Cottage Buying Steps

Imagine iIt is a typical summer day in Toronto. The temperature is hovering around 30 degrees Celsius, although with the humidity it feels as though it could be somewhere up in the 40s. You are sweating through your T-shirt as you sit on the porch of your condominium and watch the traffic go by below. Sure, it is cooler in your air conditioned unit, but the last thing you want to do is to spend a beautiful day like today inside.

That scenario is not all that rare in Toronto, or many other big cities in North America for that matter. It's not as if residents don't have things to do to beat the summer heat, but really they are all located in the city. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to enjoy those summer days somewhere a bit more out of the city,somewhere a bit more peaceful with all the opportunities of nature just outside your back door?

Well, there are alternatives to spending all year within city limits, and one of those is buying a cottage. Once thought of as only available to the rich, cottage purchases are now being made by those who don't already own the finest luxury homes. Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and many other cities and towns across Canada have job opportunities allowing for a healthy, relatively well to-do middle class. And these people are just as ready to get out of the city for a while as their wealthy neighbours!

We are going to take a look at the steps to take as you go through the process of buying a cottage. Purchasing vacation property has a few steps similar to those you would go through when buying a primary residence, but there are several extra steps as well. In some cases, there are points to consider that won't even come up when you are making a purchase in the city (do the harbour options include moorings appropriate for your boat's keel designs, for example). We will take a look at these additional steps in addition to the ones which should be taken by any purchaser of any type of real estate.

We will also take a look at how you can use the contacts you found while purchasing a primary residence to help you get a good deal on a cottage purchase. Many realtors and brokerages make offers to repeat clients that can help with subsequent purchases, you need to know how to take advantage of those offers.

So take a look at this series if you are considering buying a cottage. Weddings, honeymoons, family reunions, and holidays in general feel so much freer outside of the confines of a city. Take advantage of all a vacation home can offer but first, find out the right way to go about buying one.

Ready to take another step towards cottage ownership? Speak to a mortgage broker about your options!