How to Buy Property in Vancouver: Guide for US Buyers
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The Real estate business have its own rich history in each country, therefore the today’s habits differ from place to place. This informative guide would like to give you an idea of the process of buying property in Canada. If you’d like to find out more, please come and visit my Vancouver BC Real estate website.
Finding the right deal
At the start your agent explains the way his or her agency works to you and you are also given the ‘Working with a Real Estate Agent’ brochure, prepared by the BC Real Estate Association, which you have to sign.
Only then the agent can start researching for the house you are looking for. If you are used to spontaneous showings, forget about them in Vancouver - here 3 people usually attend the showings (of course you as the buyer, the listing agent and your agent as well), which means organizing three schedules of usually very busy people. When your agent is successful in finding you the right property, your agent will put together the document ‘The Contract of Purchase and Sale’, which serves as an offer to the seller. In order to be able to bring in the right price, your agent will also prepare some background information on the property you expressed your interests in. Since Vancouver has extremely competitive real estate market, be prepared for multiply offers: you will have to fight if you want to win.
Closing the contract
If your offer is accepted by the seller, you’ve got to wire funds for the deposit, which is usually 10% of the sale price. Take into the consideration that the bank wire could take up to two weeks before it is delivered to the Canadian bank. Providing your deposit in timely fashion is not only proper - it is a condition according to the contract. A sound third party banking services, such as House Global Foreign Exchange will be able to help you. The contract could be subjected to many issues as financing in place or home inspection report and so on. Once everything has been dealt with, you can remove the subjects. As per the closing date - it is mostly scheduled 2 days before the possession date. All adjustments has to happen before the possession date.
Legal arrangements
After that the deal is ready to be handed to lawyers so that the documents can get ready. Taxes, federal and provincial, has to be coped with around this time. You either have to be personally presented to sign the documents in Vancouver, or you can choose to have them couriered to a law office near them where all the documents can be signed under seal. The funds to close the property will have to be wired to the Vancouver lawyer’s trust account.

