Buying in Niagara

What buying a home actually looks like

Most buyer pages are a list of adjectives. This one is the part people actually get caught out by: what the money looks like before you own anything, the difference between a lender saying yes to you and a lender saying yes to the house, and who is allowed to show you what.

Read it before we talk and our first conversation starts about three steps further along.

The whole thing, end to end

Six stages

Every purchase runs through the same six. This page covers the first two, because they are the ones that decide whether the rest goes smoothly. The other four arrive by email, one at a time, once we are working together — nobody needs to read about closing adjustments in week one.

01Getting readyFinancing, budget, and the cash you need on hand before you own anything.
02Seeing homesOpen houses, private showings, builders — and who books what.
03Making an offerPrice, dates, deposit, and the conditions that protect you.
04ConditionsFinancing and inspection. The window where you can still walk.
05FirmLawyer, insurance, utilities, and the wait until closing day.
06KeysWalkthrough, closing, and the part everyone pictures. Typically 60 to 90 days after your offer goes firm.

Ground rules

What you can expect from me

  • I tell you what is wrong with a house, not just what is right. If I think you should walk, I will say so.
  • You get the comparable sales behind a price, not a number I pulled out of the air.
  • I do not pressure you into an offer to beat a deadline that was invented to pressure you.
  • Everything I need from you — ID, pre-approval letter, deposit — I ask for early, not the night before an offer.
  • I am a REALTOR®, not a lender, lawyer or inspector. I will introduce you to good ones and stay out of their lane.
  • You will always know who I represent in a transaction, in writing, before it matters.
  • If you decide now is not the time to buy, that is a fine outcome. I would rather you buy well in two years than badly this month.

The detail

Four things worth knowing before you start

Pick whichever one you need. Nothing here is urgent reading — it is the reference you will want open when the questions come up.

What you need in cash

The purchase price is the number everyone talks about. These are the four that actually come out of your account, and they land at different times.

5% / 10%Minimum down payment — 5% on the first $500,000, 10% on the portion above it. At 20% or more you avoid mortgage default insurance entirely.
4–5%Deposit, due with the offer (usually within 24 hours of acceptance). This is not extra money — it counts toward your down payment.
2–5%Closing costs: land transfer tax, legal fees, title insurance, adjustments. Budget the higher end if you are new to the province.
$500–800Home inspection, paid on the day. Worth every dollar, and not something to skip because the market feels fast.

The one that surprises people: the deposit is due days after your offer is accepted, but the down payment is not needed until closing, often months later. Two different dates, two different amounts. Certified cheque or wire — not a personal cheque.

Ontario land transfer tax

Paid once, on closing, by you. It is calculated in bands rather than as one flat percentage, so the marginal rate on the top slice of the price is not the rate on the whole thing.

Portion of the purchase priceRate on that portion
Up to $55,0000.5%
$55,000.01 to $250,0001.0%
$250,000.01 to $400,0001.5%
$400,000.01 to $2,000,0002.0%
Over $2,000,0002.5%

First-time buyers can claim a refund of up to $4,000, which wipes out the tax entirely on a home around $368,000. You need to be 18 or older, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, moving in within nine months, and never to have owned a home anywhere in the world. Claim it within 18 months of registration — your lawyer normally handles it at closing. And a Niagara advantage worth knowing: the extra municipal land transfer tax applies only inside the City of Toronto. There is no second bill here.

Rates and refund amounts are set by the province and do change. Confirm the current figures with your lawyer before you rely on them. Nothing on this page is legal, tax or financial advice.

Run the numbers on the mortgage calculator

Pre-approved is not approved

This is the single most expensive misunderstanding in the process, and almost nobody explains it before offer night. A pre-approval and a final approval are two different decisions, about two different things.

Pre-approval — the lender says yes to you

  • Based on your income, debts and credit. No property involved.
  • Canadian lenders qualify you on your debt ratios and the stress test, not a simple multiple of your income.
  • Sets your realistic range and usually holds a rate for 90 to 120 days.
  • Makes your offer credible to a seller. Is not a guarantee of anything.

Final approval — the lender says yes to the house

  • Happens after your offer is accepted, inside the financing condition.
  • The lender appraises the specific property and can value it below what you agreed to pay.
  • They can decline over the property type, its condition, the deposit source, or a change in your credit.
  • This is the step the financing condition exists to protect.

