no bait and switch | no hidden fees
Our accounts are one-of-a-kind: we don’t charge “in-house” disbursements! Pretty much every other law firm we know does. Their accounts will likely include charges such as postage, copying ($0.25 - $0.50 per page), word processing, and even a file opening admin charge. All this can add between$50.00 - $150,00 to your total bill. So a low fee quote may not be what it appears.
We don’t charge any of that! Our fee is our fee.
our accounts are among the lowest around
Why? Well first, we don't charge the hidden stuff like we said. So that helps. But we also just charge actual third party costs without mark-up. That's right. We don't make a penny on 'disbursements' or expenses we incur doing your deal. So charges like Land Titles registration, couriers, and tax searches that every deal incurs - are just charged at cost. So your account will look like this:
Our Fee | Actual Expenses | GST
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That's it!
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So this unique style of billing + no internal cost recovery stuff (no hidden fees) = one of the lowest total legal costs for real estate transactions around.
so what will a purchase actually cost?
Our standard fee for your transaction would likely be $995.00. This assumes:
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- the purchase price is less than $600,000.00 and
- you are using a standard mortgage lender.
The total costs, including expenses incurred on your behalf (‘disbursements’) and GST would likely fall in the range of $1,500.00 - $1,800.00. Feel free to call or email for a more accurate quote for your particular transaction.
Even though our account will be awesome, you should still plan for a few cost-surprises. Make sure to have some additional funds set aside for unexpected expenses such as:
- Title Insurance (some banks require it unfortunately) See our blog HERE and HERE for information about this. Title Insurance will cost between $179-$249 depending your bank's requirements.
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- Late Interest charges - your standard form AREA Real Estate Contract requires the Buyer to pay the Seller late interest if the Cash to Close is not paid on time. Late closings can happen for a lot of reasons and we have an amazing track record for closing deals on time. But it can happen. Plan for $100-$300 extra to cover a few days of interest if it does happen.
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- Value Added Service Fees - sometimes things happen 'outside the box'. Check out some of the additional services we offer and the costs you may experience HERE​.
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so what will a sale actually cost?
Our standard fee for a standard real estate sale is $895.00 – if you are also purchasing with us, we will reduce that to $845.00. And if you do not have a mortgage to payout we can reduce the fee to $820.00.
For budgeting purposes, remember that there will also be some other 'closing costs' such as expenses incurred at Land Titles, delivery charges, searches, etc. And of course there is GST on most items including the legal fee portion of your bill. I usually tell clients to plan liberally so as not to be surprised - have about $1100 - $1300 set aside for such total closing costs (fees, GST, disbursements).
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Even though our account will be that amazing, there are some other costs you might incur when closing on your house sale that cannot be predicted - so have some additional funds set aside for unexpected costs for things like:
- Real Property Report and Compliance (detached home sales): if you don't have one or your existing one is not accurate, your realtor will likely get that rolling at the time of listing. Plan for that to cost between $450-$650.
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- Condo Documents (Condo sales): your lawyer needs to order updated Estoppel Certificate and Certificate of Insurance for time of closing. Plan for that to cost between $150-$275.
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- Value Added Service Fees - sometimes things happen 'outside the box'. Check out some of the additional services we offer and the costs you may experience HERE​.