Buying a New Home – Protect Your Interests

Real estate and contract law can be complicated. Before signing any documents, get legal advice. This is true even if you are working with a licensed real estate salesperson. Legal advice is especially important if you do not have your own real estate salesperson, if you are buying a newly constructed home, or if any unusual conditions or creative financing are involved.

Once an offer is signed by you and the seller, a legally binding contract is created. If you wish to submit an offer at a time when your lawyer is not available to review the contract, your real estate salesperson may be able to help you insert a clause making the contract subject to you obtaining legal advice.

We offer a free initial consultation, so take that opportunity to discuss your housing needs and expectations and to ask questions about transaction costs and mortgage options. We may also be able to refer you to a good home inspector or mortgage lender.

Involving us right from the beginning will ensure that your interests are represented throughout the transaction. We will ensure that you consider all aspects of the purchase and are familiar with the steps involved from signing the purchase agreement to taking possession of the property.

Our Role

We can help you verify information received from the seller or the seller’s agent and ensure that your expectations and the seller’s promises are included in the contract. We ensure that the property title is transferred to you and that any liens or charges against the seller won’t affect you.

New Homes

Buying a brand new home can have extra complications. Unlike resale home purchase contracts, which real estate salespersons typically prepare using standard forms, builders often prepare their own contracts for you to sign. Some contracts may impose unusual costs or obligations on the buyer, while providing the builder with maximum flexibility. You do not have to sign what you are given, as there is more flexibility in the buying process than you might think. For example, we can add, delete or modify clauses, or even prepare your own offer to present to the builder.

We make sure that you are protected from builders liens and that you have a legal right to any marketing perks that have been offered by a developer, such as an extra parking stall, storage locker, or payment of maintenance fees.

Choosing a Lawyer

You should choose a lawyer with experience in real estate and contract law, one who has worked on behalf of new home purchasers and with whom you feel comfortable. You should not hesitate to ask how much the lawyer’s services will cost.

Testimonials

I just wanted to extend my thanks for your absolutely first class service. When we were purchasing our home, as you know, we had many obstacles to overcome and actually thought in the last two days that our deal might not go through. It was a very stressful time in our lives and I want you to know that we’ll always appreciate your calm, caring, professional manner and how you made us feel at ease and that it would all work out because we had you representing us.

You and the rest of your team are awesome, and this is why I will continue to refer you to anyone I know who needs legal representation. As a realtor being able to refer my clients to someone who I know without a doubt will provide them with the best legal advice and service adds to my confidence in terms of the overall service I am providing.

You have, in essence become a key element of my business team and I look forward to building on what is already a successful business relationship.”

M.D.

Over the past year Lianne Macdonald has provided excellent legal advice to my real estate clients. I am always impressed with the quality of her services, as well as the care shown by Lianne and her staff. Lianne is always available if I have any questions or concerns. Her sound advice and legal counsel has greatly helped me in difficult and unusual situations. Lianne Macdonald is a proactive lawyer, an honest and caring person and a trusted friend. Without hesitation, I would recommend Lianne’s services to others, and will continue to use her service where they pertain.

C.W.

Lianne, thank you so much for your excellent work on our conveyance. Your extra work helped save us thousands of dollars.

Dear Mr. Elgersma, I want to thank you and your team for all your help during my recent sale in Victoria. My lawyer here in Ontario was very impressed by your fee and said it was a very good deal in his experience. Thank you very much.

C.G.

I recently had the experience of selling my condo. As I am not in the habit of frequently buying and selling my home I find the whole process a bit unnerving. To add to my unfamiliarity with home transactions, I was due to be out of the country on the completion date of my sale. Needless to say this was somewhat worrisome to me.

I hired Del to handle the legal transaction of my sale. What a great decision this turned out to be. Del and I got together a week prior to my trip and completed the necessary paperwork. There are a lot of papers to sign when selling a home and Del took the time to explain each document to me and answered all the questions I had. He then assured me that he had everything he needed in order to handle the transaction in my absence.

Del had explained everything so clearly to me and made me feel so at ease about the process that I felt completely comfortable leaving my legal interests in his hands while I was off vacationing. This made quite an impression on me as I have never felt comfortable leaving my fate in the hands of others, especially the likes of lawyers!

Previously I would have worried about everything going smoothly on the actual day of my home sale but to my delight and surprise on the completion date of this sale I laid in my hammock and drank champagne in the sunshine celebrating with complete confidence that the transaction would be handled just fine. I returned home only to have my suspicions confirmed . . .yes, in my absence, money had been quietly deposited to my account!

Thank you Del for allowing me to let go of the stress and worry around this large, important and infrequent type of event in my life.

A.W.