10 — North Shore News — Wednesday. August 16, 2000

Avoid disaster when buying your home

6695 ‘Nelson Ave,

no longer
need it,
like it,
want it

or wear it

THAT pretty Tudor-
style home you're
aching to buy could
turn into the money
pit.

It’s only 10 vears old and
looks in excellent shape, so
you don't need a building
inspector to look at it, right?

Wrong.

What you can't see is that
behind the tresh paint, car-
penter ants have chewed
their way through the sup-
porting beams. Soon, the
ceiling is going to crash right
down into that lovely living
room.

Buying a house is often

the biggest purchase of your
life. But in the excitement of
the moment, it’s easy to
make a costly mistake.

It's therefore critical to
know certain things when
making vour offer:

@ Word vour offer carctully.

Once you and the seller have

signed the offer or counter-

it for us.

It’s a great way to give.

Get blue bags at participating malls in August, Salvation Army Thrift Stores or
- call § 877 BLU GIVE. No one does more with your donations.

Thankyou ¢ to all the cael and sponsors.

> & STRISSEM. Keone

. [=
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offer (usually ana form trom
the Real Estate Board), it
becomes a legally binding
contract.

@ Budget for more than just
the purchase price. You also
have to pay property pur-
chase tax (1% on the first
$200,000 and 2% on the
balance), legal fees, property
taxes, expenses to record the
transfer and any mortgages,
and GST on a new home or
one that has been substan-
tially renovated.

@ Ask vour lawyer to check
the title before you make
your offer. Titles are tre-
quently affected by
covenants that restrict your
right to use the property, for
example, you may not be
permitted to operate a
home-based business.

@ List included items. If the
price includes appliances,
curtains or chandeliers, list
each item in the space pro-
vided on the offer.

B If you need a mortgage,
make your offer conditional
on obtaining financing, even
if the bank has “pre-
approved” a mortgage
amount. Write in the details
of the principal amount, the
interest rate, and the amount
of the monthly payments
you need. ;

@ If you muse sell your exist-
ing home to afford the new
one, your offer should be
subject to selling by a certain
date. Ensure that the sale of
your existing home com- .
pletes at least a day before
the purchase of your new
one completes, so you have

the money to pay for the
new house.

@ Make vour offer condi-
“onal on the house being
inspected by a professional
building inspector of your
choice and the results being
acceptable to you. You want
to know whether ants have
infested the place or the roof
could teak. State that the
seller must give your inspec-
tor reasonable access to the
house to do the inspection.
B Get the seller to sign a
Property Disclosure
Statement which details any
problems such as moisture in
the basement. Have it form
part of your offer so you can
sue if something is untrue.

B® Pay the deposit to your
‘realtor or lawyer in trust, not
to the seller directly. The
deposit, normally paid when
you make an offer, is an indi-
cation to the vendor that
you are serious, You'll want
to keep it as low as you can.
Direct that the money goes
into an interest-bearing
account if the amount is sub- -
stantial, and ensure you get
the interest once the deal is
final.

To avoid disaster, it’s a
good idea to have your
lawyer review your offer
before signing it.

This column has been writ-
ten with the assistance of Daryl -
Collier of the North Vancouver
law firm of Ratcliff &
Company, Suite 500, 221 West
Esplanade, 988- 5201. The cal-
umn provides information only _-
and must not be relied on for:
legal advice.

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