So, three rules between pre-approval and closing: do not take on new credit — no car loan, no new card, no furniture financing, not even a credit limit increase. Do not move large sums between accounts without keeping the paper trail. And do not write a condition-free offer unless your lender has looked at that specific property and put their sign-off in writing.

Where to get pre-approved

Three routes, and the right one depends on your situation more than on rate shopping. I do not receive anything for pointing you at any of them.

RouteSuits you ifWorth knowing
Your own bankStraightforward income, and you value dealing with people who already have your history.One lender, one set of rules. If they say no, you start over somewhere else.
Mortgage brokerSelf-employed, commissioned, newer to Canada, or you want several lenders compared at once.Shops multiple lenders on one application. Usually paid by the lender, not by you — ask.
Credit unionLocal, and your file needs a human to look at it rather than a scoring model.Often more flexible on unusual income. Not every product is available everywhere.

Happy to introduce you to people I have worked with in each of those three lanes. No obligation, and no referral arrangement on my end.

Who books what

There is one rule here and it matters more than it sounds: open houses are yours to wander into, and everything else goes through me. Not to control your weekend — to protect your position.

On your own

  • Open houses. Go, look, enjoy them.
  • Sign in as my client. It is one line on the sheet and it keeps your representation clear.
  • Remember who the host works for. They are the seller's agent. Anything you say about your budget or your enthusiasm goes straight back to the seller.
  • Tell me about anything you liked. I will pull the history, the comparables and whatever the listing is not saying.

Through me

  • Private showings of anything you found on a portal or driving past.
  • Builder and model homes. This one is critical — a builder's sales office must register me on your first visit. Walk in alone and they can refuse to recognise your representation later, and you lose it for that whole project.
  • For-sale-by-owner properties. I will make contact and sort out the terms first.
  • Never contact a listing agent directly. They represent the seller. A five-minute call can cost you leverage you will not get back.

What you sign, and when

Ontario changed the rules here in recent years and the order is not optional. Nothing gets signed before you have read what it means.

  • The RECO Information Guide comes first. By law I give it to you and walk you through it before you sign anything else. It explains your options and my obligations in plain language.
  • The Buyer Designated Representation Agreement (OREA Form 371) is what makes you my client — it names me personally as your representative, not just the brokerage. We go through it line by line: the term, who pays the commission, what happens if you buy privately, what happens if I end up representing the seller as well, and the holdover clause, which is the one people skim and later argue about. If you would rather be represented by the brokerage as a whole, that is Form 300, and I will explain the difference before you choose.
  • Under the current rules there is no middle "customer" option any more. You are either a represented client or a self-represented party, and I will be straight with you about what the second one actually means.
  • FINTRAC identification. Federal law, every buyer, no exceptions. Government photo ID, done once, early — not on the night we are writing an offer at 9pm.
  • Disclosure of multiple representation, in writing, if I (as your designated representative) end up on both sides of the deal. You will know before it affects a decision, and you can say no. Another Royal LePage NRC agent having the listing is not multiple representation: I am named as your representative, they are named as theirs, and nothing about my duty to you changes.

More on TRESA and how representation works

Start here

Tell me where you are at

No pressure and no drip campaign. Fill this in and I will come back to you with a straight answer about what your next step should be — even if that answer is that you are six months early. If you would rather just talk, call or text 365-855-6477.

Buyer Contact Form

After you send that

What happens next

  • Within a day I read what you sent and reply — properly, not with an automated acknowledgement.
  • A short call. Twenty minutes. What you are looking for, what your timeline actually is, and whether the numbers line up.
  • An introduction to a lender if you are not pre-approved yet. That usually has to happen before anything else is worth doing.
  • The RECO guide and the representation agreement, explained before either of us signs anything.
  • A search set up properly — the whole board, not a portal's version of it, with the listings that fit sent as they come up.
  • Then we go and look at houses, which was the point of all of this.

Call or text 365-855-6477 Mortgage calculator

Ved Bhat, REALTOR® · Royal LePage NRC Realty, Brokerage · Serving Fonthill, Pelham, Welland, Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and the rest of the region.

This website may only be used by consumers that have a bona fide interest in the purchase, sale, or lease of real estate of the type being offered via the website. The data relating to real estate on this website comes in part from the MLS® Reciprocity program of the PropTx MLS®. The data is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed to be accurate.