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Buying A Home
How to find your perfect home
Looking for a home can be an exciting and exhilarating experience. But
before you start your search, you first need to figure out where you want
to live and what your housing needs will be both now and in the future.
To help you find the home that's right for you, Canada Mortgage and
Housing Corporation (CMHC) suggests you ask yourself the following questions:
- How large a home do you need? Do you need several bedrooms, more than
one bathroom, a home office or a two-car garage?
- Are you planning on making any lifestyle changes in the near future,
for example, are you planning on having children? Do you have teenagers
who will be moving away soon? Or are you close to retirement, and
looking to downsize to a smaller home? By clearly setting out your
priorities in advance, you can help save yourself a great deal of time
and trouble later.
- Are there any special features you'd like your home to have, such as
air conditioning, a swimming pool or a spare room for a hobby?
- What kind of neighbourhood do you want to live in? Remember to take
into account such features as how easy it will be to commute to work,
whether your children will have a school close by, and how close you
will be to family, friends and safe recreational areas and facilities.
- Would you prefer to live in a new home or a resale? New homes offer
such advantages as more personalized choices, up-to-date appliances and
finishings, and often lower maintenance costs. But resale homes can
provide easier access to more established services and mature
landscaping, and may save you from having to pay GST/HST on your
purchase.
- What type of home would you feel most comfortable living in? The
choices available on the market today range from single-family detached
houses, semi-detached and duplexes to townhouses, modular homes and
condominiums.
When you're ready to start looking for a home, some good sources include
newspapers, real estate magazines, the Internet, real estate agents and word
of mouth. If you've decided which neighbourhoods you're interested in, you can
also spend a few days driving around them to look for new development sites or
"For Sale" signs.
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