Buying your first home
The first purchase carries the steepest learning curve, because everything in it is new at once. The financing, the contract, the inspection, the lawyer, the possession day. All of it is manageable once it is laid out in order.
What you need to have saved
Canada sets the minimum down payment on a sliding scale. Five percent applies to the first $500,000 of the price, ten percent applies to the portion between $500,000 and $1.5 million, and twenty percent is required at $1.5 million and above. Below twenty percent the mortgage carries default insurance, and that premium is added to the loan instead of being paid at the counter. The mortgage calculator puts four down payment scenarios side by side so you can see what the difference actually buys you.
Closing costs sit on top of the down payment and come due in the same week. Plan for them from the start.
Programs to know by name
Several federal programs are built for a first purchase, and how they combine is a question to settle before you start saving in earnest. The First Home Savings Account, the Home Buyers' Plan for RRSP withdrawals, the first-time home buyers' tax credit, and the GST rebate on a newly built home each carry their own eligibility rules and their own limits, and those rules change more often than a web page does. For your numbers, talk to a mortgage professional.
The Alberta part
Alberta charges no provincial land transfer tax. Buyers moving from Ontario or British Columbia usually budget for one and are surprised to find it absent here. What applies instead is a Land Titles registration fee of $50 plus $5 for every $5,000, charged once on the purchase price and again on the mortgage amount. The calculator works it out alongside the rest of the payment math.
Alberta also has no provincial sales tax, and closings run through lawyers, so there is no escrow agent in the middle. Your lawyer receives the mortgage funds, registers the transfer at Land Titles, and releases the keys.
How the sequence runs
Get pre-approved. Look at homes with the number already settled. Write an offer with conditions that protect you. Use the condition period to inspect, to read the condominium documents where there are any, and to confirm financing against the specific property. Waive when you are satisfied. Sign at the lawyer's office roughly a week before possession. Get keys.
We carry the coordination in between, and every document gets explained before it is in front of you.
Start where it suits you
Read what closing costs cover, work through the calculator, or look at what is on the market. When you want to talk it through, tell us below.