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Guides and articles
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Articles
Buying While Selling: How to Coordinate a Move-Up in Ontario
Selling one home while buying the next is a timing puzzle, not just a transaction. Sell first or buy first, the sale-of-property condition, contemporaneous closings, bridge financing explained, and the emotional trap that makes good buyers overpay. A move-up coordination guide.
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Articles
Home Inspection in Ontario: Older-Home Red Flags and How to Protect Yourself
What a home inspection in Ontario does and does not cover, what it costs, how to choose an inspector in a province that does not license them, and the older-home red flags worth slowing down for: wiring, plumbing, grow-ops, radon, and stigma.
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Articles
How to Buy a House in Ontario, Step by Step: A Protected Buyer's Map
The full home-buying process in Ontario from pre-approval to keys, in plain order, with the protection built into each step: representation, conditions, deposit, inspection, lawyer, appraisal, and closing. A first-time buyer's map of how it actually works.
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Articles
What Your Real Estate Lawyer Does to Protect You in Ontario
In Ontario a lawyer is required to close a home purchase, and the protection they provide goes far beyond signing papers: title search, requisitions, survey and title insurance, closing adjustments, and the failure points they catch before you are committed. The role, not the fee.
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Articles
Closing Costs in Ontario: Land Transfer Tax and What Else You'll Pay to Close
The bill that surprises first-time buyers arrives at closing, not at the offer. How Ontario and Toronto land transfer tax work (including Toronto's higher 2026 rates), the first-time-buyer refunds worth up to $8,475, the federal programs that help, and the other closing costs to budget before you offer.
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Articles
Property Tax Across the GTA: Why the Rate Differs by City, and What You'll Actually Pay
Property tax is the cost of owning that buyers most often overlook. How residential rates compare across Toronto, Richmond Hill, Markham, Vaughan and Aurora using each city's latest published rate, why the 905 is not automatically more expensive, and why your tax bill is tied to a 2016 assessment, not the price you pay.
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Articles
Power of Sale in Ontario: A Protective Guide for Buyers and for Owners Who Are Behind
Power of sale is not foreclosure, and it is not a guaranteed bargain. What the Ontario Mortgages Act actually requires, the real risks for a buyer, and the rights and the clock for an owner who has fallen behind. Plain English, official sources, no sales pressure.
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Articles
What to Check Before Making an Offer on a Home in Richmond Hill
The buyer-protection checklist I walk my Richmond Hill clients through before they sign anything: who actually represents you, the documents to pull, what a 2026 offer should be conditional on, and the costs nobody warns you about. Written by a buyer's agent who has worked these streets since 2006.
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Articles
Buying in Richmond Hill and York Region in 2026: What Does a Buyer's Market Really Mean?
York Region buyers have more choice and more time than they have had in years. What the May 2026 numbers actually say, how Richmond Hill compares to Markham, Vaughan, Aurora and Newmarket, and the checklist that protects you when the leverage is yours.
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Articles
How Do You Avoid Buying the Wrong Home in the GTA?
The listing agent works for the seller. I first wrote that in 2006, and Ontario law now requires that buyers be told. Who is on your side under TRESA, what representation really costs, and the four ways a purchase turns out to be the wrong home.
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Articles
What Is the Listing Not Telling You? How to Read a Home Listing Beyond the Photos
Listing photos and descriptions are marketing, and that is allowed. What a listing lawfully does not have to show you, where the real information lives, and the questions a careful buyer asks before falling in love.
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Articles
Where Along Yonge Street Does Your Life Fit? North York to Newmarket by Life Stage
One corridor, four life stages. How first condos in North York, family homes in Thornhill and Richmond Hill, the GO-train towns of Aurora and Newmarket, and downsizing all fit along Yonge Street, and what to check at each stage.
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Articles
Is Your Home Ready for a Buyer Who Is in No Hurry?
GTA buyers in 2026 are careful, well-informed, and unhurried. How to prepare your home for their inspector, where preparation money goes first, what Ontario law says you must disclose, and the paperwork worth gathering before you list.
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Articles
Can Someone Really Sell Your Home Without You Knowing? Real Estate Fraud in the GTA
Title fraud went from a rare crime to a Toronto news story. What mortgage fraud and title fraud actually are, who is most at risk, and the short checklist that protects your home.
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Articles
Selling When Buyers Have Choice: Why the Right Asking Price Is Your Best Protection
Buyers in the GTA still hold real negotiating power. What a buyer's market means mechanically, why overpricing costs sellers more than it protects, and how disciplined pricing shields you from carrying costs and lowball offers.
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Articles
Why Client Protection Comes Before Commission
Jasmina's philosophy in one short piece: the teacher's method she brings to real estate, the principle that made her step back during the boom, and the three habits that put your protection ahead of her commission.
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Articles
Anatomy of a Safe Condo: Five Things to Investigate Before You Make an Offer
The boring numbers that decide whether the unit you fall in love with becomes the trap you spent the next decade trying to escape.
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Articles
Should You Waive Financing in 2026? A Buyer's-Market Reality Check
In a seller's market, waiving financing was a tactic. In the 2026 GTA market, it adds risk with no upside. Here's how to read the room.
Market news
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News
Toronto Condo Market, August 2026: York Region Condos Fell Faster Than the City of Toronto's
Most condo coverage this year has been about Toronto. But in July 2026, condo benchmark prices in Richmond Hill, Markham, Aurora and Newmarket fell further than they did in the City of Toronto. Here is what that means if you own or are shopping for a condo north of Steeles.
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News
Ontario Condo Special Assessments: The Reform That Expired, and What Protects Buyers Now
A set of Ontario condo owner protections passed in 2015 quietly expired on December 31, 2025, without ever coming into force. Here is what they would have done, what actually protects you when you buy a condo today, and the one document that does most of the work.
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News
Toronto Condo Market, July 2026: What Lower Prices and Fewer Resale Listings Mean for Buyers
Condo prices are down again, sales are up, and the number of resale condos for sale has fallen to a three-year low while unsold new-build units pile up. Those two facts together explain why the market feels confusing right now. Also, why my husband and I are in no hurry while we shop for a resale condo ourselves.
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News
Toronto Real Estate News: June 2026 Condo Market, What Buyers Are Asking
The headlines say the Toronto condo market is crashing. The primary data tells a calmer story: a soft buyer's market, condo prices well below the 2022 peak, low and steady rates, and one real risk that hits a specific group. Here is what to actually watch.
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