Posts Tagged ‘sellers’

DID YOU KNOW… the location of your condo may determine who pays for the status certificate!

Wait…do you even know what a “status certificate” is? And why you should be asking for one when purchasing a condo?

In the simplest terms, a Status Certificate is set of documents prepared by a condo board to illustrate the financial health of the building! A typical certificate will show a variety of facts including: how many units are being leased in the building, any shortages in payments of maintenance fees (for the particular unit) and the amount levels of the reserve fund.  They take 10 days to prepare (though most boards I’ve dealt with produce them sooner) and can be obtained by the unit owner.  They’re typically requested when a buyer submits an offer to purchase.  The purpose of the documents is better educate the potential buyer on the financial status of the condo and point out any pitfalls that may lay ahead if the decide to go through with the purchase.  A Real Estate lawyer is often best to review the Status and relay it’s info to the purchaser!

Now that we know what it is and why it’s needed, it’s time to answer the almighty dollar question “Who pays for it?”

Up until a few weeks ago, it was to my understanding that in Canada the seller is the one who pays for it…but after talking with Matt Richling, a colleague selling real estate in Ottawa I learnt different!  In Ottawa it’s common practice for the buyer to be the one who pays the fee. Which would make sense since it’s the buyer who’d be most interested in it’s findings. Fortunately for buyers in Toronto that’s not the case, and the seller typically pays for the status.  Your Realtor should always have the “Cost Talk” with you to better inform you of all the expenses that tend to pop up above and beyond the sticker price!

I ALWAYS recommend putting in a clause requesting a copy of the status and having a Real Estate lawyer review it.  Regardless of who pays for it…it only costs $100 and could save you a million headaches in the future!  If you’re looking at buying place of your own downtown…feel free to call or email…I’d love to help!

I’ll admit it…I’m a news-a-holic. I start my day with BBC, have lunch with CP24, follow up with a few newspaper stories from my twitter friends, squeeze in some “6 o’clock news hour” with Leslie Roberts, and end it with CTV’s local news at 11:30…all of course if time permits! (It usually doesn’t)

In keeping with my newsly-ritual, I tuned into CTV just in time to watch Tom Hayes cover a store on “The Bully Offers”. Now before I get into all that is wrong with the story…I’ll like to say this disclaimer: “I have nothing against the good folks at CTV news, Tom Hayes included. For the most part I enjoy watching their news as they tend to get into more detail than some of the other stations BUT this time they dropped the ball by leaving out a few key points”…now down to the venting!

If you missed last nights story, click here and watch it first!

So? What did you think, kinda scary eh? While you’re planning the placement of furniture in your dream home, some big bad bully and their Realtor are lurking behind the curtains to snatch that house from under you!!! At least that’s how I interpreted the report!

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