Buyer's Guide
Condo Fees and the Contingency Fund
The number printed on the condo fee line of a listing tells you almost nothing on its own. What you buy with a …
Real Estate Insights
Market trends, buying tips, investment advice, and local neighbourhood guides for Montréal, Laval, the Laurentians & Lanaudière.
Finance
Homeownership in Quebec in 2026
In many families, homeownership is not an investment category. It is security: a home nobody can push you out of, …
Financing
First-Time Buyer Mortgages in Quebec
The mortgage process intimidates most first-time buyers. It shouldn’t. Once you understand what each piece …
Buyer's Guide
Buying Property Together in Quebec
Buying with a partner, a parent, a sibling or a friend has become ordinary in Greater Montreal. What stays …
Finance
The 20% Down Payment Myth: Why It's Holding Buyers Back
“Save 20% before you buy. Never pay mortgage insurance.” This advice gets passed down like family …
Buyer's Guide
Walking Away: Seven Red Flags You Can Verify on Paper
A real red flag is not a feeling, it is something you verify. And it is almost never in the kitchen: it lives in a …
Buyer's Guide
Your First Property Visit: What to Check
A first visit is short, and it is often where everything gets decided. You walk in, you love the light, you are …
Real Estate 101
Realtor, Broker, Agent in Quebec
“Broker”, “agent”, “Realtor”. The three words circulate as synonyms in everyday …
Seller's Guide
Renovations and Your Home's Value
Should you renovate before listing? The answer depends far less on taste than on two things: the price ceiling in …
Seller's Guide
Downsizing in Greater Montreal: A Guide
Selling the house where you raised your children is a financial decision and a life decision. It is often presented …
Buyer's Guide
A Complete Guide for Newcomers Buying Property in Quebec
For anyone arriving from abroad, the Quebec real estate system is completely opaque: the mortgage structure, the …
Buyer's Guide
Home Inspection in Quebec: What It Costs and When to Do It
The pre-purchase inspection generates more questions than any other step in a purchase. Here are the answers, in …
Finance
Interest Rates and the Montreal Market
Interest rates are the variable buyers follow most anxiously and understand least well. A headline announces a Bank …
Buyer's Guide
Comparing North Shore Sectors in Laval
“Which sector of the North Shore is the best one?” I do not answer that question, and not out of …
Seller's Guide
Preparing a Property for Sale in Quebec
Preparing a property before listing it means two things at once. A presentation job, which everyone knows about. …
Finance
The Best Mortgage Rate in Canada
The rate advertised in a bank window and the rate written into your contract are rarely the same number. Between …
Finance
Mortgage Pre-Approval: The Limits
Plenty of buyers treat a pre-approval as a finish line. You get a number, you start visiting, and you assume the …
Real Estate 101
Language and Your Transaction in Quebec
A real estate transaction in Quebec runs on documents: a brokerage contract, declarations by the seller, a promise …
Buyer's Guide
Off-Market Properties in Quebec
Off-market is the most misused phrase in Quebec real estate. It suggests a back door and an insider price. The …
Buyer's Guide
Negotiating a Property in Montreal
In the popular imagination, negotiating means holding out longer than the other side. In Quebec, it starts with …
Buyer's Guide
Open House: The Broker and the Seller
An open house looks like neutral ground. The door is open, the feature sheets are on the counter, someone greets …
Buyer's Guide
The Hidden Costs of Homeownership
The mortgage payment is the number the bank decides on, and it is also the only number most buyers budget for. …
Investment
Rental Properties in Montreal and Laval
Buying an income property is a decision. Managing one is a practice governed by statute, article by article. In …
Buyer's Guide
The Home Inspection Checklist, Item by Item
On inspection day, most buyers trail the inspector from room to room and nod. They leave with a report dozens of …
