Before proceeding with the Purchase of Real Estate, either as your principal residence or as an investment, it is prudent to engage the services of a Home Inspector.  He/She should be a memebr of a bonded and certified company and one should ask for creditenials or ask your Real Estate Agents for referrals.  The Home Inspectorr will examine the house from the roof to the basement searching out any visible deficiencies that will need addressing before the agreement of purchase and sale is firm.
He will also inform you of the condition of the any appliances left; the condition and approximate life span of windows, furnace, and roof.
Another great aspect is the mini-seminar he gives the prospective home buyer on the maintenance of the house and will give you a detailed booklet and often a video.
Payment is at the time of Inspection and is subject to GST,

Most mortgages have the option to allow payments to be made on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. This option may be desirable for two reasons. The first is it can save you money as you can expect to pay off your mortgage about 4 years sooner. This can save you dramatically over the life of your mortgage. The other reason why these options are so popular is that if your employer pays you on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, you can simplify your budgeting by making the payment line up with the way you paid.

Paying extra amounts on your mortgage can make a big interest saving over time. When we select a mortgage company, privilege payments options are something that we look for. A 20% privilege payment will allow you to pay off up to $20,000 per year on a $100 000 mortgage. It is important that the privilege payment also be flexible to allow you to pay smaller payments on the mortgage and as often as you wish. An extra $1000 periodically paid on a mortgage can help you become mortgage free faster.

When you require a mortgage for more than 80% of the purchase price of a property, that mortgage must be insured by Canada Mortgage and Housing (CMHC) or GE Mortgage insurance. The premium charged by these company`s decreases as the down payment increases. When you finance your property at 95%, a premium of 3.75% is added to the mortgage. By increasing the down payment to 10% of the purchase price the premium can be reduced to 2.5%. If you can put down 20%, you can avoid any additional insurance fee. Depending on your situation there are ways that you can structure this financing to avoid the CMHC or GE insurance premium.

As mentioned above, when you put a 25% down payment on your purchase you can avoid the CMHC premium. More importantly the larger the down payment, the lower the amount of interest you will pay over the life of your mortgage. It is important to note that it may not be wise to stretch yourself to increase your down payment and end up borrowing on credit cards or a line of credit at a higher rate.

The options for mortgages available can be very confusing for most mortgage shoppers. Terms for mortgages vary between variable and fixed rate, 6-month terms to 10 year terms. Taking a variable or floating rate mortgage can have savings. Typically the shorter the term or guarantee of the rate, the lower the rate will be. This does not always happen, depending on the market place and the economy, but history has shown that short-term rates tend to be lower than long-term rates. The up side of variable rate is the strong potential for interest rate savings. The down side is the fact that you are accepting the interest rate risk without a guarantee. If you are considering a variable rate mortgage you need to look at your own risk tolerance, and your cash flow available to deal with potential increased payment. Considering projections of rates and where we see interest rates heading can also be important in this decision. Make sure you talk to an expert when you are making this decision.

CLosing costs are all additional monies that one needs to pay for when purchasing a new home.   These include lawyers, appraisal etc and one should set aside approximately 1.5% of the full purchase price  and is payable to the lawyer on closing (usually when you see him to sign the final documents).  
Closing costs:  
Adjustments:  these are house expenses, such as taxes,  that  the seller has paid past the closing due and will refundable to him/her by you, the purchaser.   Likewise, if you are selling a house, these adjustments would be coming to you.
  
Lawyer's Fees - approx S1000 and include his fee that vaires and disbursement charges which do not.   You should be very specific when comparing lawyers and ask for a print out with all the charges Also ask about Title Insurance and obtain it before any searches have been made

Moving costs:  apprx. $1000 - remember try not have a moving day on Saturday or holidays as the costs are more and also keep in mind that Fridays and the end of the month are the busiest times.

Real Estate:  cost to a purchaser is nil - the fees are paid through the proceeds of the SALE of a house and is calculated into the seller's net equity

Home Inspection:  highly advisable - a bonded and certified specialist inspects the home from the basement to the roof and will be able to tell you if there are any immediate deficiences that need attending to before closing the deal and/or the condition of other units such as furnace, windows and their approx remaining life span.  Also you are given a brief seminar and a booklet or video on how to maintain your home, especially useful for First Time Buyers