How you arrive at the answer to this question partly depends on where you are starting from. If you are buying your first home, it’s fairly straightforward. You calculate your carrying costs and the potential for return on your investment and then determine if that situation will improve if you wait. With today’s very favourable low interest rates, the cost of carrying a home is now very affordable. Low mortgage rates also provide you with an opportunity to pay down more of the principal in those critical early years of your loan. Paying even one-quarter of a percent less interest in the early years of your mortgage could add up to a savings of many thousands of dollars over the life of your loan. I would be happy to help you estimate what your expected mortgage, taxes, utilities or other carrying costs will be for a home in your desired price range.

I can also advise you on how much more your carrying costs will be when housing prices increase or when mortgage rates go up – or both! In most cases, a simple calculation will show you that you have a lot to lose by waiting. What is the cost of waiting? Not only would your carrying costs be higher if house prices or mortgage rates go up, you’d also lose any equity you could be earning as the value of your home increases beyond your original purchase price. I can also advise you what your closing costs will be and this will depend on the value of the house you purchase.

In addition to mortgage rates being at an historic low, both Federal and Provincial governments have implemented several programs aimed at helping Canadians purchase a home. See the particulars attached in an article by Shawn Woods, AMP Mortgage Development Manager, Scotiabank

If you already own a home and you’re trying to decide if it’s a good time to sell it and buy another, you’ve got both ends of the transaction to consider, so your primary concern isn’t just the price of the home you want to buy. It’s the difference between the sale prices of the two properties that’s important. If you’re upgrading, it pays you to act now and take advantage of the property appreciation that’s to come, and do it before the gap between the two properties widens. I can explain more in person or by phone.

Is this the right time to buy?

Buyers Articles