-cutter, standard N.American home, then perhaps there are some savings to be made, but by the time you've purchased your plot and dealt with all the legalities and legwork, I doubt you'll be able to reduce costs below what a decent building contractor can manage. Of course if you're really hands on and can frame, dry-wall and perform many of the trades yourself, then you can save a heap in labour outlay.

I paid the invoice prices for trade labour and materials (which were 40-60% below retail price), and a 10% of build fee to employ a project manager. The build took 12mths, and unless you can afford to be on site every day, monitoring quality and delivery is very important. We lived on site in a second house we owned, and also worked from the same property, so we were able to keep an eye on the management of the process quite closely, but in my opinion you need someone familiar with local building codes and who's trustworthy to keep the build process efficient and cost effective on site all the time.

Very easy. Application for permits was straightforward, the only problem being with the local fire hall who had to determine if we were protected or not (the house was built about 0.5km from a hydrant). Perhaps Kamloops city hall is particularly well structured for the process, but I found each department (environment for septic issues, planning for the build process etc) well versed in our project and efficient in signing off paperwork.

They couldn't give two hoots. The only restrictions were height and proximity to boundaries, but with 32 acres, that presented no problems. We chose to build an adobe style property, as it fitted in nicely with the surrounding landscape and environment.


We had to extend a gas line, hydro (new pole and then buried cable to the house), water, telecoms, and instal a septic field and tank. It was all straightforward with trenches and cable/pipe run during early construction phase. Service providers needed a little notice for their part of the work, but I don't remember it being particularly onerous or problematic.

The biggest issues we had to deal with was choosing to build during a construction boom ('07) here. Trades were in short supply, so trying to get reliable dry wallers, insulators, painters and stucco guys in particular was a headache. At the moment we're conducting 4,500 sq/ft of renos to another house, and with the economic downturn it's a breeze to get the contractors (and price) you want.

If the right plot of land was available, then yes. We moved last November, and building again was a potential option, but we couldn't find land anywhere that really appealed, so we're gutting and renovating a property instead.


There are a few pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fieldst...09087458/show/ (not many of the under construction phase unfortunately) if you care to take a look at what got built.

ann m

Pokey, scruffy and unimaginative - no wonder you sold up

Gorgeous.

Bali2010

[QUOTE=R I C H;8415632][COLOR="Blue"]
They couldn't give two hoots. The only restrictions were height and proximity to boundaries, but with 32 acres, that presented no problems. We chose to build an adobe style property, as it fitted in nicely with the surrounding landscape and environment.

I'm having fun trying to imagine a property that would be a problem

Great pics BTW