Buying an Existing Home

THE PROCESS

I BOUGHT A HOUSE. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
STEP 1

INITIAL CONTACT & COMMUNICATION

If you have a real estate agent, your agent has helped you to prepare an agreement of purchaser and sale with the sellers.  If you are acting without an agent, you should contact us to prepare an agreement of purchase and sale for you to submit to the seller.

After acceptance by the sellers, you as buyer attend to satisfying your conditions (securing financing, a building inspection, insurability, sale of existing home, etc.).

Once the conditions are satisfied, the conditions are lifted and purchase contract becomes “firm” (goes ahead).  The real estate agent helps you with lifting the conditions unless you are acting without an agent, in which case we help you with that.

Where you have a real estate agent, the agent sends the purchase contract documents to us and we make contact with you by phone, email or meeting to confirm the engagement.

We send you a detailed letter covering the following:

  • Confirmation of the major terms of the purchase contract
  • Explanation of the anticipated expenses and other costs for budgeting purposes
  • Explanation of the steps involved including the our tasks and the your tasks and the anticipated timing for completing the various steps
  • Information we need from the you
  • Other information we want you to have

STEP 2

LAWYER’S SEARCHES


  • We obtain a full search of title to the property which is reviewed by the lawyer personally. This search is to ensure you will obtain valid legal title to the property, free of legal defects and claims against the title. Any problems are brought to the attention of the seller’s lawyer for them to rectify before closing. We also notify you about any utility easements, restrictive covenants and rights of way affecting the property (unusual items or title problems that can’t be rectified are brought to your attention immediately; standard items are communicated at the pre-closing meeting)
  • We order title insurance OR secondary searches such as zoning compliance, outstanding building permits and work orders, encroachments (if there is a survey), fire department work orders, property tax and water arrears, etc.

STEP 3

DOCUMENT PREPARATION AND COORDINATION


  • We receive mortgage instructions from your lender and prepare mortgage documentation for you to sign
  • We arranges for mortgage funds to be sent to the our law firm’s trust account on the day of closing
  • We prepares other documentation for the transfer
  • We receive confirmation of house insurance from your insurance agent
  • We notify the tax and water departments of the closing so they can arrange for a meter reading and changeover of accounts. You notify the other utilities (gas, electricity, cable, etc.)

STEP 4

PRE-CLOSING MEETING


  • Once everything is ready, we contact you in advance to notify you how much money to bring in, who to make it payable to, other things to bring, and scheduling a meeting (usually a few days before closing)
  • We meet with you before closing either in person or via video meeting (usually a few days before closing).  The meeting is with the lawyer and the following is covered:
    • Photocopy your ID (a legal requirement)
    • Review the financial documents (detailed summary of money coming in and going out of the law firm’s trust account)
    • Review, explanation and signing of transfer documents Review, explanation and signing of mortgage documents
    • Explanation of the closing process and when you might expect to get keys

STEP 5

CLOSING AND REPORTING


  • The mortgage funds and you money is deposited to our law firm’s trust account
  • We then transfer the closing funds and send other documents to the seller’s lawyer / receive keys and other documents from the seller’s lawyer by courier (unless keys are in a lockbox on site)
  • Electronic registration of transfer and mortgage in the Land Registry system, making the transfer of ownership complete
  • We contact you immediately; keys become available for you to pick up at our office or if they are on site in a lockbox, we give you the lockbox code
  • We send our final reports and related documents to you, the lender and title insurance company (a few weeks after closing)