House hunting trip
 

We are now nearly the proud new owners of a house in wasaga beach. Offer accepted, mortgage offer in place and now just waiting for the paperwork to go through.

It is a beautiful 4 bed house on a quiet street near the beach. We are just glad a highly stressful week in canada is now over.

We arrived in toronto on friday 3rd august arriving at our friends house in collingwood (OH home town) around 10pm. On the saurday bright and early we met with our real estate agent Gary Storey of Remax around 9.30am. We had already looked on MLS and picked out houses that we wanted to see. We found a house we really liked out of our original list and as our 4 year old was starting to get house weary and wanted lunch we called it a day. We arranged to meet gary on the bank holiday monday to 2nd view a few of thehouse and 1 st view 1 more house that i really wanted to see. We 2nd viewed the 2nd choice property we liked and decided it was no good. Gary then found out that our 1st choice property had sold :-( this left us with no pre-chosen house left on our list except the one i still wanted to see. This i did and we fell in love with it, it is perfect. An offer was put in and that afternoon and was accepted that evening.

Then the fun really started. On the tuesday morning we had pre arranged meetings with 2 mortgage advisors Jim Anderson of RBC and Ellen Rice of Scotia. We had already found out from Jim Anderson that RBC had changed their rules for unlanded immigrant mortgages from when we were there in march (in march for a mortgage with no need to prove income or employment25% was required to be put down, the rules have now been changed to 35% required). We knew we wouldn't be able to afford the 35% down and i had no job offer in Canada. Scotia bank was will to do an insurance backed 20% down mortgage, but they also required either a guarrantor or at least a letter of intent from an employer. Jim Anderson put in a request for an exception to the rules. Jim Anderson is a lovely guy who has a very very laid back attitiude which does not neccessary go with a very time constrained streesful week. His attitude of i will get ou a mortgage somehow, but still there is no guarrantee took some swallowing. I arranged for SSIC home inspectors to look at the property on Thursday, with still no guarrantee that we would get a mortgage. Ellen Rice really worked her butt off for us, even going so far as to give me her boyfriends bosses number to see if he would give me a letter of intent. But it was Jim Anderson at RBC that really wored magic and halfway through the home inspection Jim phoned me to tell me he had the mortgage offer.

SSIC home inspector owner Tom Tracey was also brilliant, i would strongly advise getting a home inspection. We recieved a large A4 binder with everything you could possibly want to know about your property, the way it is built and the way it should be maintained. Fortunately the inspection was fine although he did pick upthat the AC was leaking gas and a few other minor points. It cost $300 CDN and was worth every penny.

On the Friday we saw our lawyer William Taws of Deacon Taws of Midland (OH has had dealings with a former partner of the firm and he recommended them).

On the friday we also met the vendor to see if she wanted to sell some of her furniture as she is down sizing. I have gone all the way to canada to buy a house only to find i will buying the property from a British expat.;).

We have returned home today with no finger nails left, quite stressed but very happy.

Here are a few recommendations for anyone planning on doing what we have done

1) Research, research and more research, Use MLS to get a fairly long shortlist of property you want to see, MLS tends to be out of date, so the week before you leave go through. Contact a real estate agent in the area you are visiting before arriving and get them to arrange viewing as early as possible in your trip. An MLS book is also avaliable which is easier to use than the website, get the real estate agent to send you one before you go.

2) Contact a mortgage broker before leaving the UK explain your situation make sure they check all the details with their underwriters, do not accept what they say without double checking what they are saying, if you are buying as a non landed immigrant without a job offer it will be a non standard mortgage, and different conditions will apply. Only Jim Anderson in our case knew exactly the rules that would apply in my case 1st time. Get a UK credit check, letters from your bank saying about any credit facilities you have and how long you have banked with them. Also a letter from your UK employer saying how long you have banked with them. You may also have to prove where you got you funds from for your down payment due to money laundering laws.

3) Get a home inspection done, it may save you a lot of money in the future and it will expand your knowledge of how canadian homes are built and work they are different to UK homes, and have different requirements due to the weather

4) If you can get the time have two weeks would deffinately be better that the one week i had, 1 week is too short.

