Real Estate Transfer In Vancouver: The Notary Process
As we all know, Vancouver’s real estate market is hot and expensive. Making the decision to buy a house or condo in this city takes a huge amount of consideration planning, and financial dedication. That’s because for most of us, buying a home is our single largest investment.
However, a huge part of the home buying process is one that you’ve probably never really thought too much about and that is, who facilitates the purchase and how is it done? You are putting your largest investment in the hands of people you might not know (your lawyer or notary public), and unless you are a lawyer or notary public yourself, you might not know a lot about the legal process of how your newly purchased property actually becomes your property.
Allow us to explain the different phases of the purchase.
Conveyance Begins – Phase 1
Your offer to purchase has been accepted and all subjects have been removed, allowing the purchase (conveyance) to begin. At this point, you need to let your realtor, mortgage broker or adviser know which lawyer or notary public you want to use to facilitate the conveyance. If you are using us, Vancouver Downtown Notary Public (which I hope you are), we are very proactive in ensuring we receive the Contract and instructions as soon as possible to facilitate a smooth and timely transaction.
Collecting Additional Information – Phase 2
Approximately 2 weeks before your closing date, we will contact you to get any additional information that we require. If you are purchasing with a partner, we might ask whether you intend to own the property as joint tenants or tenants in common. If you do not know the difference, please contact our notary public and we will give you a concise explanation.
Preparing For Real Estate Transfer – Phase 3
This is where we really get to work in preparing your purchase. We will conduct a number of searches on your soon to be property, including title searches and obtaining all of the tax information. If you have arranged to have a mortgage on the property, there are a number of requirements that your mortgage lender imposes upon us, such as obtaining title insurance and fire insurance. After all, they want to protect their interest in your property too!
Preparing Closing Documents – Phase 4
This is the phase where we prepare your closing documents that we will ultimately send to the seller’s lawyer or notary public for the seller to sign. The closing documents include the title transfer, property transfer tax forms and the Statement of Adjustments. If you do not know what some or any of these terms mean, please call Vancouver Downtown Notary at 778-819-8553 and we will be happy to explain them to you.
Signing Real Estate Transfer Documents – Phase 5
This is when the action starts for you, because phase 5 occurs approximately 2-3 days before the closing date. We will contact you to come into our office and sign all of the documents that we have prepared for you. If you have secured a mortgage on the property, we need to ensure that everything is in place for us to receive the mortgage funds in our trust account, so that the seller’s lawyer or notary public has all of the funds on the closing date. If there is any shortage between the purchase price and the mortgage amount, phase 5 is when you would be required to provide us with the funds to cover that shortage.
Closing Date – Phase 6
This is the closing date. At this point it is our responsibility to register the transfer of title and make sure that the seller’s lawyer or notary public has received all of the funds. We will also ensure that the previous owner(s’) mortgage is cleared from title. At this point, the property is legally yours!
Possession Date – Phase 7
This phase is your possession date. Your realtor should have arranged a time and place for you to receive the keys to your new home.
Have some champagne and celebrate!!!
If you have any questions or would like to hire Vancouver Downtown Notary Public for your real estate purchase, please call 778-819-8553 or email us at [email protected]. Please note that we also offer mobile notary services, and can accommodate flexible appointment hours. Find out more about our notary services, or simply give us a call. We are happy to help with any of your notarization needs!
