Part 5: Making the Move
Why Choose an Ottawa Realtor Who Specializes in Relocation?
A relocation purchase is different from an ordinary local move.
You may be choosing a neighbourhood without having driven its streets, experienced the commute, visited the schools or understood how Ottawa’s Greenbelt and waterways affect travel.
A relocation-focused Realtor should help you evaluate:
- Neighbourhoods based on lifestyle rather than marketing labels
- Commutes during realistic travel periods
- School boards, boundaries and programs
- Property-tax and utility implications
- Urban versus suburban transportation
- Older-home considerations
- Condominium documentation and fees
- Rural wells and septic systems
- Floodplain and drainage considerations
- Resale potential
- Virtual-showing limitations
- Offer conditions and local practices
- Closing logistics when you are outside Ottawa
The goal is not simply to find an available house. It is to find a home that will still make sense after you understand the city.
How to Buy a Home When Relocating to Ottawa
Step 1: Build your relocation profile
Identify:
- Maximum comfortable budget
- Required possession date
- Work locations
- Acceptable commuting time
- School or childcare needs
- Housing type
- Minimum bedrooms
- Parking needs
- Accessibility requirements
- Pet considerations
- Renovation tolerance
- Urban, suburban or rural preference
Step 2: Obtain financing early
Use a lender or mortgage professional who understands interprovincial employment, probationary periods, relocation benefits, military postings, bridge financing and the sale of property in another province.
Step 3: Narrow the city into practical zones
Instead of reviewing hundreds of listings across Ottawa, select three to five areas based on your commute, lifestyle and budget.
Step 4: Review live market information
Compare:
- Active listings
- Recent sales
- Days on market
- Price reductions
- Competing properties
- Property taxes
- Condominium fees
- Housing age
- Development plans
Step 5: Arrange an orientation tour
When possible, spend time driving the shortlisted neighbourhoods before viewing individual homes.
Visit them:
- During weekday rush hour
- In the evening
- On a weekend
- Around schools
- Near transit stations
- Along your probable commuting route
Step 6: Use detailed virtual showings when necessary
A useful virtual showing should examine more than attractive rooms. Ask to see:
- Street and neighbouring properties
- Exterior condition
- Foundation
- Utility room
- Electrical panel
- Windows
- Rooflines
- Storage
- Parking
- Views from each window
- Street noise
- Shared facilities
- Signs of moisture or deferred maintenance
Step 7: Complete appropriate due diligence
Depending on the property, this may include:
- Financing condition
- Home inspection
- Status-certificate review
- Insurance confirmation
- Well-water testing
- Septic inspection
- Survey or title review
- Lawyer review
- Sale-of-property condition
- Final walkthrough
Step 8: Coordinate the closing from a distance
Your Realtor, lawyer, lender, insurer and moving company should work from one timeline so deposits, signatures, funds, keys and possession are properly coordinated.