What are the steps to buying a home? You’re starting to think about becoming a homeowner, or maybe you’ve even started to look at listings. Either way, you likely have lots of questions, from the general “how tos” to specific queries around financing, different home types and locations, to how to make an offer. To help simplify what can be a complicated process, we’ve outlined the steps to buying a house in Canada.

10 Steps to Buying a Home

There’s a lot to do, but we’ve narrowed it down. Here’s our 10-step home buying process checklist to get you started!

1. Start saving and budgeting for...

Deposit vs. Down Payment on a House

Deposit and down payment–two words that are commonly used and often interchanged. Many first-time buyers get confused about the difference between a down payment vs. deposit when planning their finances for a home purchase. While they’re both upfront costs in the home buying process, the two terms are entirely different.

A deposit is money you attach to an offer to show a home seller that you’re interested in buying their property. This initial “good faith” payment demonstrates your serious intent to purchase. A down payment is a percentage of the home...

Do staged homes sell faster, and for a higher price? The short answer is yes and yes. Conditions have started to moderate from the frantic seller’s market Canada has experienced in recent years, largely due to rising interest rates. With homes taking longer to sell and buyers having more time to shop the market, sellers may have to step up their game to win the attention of prospective buyers. This includes engaging an experienced, professional real estate agent, evaluating the comparables and their asking price, and then staging the property to appeal to the right buyer.

Do Staged Homes...