Buying a home in Edmonton, without the guesswork

The minimum is five percent on homes under $500,000. Above that it steps up: five percent on the first $500,000 plus ten percent on the portion between $500,000 and $1.5 million, and twenty percent on anything at $1.5 million or more.

Most Edmonton homes fall in the first two bands. If you put down less than twenty percent you will also pay mortgage default insurance, which gets added to your mortgage rather than paid up front.

Homes at $1.5 million and over cannot be insured at all, so twenty percent is the floor there.

Alberta has no land transfer tax, which makes closing here considerably cheaper than in Ontario or British Columbia.

What you do pay: Land Titles registration fees of $50 plus $5 for every $5,000 of value, charged once on the transfer of title and again on the mortgage registration. Legal fees and disbursements usually land somewhere around $1,500 to $2,000 in total.

A home inspection runs roughly $500 to $800, and an appraisal, if your lender wants one, is about $300 to $500. Budget for those alongside your down payment rather than assuming they come out of it.

There is no set amount, and the deposit is not an extra cost. It forms part of the purchase price, so every dollar of it is applied to the down payment at closing. Think of it as the first slice of your down payment, paid early.

The amount is negotiated as part of your offer. What it really does is show the seller you are serious, which is why a larger deposit strengthens an offer, particularly when you are competing with someone else.

The due date is negotiated too, and it gets written into the contract. Whatever date you agree to, meet it. If the deposit is late, the seller has the right to void the contract.

Your money is held in a brokerage trust account, not handed to the seller. Neither the seller nor the brokerage can touch it. If one of your conditions is not satisfied and the deal ends, the deposit comes back to you. If you walk away after your conditions have been waived, it does not. That last part is the piece worth understanding before you sign, and I will make sure you do.

Yes. In Alberta the transfer of land and the mortgage registration both go through a lawyer.

Your lawyer searches the title for restrictions or liens, confirms the seller actually owns the property, reviews the Real Property Report, arranges title insurance and registers the transfer at Land Titles.

If you are financing, your lender will require it regardless. It is worth calling two or three firms, because fees vary more than people expect.

I am happy to point you toward lawyers with whom my clients have had good experiences.

Usually four to eight weeks, and you choose the possession date when you write the offer.

The gap exists because conditions need time. Financing approval typically takes seven to ten days, a home inspection is booked within the first week, and your lawyer needs roughly two weeks before possession to do the title work and receive mortgage funds.

A longer possession is not a weaker offer. Sometimes a date that suits the seller is worth more to them than a few thousand dollars on the price, which is exactly the kind of thing worth knowing before you write.