Home Buyer’s Guide
For Your Next Home

The Ultimate Buyers Guide for your Next Home

When you’re &
ready to sign

Once you’ve decided on a home, you’ll sign an Agreement of Purchase and Sale, which is a fairly standard builder contract. However, it’s important to know exactly what is in your agreement because it is binding. It puts in writing all the things that are included in your home from incentives to included features.

What you will need

Builders have different requirements, but most will need:

• Photo ID of everyone who will be present at the time of sale and added to the title.
• A deposit to secure your lot or condo unit. The deposit amount will vary by builder and can be used towards your down payment.
• Your choice of lot and floorplan (or condo unit).
• Your choices of available optional layout(s).
• Contact information for your lawyer.

The signing process

Once you have made your deposit and secured your lot/unit, your sales agreement will be drawn up. Your Sales Representative should go through the agreement with you, highlighting key points such as:

• Expected closing date
• Consequences of delays in choosing design finishes
• Costs for additional investments that are not included in the base price of your home.

Minto offers a five-day conditional period for legal review and financing before the contract becomes binding. Our Sales Representatives can give you details.

The process is not quite the same for buying a condo. There is other legal information provided once you sign your agreement. This is known as the disclosure statement and you’re given a 10-day period to review this information before the contract is binding.

Once you’ve signed your agreement, you’ll need to make a deposit and likely be asked to provide post-dated cheques for further deposit installments. Amounts will vary.

Chances are your builder will give you an information package that explains the next steps, often referred to as a homeowner’s manual or guide It contains valuable information that is important for you to read.

Your builder will also likely ask for a letter from your lender saying you qualify for a mortgage.

Keep copies of all your documents.

A flipped floorplan

It’s possible that the layout of your finished home could be a reverse mirror image of the floorplans shown in the marketing materials or Agreement of Purchase and Sale. Keep this in mind when purchasing appliances such as fridges and dryers, for which you’ll need to choose the way the door swings.

Confirm your deadline for choosing interior and exterior finishes, and ask your builder what their selection policies are.

Next steps

With a firm agreement in hand, your builder can now create construction plans for your home and file for permits. Construction can begin once permits have been granted.

If your builder has not already told you, ask when you will be required to make selections for interior and exterior finishes. Each builder has their own policy for choosing selections and these can be done at one or more appointments.

If you expect your financial commitments will increase with your new home and have not yet set up a budget that’s based on what you expect your expenses will be when you move in, do this now and start living by it. It will help you adjust to what your commitments will be.

It can be up to 18 months later (or sometimes more) from the time you sign the contract to the time you move into your new home, which gives you time to plan and adjust. If you’re buying in a pre-construction condo apartment building, though, the wait could be longer as most builders will aim to sell a majority of units before beginning construction.