How best to prepare to buy a home in 2025

What a year in real estate. Everything ground to a halt. Builders stopped opening new projects. Interest rates rose and then began to drop. Inflation went way up and has started to subside. There was no product on resale, then lots of resale. The condo market evaporated and is slowly recovering. What does this mean to you, and what should you do?

This is a remarkable time to take stock of your current situation. Have a hard look at your job; speak with your supervisor and make sure things are as secure as you can. If applicable, speak to your significant other and budget the way things will be. Consider what happens if interest rates rise and be prepared for exigencies. We need to look back to how are parents did it; start a house deposit account and every week take money from your pay cheques and deposit in the account to ensure you can maximise the deposit to be put down.

In fact, really look around. Do you have a Will? Are there Powers of Attorney in place in case, heaven forbid, there is a serious accident or head injury. Now, while the world is sort of on hold, get your life in order before moving forward.

Do not rely on the fact rates will continue to drop. We can expect house mortgages to level out between four and five per cent. Look at your lifestyle and where you want to live. For the first time in years, the condominium apartment market has taken a breath. If you are careful and look around, there are bargains to be had or at least units at fair pricing.

When you look at purchasing a condo, pay close attention to the common expenses and the condition of the reserve fund. This is especially true in the resale market. Has there been a Reserve Fund Study? If so, read it carefully, so you understand what could come down the pipe in terms of additional costs. In both new and older buildings, check for old dumps, train tracks, commercial malls to be built next door, amenities nearby and if a condominium are there restrictions, noise protection and whether Airbnb is allowed.

If you’re looking for a new detached house, there is a shortage of this type of housing everywhere, be it Minden, Haliburton, Lindsay, Peterborough or the GTA. Why is that? Well, the amount of levies, development charges and taxes put into every house represents anywhere from 25 to 40 per cent of the cost of the home. Government says it wants to facilitate more housing, and then cripples the incentive to build and makes new homes less affordable, and there are not enough homes being built. Resales continue to be expensive, and the market is tight. But there is light – the market is beginning to loosen up.

Maybe we need to temper our desires and look for smaller sixed houses on decent lots.

WE NEED ATTAINABLE HOUSING

We need the federal, provincial and municipal governments to donate or sell land at reduced prices and eliminate development and other charges for these kinds of homes. Expectations need to be tempered. The size of the home is relative. The number of 850- to 1,200-sq.ft., three-bedroom, one-bathroom homes built after the Second World War would astound you, and a generation grew up in them happy and healthy.

So, here we are with an unsettled year, an uncertain world, and to go back to where we started, an opportunity to get your house and life in order and move forward in a calm and solid fashion. Exercise your democratic right to push government on every level to find solutions. The late Hazel McCallion had a mantra and used to say to me, “Jayson there are no problems, only solutions.” We need more leaders like her – to adopt a go-forward, positive, solution driven agenda.

If we have learned anything since COVID, it is to be prepared and when it comes to the largest purchase in your life. I cannot think of anything more important. Find the right realtor to assist you and the right lawyer, one who does this for a living to guide you. Happy home hunting.