What's a Virgin Home-Buyer?

A Virgin Home-Buyer is probably exactly what you expect - a person looking into buying their first home, but not quite sure where to start. If you are a Virgin Home-Buyer chances are you've looked into owning a home, but haven't yet dug deep enough to fully understand how the process works and what to do. Like your 'first time', you're probably nervous, unsure as what to expect, but you want it to be painless and a special time to remember. However, unlike your first time, you've probably considered using a professional to help you along the way when buying your first home. But who should you deal with? Who should you talk to?

There are literally thousands of real estate agents in Ottawa, and each come with their own specific set of skills and their own unique personality. Some are more comfortable with condominiums, other prefer single family houses, some are more comfortable with commercial real estate, others residential - it's important to find an agent who you get along with and someone who is comfortable with first-time buyers. What do I mean by 'comfortable'? It's important that your agent takes time and explains some of the basics of real estate with you - like building a home, laying down a strong foundation is invaluable. A good agent will introduce their buyers, whether first-time or experienced, to each stage of the home-search and buying processes, that way both the agent and client are on the same page and there are no surprises.

You also want an agent who is well versed in both re-sale properties and new-home construction, that way you ensure that you are looking into all homes that may potentially fit your needs and requirements. Often times agents rely solely on re-sales homes since new-homes are often a mystery, but by neglecting to search new homes, the pool of potential properties is divided in half.


For more information on how to get your home search started, please visit: http://www.bennettrealestatepros.com/ or send an email to taylor@BennettRealEstatePros.com

Budget 2009 - More First-Time Home Buyer Incentives

The new Federal budget was released this week - inside of it were several proposed incentives for First-Time Home Buyers. Here are a few high-lights from the 2009 Budget.

The 2009 Federal Budget announced:

- A new First-Time Home Buyers' Tax Credit of up to $750 to help homebuyers with closing costs such as land transfer taxes and legal fees

- A new Home Renovation Tax Credit of up to $1,350

- A new funding program for ecoENERGY retrofits that provides home and property owners up to $5,000 for energy improvements

- A new social housing program

Also, the 2009 federal budget announced an increase to the Home Buyers’ Plan withdrawal limit to $25,000 from $20,000. This Plan was first introduced in 1992 to help first-time homebuyers by allowing them to withdraw from their RRSPs towards buying a home. This is the first increase since the plan introduction. Some eligible couples can now withdraw up to $50,000.

For complete details on the 2009 Budget, please visit: http://www.budget.gc.ca/2009/


For more information on the First-Time Home Buyers benefits, please visit: http://www.bennettrealestatepros.com/ or send an email to taylor@BennettRealEstatePros.com

Owning A Home Has Never Been So Affordable...

Being a real estate agent who primarily deals with first-time home buyers, I often hear obligations such as "Owning a home is too expensive" or "Renting is so much easier", and I've come to realize that first-time home buyers haven't looked into the typical costs in owning a home versus renting.

"Owning a Home is Too Expensive"

The average rent for a 2 bedroom apartment in Ottawa is $960/month, while that might not seem like very much, consider this. As early as a month ago, the mortgage interest rate was 5.5%. That same $960/month would translate to a monthly mortgage payment for a $193,000 home. With today's record-low interest rate of 3.45% that same monthly payment would be the equivalent to the monthly mortgage payment for a $240,000 home. That's like someone giving you an extra $47,000 towards your new home FOR FREE!

"Renting is So Much Easier"

I'm not going to argue that renting is easy - you pay your monthly rent to your landlord and most of the utilities are taken care of, and if anything breaks, you call up your landlord and they will come and fix it - life IS easy. But owning a home doesn't have to be hard, in fact, if you buy wisely, it's not any harder than renting.

Take a condominium for instance - typically condos are assumed to be a high-rise building with 15+ floors with 8+ residences per floor, but condos in Ottawa come in all shapes and sizes. Today, in Ottawa, condos can be anything from a townhome to a 'boutique condo' (that is a building that includes 35 residences or less) to a simple quad-plex. I find condos to be a great stepping stone into the world of home-ownership for first-time buyers - you are generally responsilbe for the interior of your home, while the condo fees take care of the exterior. First-time home buyers are often scared of the costs associated with home maintenance - what if the roof leaks? What if the windows need replacing? Which are valid concerns, but condo fees take care of all that for you - in most condos, you're typically responsible from drywall to drywall. I like to look at condo fees as a miniature payment plan - putting aside a small amount of money each month to save for something that will inevitably need to be repaired in the future. Whether you own a condo or non-condo, things in the home will break and you will need to fix them - it comes down to a difference of how you pay for it.

Now I'm sure you've all heard the horror sotries of condo fees starting out in the $200 to $300 range and then sky-rocketing to over $600 in a few years, but chances are, those stories are over 4 years old. Today, condominiums are subject to much stricter legislation than they used to be which prevents condo fees from spiking to those high amounts.

In my experience condos are a great idea for the first-time home buyer - it eases them into home-owning without being too overwhelming. And with today's interest rate, there is no better time to shop to that new home than today.

For more information about some of the condos in Ottawa, please visit www.bennettrealestatepros.com or ssend an email to taylor@bennettrealestatepros.com