Q&A With A Resident: A Homebuying Experience

You are here:

Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking to a friend who recently bought a home in Ottawa, as to get some insights about his experience with the building and mortgages. David and his partner moved into their home in December of 2016 and here is the conversation we had.

Eric: How did you go about looking for your home and how long did it take you to decide on one?

David: When my girlfriend and I decided it was time to take the next logical step and buy a place for the two of us the first decision was whether we wanted an old house in an established neighborhood; a new house in a new development; or a condo, we could not have afforded a new house in an old neighborhood so our options were sort of limited.

We discarded the condo option really quickly after visiting a couple of their sales centers, the prices were exorbitant for a very small property. So we decided to go with the new home option and started looking in Barrhaven, she knew the area as she lived there her whole life and it would put us near her parents’ as well as mine.

We then went to the sales centers and visited model homes. We visited approximately 15 model homes and fell in love with the one we bought. We just knew it was the right one as it was the only one we could both remember distinctively, it also helped that the builder included many additions on the price if we were willing to wait for it to be built, since we were in no rush as we were both living at our parents’ homes it was perfect.

Eric: If you took out a mortgage, did you use a broker? What was the experience like?

David: My girlfriend works at RBC so we did the mortgage through the bank and the experience has been great thus far.

Eric: Did you have any concerns that were addressed before deciding to make an offer?

David: This was our first time buying property so there were many concerns, however the builder was fantastic in answering all our questions with the utmost clarity as was our lawyer and the mortgage advisor at the bank.

Eric: Have you made renovations since moving in? If yes, what were they?

David: This was part of the reason why we wanted a new build, to avoid renovations as we both lead pretty busy lives and we do enjoy having the freedom to take off on vacation at a moment’s notice.

Eric: Any issues you are having with the mortgage?

David: Other than the inflated prices for property there have been no real problems. I am starting to learn the meaning of “tightening my belt” but I am still able to put food on the table and have some fun.

Eric: What have been the most positive/negative experiences?

David:

Negative – Garbage removal has been a pain, as it is everywhere else in the city they only do it every two weeks and it’s gross.

Positive – Builder has been fantastic with their assistance with getting things fixed etc.