Important lifestyle decisions play a large role in the new home buying process. Keep in mind, pre-construction condos/ homes will not be ready for 3-5 years + depending on the development’s schedule so it is important for you to consider your lifestyle preferences over the years.
Some good questions to consider:
Do you like being close to downtown? Or would you like to be outside of the city?
Is having a home office important to you?
Where do you want your children to go to school?
There are two major types of new homes available to you – freehold and condominium – and each has different construction timelines and warranty coverage. These include both townhomes and condo units.
Start with your finances. Having a pre-approval is the first step of purchasing a home. Before you start your new home search it is important to review your finances and determine what you can afford.
Meet with a financial representative to determine a mortgage amount that you can comfortably afford. This will help you understand the types of homes that fit into your price range and shop with added confidence. And besides, you don’t want to fall in love with a home you cannot afford.
In any deal you sign it is important to have a strong team on your side. In this case, it is important to work with a realtor who is experienced in pre-construction home sales.
Remember, when you walk into a builder’s project sales centre you will be greeted by the builder’s sales representative. That sales representative represents the builders’ (the seller in this example) interests in the transaction. It is important that you walk in there with your own realtor who will not only represent your interests in this transaction but also have experience working in pre-construction sales.
This is important for several reasons:
An Agreement of Purchase and Sale for a pre-construction home looks very different from the resale home contracts. It is important to work with someone who can help you navigate these contracts and look for and negotiate (price is usually non-negotiable) clauses into your contract, these include the assignment clause, right to lease, capped development charges and levies and others to protect your interest.
Your realtor can also help you identify good efficient floor plans that good investments and would have good resale value in the future.
Should you choose to assign your unit prior to occupancy in the future, your realtor can help you list your unit through their realtor network since builders usually do not allow assignment listings on the MLS system.
Platinum Access to Opening-Day Sales Launches: there are over 50,000 realtors in Toronto however only approximately 50 of those have Exclusive Access with the city’s top builders to the Opening-Day of their new condo project launches. Our team at Toronto Condo Investments with Century 21 Atria Realty are developer-approved platinum realtors. We offer our clients access to the hottest new project launches with the lowest pricing available, best incentives offered and access to inventory.
Most importantly, don’t forget a buyer’s agent does not cost you anything. It is a free service to you since the builder or the seller compensates the realtors directly. So let’s think about it, why wouldn’t you work with a realtor to represent you?
Know who you are in business with. Always. Every investment opportunity has its own set of risks. A couple of risks with investing in pre-construction homes is of project cancellations or delayed construction.
It is always important to invest with a builder who has an excellent track record of sales, construction, delivery and execution. Experienced and reputable builders always deliver quality product that gives all homeowners great pride.
One way to research a builder on your own is to look them up in Tarion’s Ontario Builder Directory section to ensure they are registered with Tarion. You’ll learn how many homes they have built in the last 10 years, and whether they have had any claims with Tarion over this period.
Another way is to leverage your pre-construction specialized realtor’s experience and network. They will be able to provide you details on the builder’s resume.
The builder’s websites have great information on their teams, awards, past and upcoming projects and developments.
You can also visit any of their condo buildings that are completed and occupied to get a sense of their workmanship and quality of product.
When you sign a pre-construction condo agreement of purchase and sale you have 10 days cooling off period to think about the transaction and perform your due diligence. We highly recommend all our clients to get the agreement reviewed by a lawyer specializing in pre-construction contracts. This is important so the lawyer can highlight any hidden fees and costs in the contract, give you an in-depth look at what the closing costs may be and bring forward any unusual clauses or regulations by the builders that you should be aware of.
Looking for a home for yourself or for an investment property is so exciting but can also be overwhelming. Know that we are here to help guide you through this process. Please contact us with any questions you may have – we are happy to chat anytime!
We are pre-construction specialists, this is our jam!
