Buying a house

Land, privacy and control. You own the lot, so you decide about the roof, the driveway and the extension — there is no board to ask and no shared wall. You also carry every one of those costs yourself, which is the trade: a condo fee is a bill, but it is also somebody else's job to organise the roof.

Detached homes cost more per square foot in almost every GTA neighbourhood, because you are buying the land underneath as well as the space inside. The gap widens the closer you get to transit and the core. What matters more than the gap is which one you can carry comfortably — a house at the top of your budget is a worse position than a condo you can afford.

It depends on your position, not the market's. If you are secure in your income, buying somewhere you will stay five or more years, and your payments work at today's rates rather than hoped-for ones, timing matters far less than people think. If any of those is shaky, waiting is usually the better answer — and we will tell you so.

Property tax, insurance, utilities and maintenance. Budget roughly 1% of the home's value a year for upkeep on an older property — less on new build, more on anything with an original roof or furnace. Closing costs are separate and land on day one: land transfer tax, legal fees, title insurance and adjustments.

Roof, foundation, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, attic insulation, drainage and grading. Hire your own inspector rather than one recommended by the seller, walk the inspection with them, and read the report properly — a good one tells you what needs doing in two years, not just what is broken today. An inspection is not a pass or fail; it is a list of what you are taking on.

Yes, and the numbers need to work on paper before emotion enters. Rent against mortgage, tax, insurance, maintenance and vacancy — not rent against mortgage alone. Financing is different for a non-owner-occupied property, and so is the tax treatment when you sell. If the arithmetic only works on the assumption that prices rise, that is a bet rather than an investment, and we will say so.