Durham Region Real Estate Blog

Or at least I think I do! I know there are people desperately searching the ‘net, looking for clear,  to the point answers about how to buy a house or how to sell one. These transactions are done every day and still the process seems to be a mystery to most. So whether you live near me in the Durham Region, or far away, ask and I’ll do my best to help you out.

Buying a home should be fun. You shop and see how you and your family will fit into the homes that are for sale. But there are stressful aspects too so you need to have someone on your side, looking out for your interests and pointing out the things that you didn’t see or didn’t even know you should be on the look-out for.

And don’t get me started on selling a home. Could there be anything more stressful? Sure sometimes you list your home, 10 people come to look at it, 5 people want to buy and so it sells in 2 days for an amount more than your asking price. But that’s not always the case and shouldn’t you be aware of what could happen or what is average for your area?

Feel free to ask your questions here or send me an email and I’ll respond to your inquiry privately. I love real estate and hopefully, my knowledge and assistance can help you learn to love it a little too!

I’m sure you’re wondering why this real estate blog would have a post about the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) and the Proceed of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Act. Really? What does that have to do with you buying or selling a house? Hopefully I can help clarify that .

FINTRAC collects , analyzes and discloses financial information and intelligence on suspected money laundering and terrorist financing activities and is part of the Canadian government initiative to fight money laundering and terrorist financing, both domestically and internationally.

As a REALTOR® I am required to know who my clients are and one way to do that is to ask to see your ID. Once I make note of the information, I must keep a copy of the record and report and suspicious acts to FINTRAC. I haven’t seen any suspicious transactions, but they do happen. Buyers will want to purchase a home without ever seeing it, or a seller will try to sell a home and not want me to ever meet with them. I’m sure this sounds odd to you, but terrorist and those who launder money aren’t looking to act reasonably.

So, is this just another way for the government to track you and your money? No. It is a great tool to analyze financial transactions and to connect them in ways that may not be obvious if you just look at two or three transactions. So I guess a little inconvenience is easy to put up with as long as our country, our world is a safer place to live.

If you have any questions check out the FINTRAC website or send me a message.

If you are thinking about buying a house in the near future, and if you are going to need a mortgage, you might want to call up your neighbourhood mortgage broker and have a mortgage approval done for you. You can then be locked in to the best rates they have available for today, before they go up tomorrow! The nice thing about pre-qualifying is that you aren’t completely committed and don’t have to purchase a home right away, but if you do find the place of your dreams, you will be able to get the best mortgage rate possible. If you lock in today at 3.69% or 3.84% and tomorrow the best available rate is 4.01% or 4.54%, you’ll get that great rate as long as you close on a house in the next 30 or 60 or 90 days (depending on the length of the rate hold you are given).

The second reason to discuss your options with a mortgage broker is so that you know, really know, what you can afford to purchase right now. If you allow them to pull a credit history on you and you provide all your current income information, they can tell you exactly what you can spend on your perfect home. When you are out shopping you’ll know that the house priced at $100,000 or $300,000 is within your budget and you won’t be looking at homes you can’t afford.  And there are great homes available for sale in every price range. So find out what works for you and then go out and have a look at what is available in your area.

If you have questions about qualifying or who to call or how to go about buying a home, why not give me a call or send me an email. I would love the opportunity to help you find the place you’ll love to call home!