Buying

How to Check a Home’s Past in Ontario: Permits, Sales, Insurance Claims and Title

There is no Carfax for houses — so how do you check a home’s past before you buy in Ontario? This buyer’s guide sorts the background check by how reachable each record is: the public title record (owner, transfers, mortgages, liens and writs on the OnLand parcel register), building permits you have to request from the city (and the open-permit trap), MLS sale and listing history through your agent, and the one trail you mostly cannot get — the prior owner’s insurance claims. Includes a one-page what-to-check / where / who / cost checklist, plus where seller disclosure law actually draws the line. Fees per current OnLand and municipal schedules; statute verified 2026-08-06. Not legal advice.

Upsizing in Ontario: The Real Cash You Need to Move Up, Line by Line

Moving up is not just selling one home and buying another. Toronto broker Arthur Zhao breaks the upsize into four cash buckets — selling costs, land transfer tax (double-taxed inside Toronto), bridge financing, and carrying two homes — and runs one worked example so you know the cash to set aside before you list.

House Hacking in Ontario: Buy Your First Home and Let the Rent Help You Qualify

House hacking in Ontario, explained by a broker: buy a duplex or a house with a legal secondary suite, live in one unit, and rent the other. The make-or-break is not the rent cheque — it is qualification. Lenders still stress-test you at the greater of your contract rate + 2% or the 5.25% floor, and everything hinges on one word: owner-occupied versus investment. Occupy it and you get the low CMHC down payment plus up to 100% of the rent counted as income; treat it as a pure rental and the terms harden (20% down, 50% of rent). This guide walks the qualification math, the 39% GDS / 44% TDS lines, real cash flow, and the occupancy and RTA rules. Verified 2026-08-05. Not investment advice.

The Commute Math No One Runs Before Buying: 407 Costs, GO Parking, and the Test Drive

How to price commuting into your home-buying budget: calculating a real annual 407 ETR cost under the 2026 rates, the hidden time cost of GO Transit parking and connections, and a repeatable test-commute protocol to run before you make an offer. Every figure sourced and dated.

Possession Date vs Closing Date in Ontario: When Do You Actually Get the Keys?

An Ontario guide to possession vs closing: OREA Form 100 uses "Completion Date" (done by 6pm, title transfers and money changes hands), keys usually come that afternoon once registration completes, "vacant possession" is the default seller promise, buying a tenanted home doesn't mean keys (it's RTA/LTB), and pre-construction condos have interim occupancy plus an occupancy fee that isn't credited to the price. Sources: OREA / Tarion / SorbaraLaw (2026).

Buying a Heritage-Designated Property in Ontario: Permits, Grants, and What You Can (and Can’t) Change

An Ontario guide to buying a heritage property (Ontario Heritage Act): listed vs designated, Part IV (individual) vs Part V (conservation district), the 90-day heritage-permit decision window, that only the heritage attributes named in the by-law are protected, 10%–40% property-tax relief and ss.39/45 restoration grants, and how Bill 23 / Bill 200 require listed properties to be designated by January 1, 2027 or fall off the register. Sources: Ontario.ca / Toronto.ca / Gowling WLG (2026).

Latent vs Patent Defects: What Ontario Sellers Must Disclose and What “Buyer Beware” Really Means

An Ontario guide to defect disclosure: patent (visible) vs latent (hidden) defects, the caveat emptor "buyer beware" default, when a seller must disclose a latent defect (known + dangerous/uninhabitable), the consequences of concealment and fraud, why the SPIS is a double-edged sword, and how an agent's TRESA "material facts" duty differs from the seller's. Sources: RECO / Ontario case law (2026).

Buying a Cottage in Ontario: Financing, Well & Septic, Water Access, and the Capital-Gains Trap

A GTA buyer's guide to Ontario cottages: Type A (four-season) 5% down vs Type B (seasonal) 10% down, why CMHC usually won't insure a seasonal cottage, well & septic due diligence under Building Code Part 8, the 66-foot Shore Road Allowance you may not own, restricted flood insurance, and the one-property-per-year capital-gains trap. Sources: CRA, CMHC, Ontario.ca (2026).