5) Remember if you put an offer on a house you will be required to put down a deposit $5000 CDN is apparently the norm.

6) Once an offer has been accepted it is a contract you cannot pull out without financial penalty.

Well sorry this is so long but i hope it helps others in the position. All the people we dealt with in the wasaga beach area was exemplary and i know Tom Tracey in particular deals with the whole georgian triangle area and i have no hesiatation in recommending everyone i have dealt with.

Regards

Steve

Contact Nos:
Gary Storey Remax Wasaga beach:705 429 4500
Jim Anderson RBC: 877 422 2440
Ellen Rice Scotia: 705 444 4302
Tom Tracey SSIC Home inspections: 705 716 1072
Deacon Taws:705 526 3791
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Re: House hunting trip
 

fantastic news steve & cj! :thumbsup:

the house looks fab! bet you can't wait to get back out there for good now!

just a question - seeing as how you landed in march, why are you still classed as a non-landed immigrant for mortgage purposes?
does CJ being a citizen not count for anything or is it just because neither of you have jobs in canada??

and another stupid question that's been buzzing round my head for a while, am i right in thinking that now you have PR you don't need a work permit of any kind to get a job??

well done again, hope you can catch up on the zzzzzzs now :D

cheers, kristi & karl

Re: House hunting trip
 

Steve, great house.
But, to the left of the property, has anyone mentioned it's haunted by the ghost of Popye?:eek:

Re: House hunting trip
 

Hi Kristi

Yes i am landed, but unfortunately i have no credit history in canada and no job offer non landed immigrant program bypasses these requirements, so allegdly makes it easier to get mortgage.

Cj's status didn't really help as she also doesn't have a job, but we didn't want her on deeds or mortgage due to a***hole of ex husband.

Steve that wasn't popeye it is the gardener but he is a shadow of the man he used to be LOL:rofl:

Also sorry for terrible spelling, thats what 24hrs without sleep does for you;)


Regards


Steve

Re: House hunting trip
 

Yes now i have got a PR card i can get any job without WP

Steve

Re: House hunting trip
 

Well done Steve! A lovely house - you have had an excellent week:thumbsup:

When are you actually returning for good?

Jo

Re: House hunting trip
 

flights booked for 28th nov :rofl:

Re: House hunting trip
 

Hi Steve & CJ,

Glad everything worked out for you on the house. Having been through the process Canada-side I agree with everything you say.:thumbsup:

We are just waiting for PPR now. Hope to see you sometime in the near future.

Simon & Laura:thumbup:

Re: House hunting trip
 

That makes sense, thought it might be something like that :D

ex-husbands! pah who'd have 'em!! lol glad mine doesn't make waves

Re: House hunting trip
 

always nice to get confirmation and no surprises when we get out there!! :D
cheers

Re: House hunting trip
 

Gorgeous house Steve, congratulations on your purchase. I think those black shadows are really creepy - we seen them a lot in Saskatchewan too. I'm afraid if I came home in the dark and had forget about it - I would scream the place down as I would think we had an intruder.:rofl:

Re: House hunting trip
 

Steve, nice house congrats.

We are actually going to Wasaga next Thursday for a week, pretty interested in the Wasaga Sands development there. We expect to 'land' in October, and will be using this trip for a final house hunting or sorting out rental whilst development is built if we got down that line. May be up for a beer in the future to celebrate the fresh start that side of the pond when you get over.

All the best


Chris

Re: House hunting trip
 

Wish you all the best chris, sounds like there is going to be quite a expat community in wasaga beach. Beer always sounds good to me:rofl:

good luck with the house hunting

steve

Re: House hunting trip
 

Congrates to you both,
well done, sounded like it was a right roller coaster. Nevr mind know, ya done it muckers.

House looks great, when do we get invite??????

Best of luck to you all, from us all,
speak soon,
Carl & Tracey:eek::thumbup:

Re: House hunting trip
 

Anytime after 29th Nov mate u and family always welcome :)

preferably nearer xmas as container will be arriving and we need big muscles to move everything in lol

regards

steve