Posts Tagged ‘first time buyer’
The purchase price is never really “the final price”, is it? From car’s to condo’s it seem’s like many high priced items tend to have a ton extra costs that quickly add up. Thankfully, there’s a new service from ClosingCosts.ca that helps calculate all those pesky little extras - efficiently and clearly!
The ClosingCosts.ca team put together a short summary of what their site does and how it could help make your next real estate purchase a more organized process:
Why Buyers Should Use a Closing Costs Calculator
When it comes to buying a house, it never hurts to have extra money set aside. We know, we know… that seems impossible, when prices are high and a down payment can seem difficult enough to save for. But while it’s easy to calculate the minimum down payment you’ll need for your dream home, closing costs aren’t always so straightforward. Too many first-time buyers make the mistake of not budgeting for closing costs and are left scrambling for extra cash on closing day. MyClosingCosts.ca is the only website that demystifies closing costs by providing users with a realistic idea of what buying a home is actually going to cost them.
What are Closing Costs?
Closing costs are the transaction costs you have to pay when buying real estate. Seriously, there’s a lot more to closing costs than your down payment. First, you’ll want to bring a Toronto home inspector in – that’ll cost you on average $450. You’ll need to put a deposit down – there’s another couple thousand dollars. You will have to pay Ontario’s land transfer tax plus Toronto’s land transfer tax, which is likely the most expensive closing cost. And then there are legal fees, disbursements, title insurance, and the list goes on and on.
So how much should you budget for closing costs? $1,000 or $2,000 should do it, right? Wrong! We recommend if you’re buying a home to budget 1.5 to 4 per cent of your home’s purchase price for closing costs. For example, if you’re buying a house for $550,000, you should be prepared to pay anywhere from $8,250 to $22,000 extra on closing day – and that’s on top of your down payment. It adds up fast! In fact, your closing costs could be almost as much as your down payment, if you’re only putting down 5 per cent.
Closing Cost Calculator
If there’s a property you’re thinking of buying – or even just looking at – pull up the MLS listing and plug in what you know about it into our closing costs calculator. Not only is our calculator easy to use, in less than five minutes you’ll have a realistic idea of how much to budget for closing costs. Similar to a receipt from your favourite restaurant, we will break down the closing costs line by line. When you’re done, you can download a PDF report that summarizes your closing costs. And if you need it, we can even put you in touch with a home inspector or real estate lawyer in Toronto.
MyClosingCosts.ca is your guide to understanding the not-so-obvious real estate expenses. We created the site with buyers in mind, so you aren’t caught off guard with unexpected fees that you can’t pay for. If you aren’t ready to buy, stop by our education centre to learn more about the closing costs you’ll have to pay one day. Our education centre includes common questions from both buyers and sellers; if you have a question of your own, you’ll most likely find the answer here. There’s nothing quite like MyClosingCosts.ca on the web, and it’s free to use, so try it out today!
During last weeks “peak and enter” at the newly completed Don River Park… I stopped by the River City development to take a few photos of phase one under construction!
The 7 storey River St. building is well underway and already taking shape.
The two storey townhomes line the base of the building along River St.
Here’s a close up of the King St. building… eventually the two will be connected by a bridge!
Interlocking stone was used in the construction of sidewalks and roads for the area!
Looking for more updates from River City? Waterfront Toronto recently relocated one of its web cameras to capture the construction progress of the development! The web camera, which was previously used to capture the construction of Sherbourne Common north, is now on the rooftop of Edge Loft condominiums at 625 Queen Street East. Still images of the site are taken every 15 minutes and can be viewed on Waterfront Toronto’s construction webcam page and on the River City page.
Images are archived and once the project is complete, a two minute time lapse video is created that showcases the transformation of the project from start to finish.
This past weekend, my curiosity got the better of me as wandered around the River City neighbourhood …and in particular, Underpass Park!
I was killing some time in between appointments and trying to find away to snap some pictures of the Don River Park from atop the Adelaide E Bridge. Sadly, I didn’t have much luck as Cole Haans aren’t the most practical shoes for fence jumping or bridge scaling. Although… I was successful in finding a nice little place to park for free (something that’s getting harder and harder in Toronto). With my car tucked away, I had juuust enough time to snap a few photos of the changes under the bridge!
Construction started about 6 months ago on the dreary and dark space under the bridge. Once complete, Underpass Park will be the most extensive park to ever be built under an overpass in Canada. Already concrete has been poured, plants have been planted and jungle sets for the kids installed! Read the rest of this entry »

After spending a week in sunny Varadero, the end of vacation and the start of work officially commenced with an update letter from the River City team!
The letter was sent out to all the purchasers and their Realtors in an effort to keep us up to date with progress on this changing part of Toronto. To summarize the changes thus far:
One of the first preconstruction projects I started promoting on SavelBlogs was 2 Gladstone by Streetcar Developments. Sales started back in October of 2009 and to this day, I’m still getting emails from interested purchasers on it. It was one of the few projects to launch in 09 and with only 54 units, it didn’t take long for them to sell. Fast forward to 2011 and 2 Gladstone is back on the blog!
In early 2010 they demolished the existing buildings and by early spring the had dug a hole large enough to pour the foundation. From there it’s been nothing but up as they’ve already surpassed ground level and have started on the second floor! Estimated move-in is scheduled for October 2011 and with only 7 more floors to go, they might just build this one on time!
It’s hard to get a good indication on what the first level looks like as most of it is covered up, but once cladding starts I’ll be back to take some more photos… In the mean time, click on the thumbnails below to see the progress thus far.
While out on Queen West I spotted a few other sites “ripe for development” which is great news if you missed your chance to buy at 2 Gladstone. If Queen West is calling you…call me (or send me and email) and I’ll help you call it home!
(try saying that 5 times fast)















