Home Remodeling Tips

Since the Real estate customs differ from state to state, I decided to write a short informative guide for US buyers that would like to purchase a property in Vancouver, Canada. If you’d like to find out more, please come and visit my Vancouver BC Real estate website.

Finding the right property

Before your agent starts their research for the right house for you, he or she will make you aware of the way the agency operates and also will familiarize you with the ‘Working with a Real Estate Agent’ brochure, which you will be requested to sign.

Then your agent starts his or her search for suitable houses for you. Real estate practise in Vancouver is different probably from most other places, because both the agents (the listing and the one representing the buyer) plus of course you as the buyer have to attend the showing, so it usually takes some time to synchronize everybody’s schedule. When your agent is successful in finding you the right property, your agent will provide the document ‘The Contract of Purchase and Sale’, which serves as an offer to the seller. For you to be able to propose the right price, your agent also provides some background information. Especially in Vancouver you should expect multiply offers from different buyers on the same property, so don’t get scared if there is even 15 other buyers bidding on the house you’ve chosen.

Closing the contract

When your offer is finally accepted, you will have to wire the 10% deposit to the seller. Take into the consideration that the bank wire could take up to 14 days before it is delivered to the Canadian bank. You might choose to use some dependable third party services (e.g. House Global Foreign Exchange) that would guarantee a timely delivery of the deposit, since that’s part of the contract. Once your financing is settled, the Home Inspection Report on the property was satisfactory, you’ve gone over all the property’s documentation and all the issues you might had were answered to your satisfaction, you can remove all that the contract was subjected to. As per the closing date – it is mostly scheduled 2 days before the possession date. All adjustments has to happen before the possession date.

Legal arrangements

The deal then moves onto the lawyers or notaries for preparation of legal documents to transfer the title to you, the buyer. The federal and provincial taxes must be addressed at this time. You either have to be personally presented to sign the documents in Vancouver, or you can choose to have them couriered to a law office near them where all the documents can be signed under seal. The appropriet funds will then have to be send to the Vancouver lawyer’s trust account.