The First-Time Buyer's Closing Cost Checklist (Ontario)

First-time buyers save relentlessly for the down payment and then get blindsided at closing by a stack of costs no one warned them about. None of these are surprises to the professionals. They should not be surprises to you either. Here is what to set aside beyond the down payment.

Ontario charges a provincial land transfer tax on every purchase, and if you are buying inside the City of Toronto, there is a second municipal land transfer tax on top of it. Combined, on a typical GTA home this is one of the largest single closing costs you will face.

The good news for first-time buyers: Ontario offers a land transfer tax rebate, and Toronto offers its own. Together they can offset a meaningful chunk of the tax on your first purchase. Your lawyer applies these on closing, but you should know the net figure well in advance so it does not catch you short.

You need a real estate lawyer to close in Ontario, and their fee plus disbursements is a predictable line item. Title insurance is typically bundled in and protects you against certain defects in the property's ownership history. Then come adjustments: if the seller prepaid property taxes or utilities past your closing date, you reimburse them their share.

Individually these are modest. Together they add up, and they are all due at closing, in certified funds. This is not money you can put on a credit card.

Beyond the hard closing costs, give yourself a moving-in fund. A home inspection before you buy, movers, immediate repairs, and the first round of furniture or appliances all land in the same few weeks. Buyers who drain their entire savings into the down payment and closing costs often spend their first months as owners stressed and stretched.

A simple target: have the down payment, the closing costs, and a separate cushion of a few thousand dollars for the move itself. That third bucket is what keeps ownership feeling like a win instead of a scramble.