Confirming your price and arranging your mortgage
Year 10 has arrived. The first step is the one your entire pathway prepared you for: confirming the agreed purchase price and arranging the mortgage to complete it.
How this works:
- The agreed price is the figure in your Ownership Pathway Agreement from Day One, unchanged regardless of where the market has moved
- You arrange a mortgage for the portion of that price you are financing
- Your mortgage broker, ideally one who understands the HOPE structure, secures financing that reflects your decade of preparation
Because you have spent ten years building savings, strengthening credit, and clearing debt, you approach this mortgage from a position that conventional first-time buyers rarely enjoy. Your LVR is roughly 55 to 65 percent. Your credit file shows a decade of clean payments.
Your proven track record, ten years of documented on-time occupancy contributions, is unlike anything most applicants can provide.
Work with the IGVhope team and your broker together at this stage. The team confirms the completion details. Your broker arranges the financing.
When Maya reached Year 10, her completion price was exactly the figure in her agreement from a decade earlier. With her pre-qualification file already assembled, her broker secured a mortgage at a comfortable LVR within two weeks. The number that had once felt impossible was now entirely within reach, built one month at a time.
Confirm your agreed price with the IGVhope team and begin your mortgage arrangement with a broker. If you have not yet pre-qualified, use the CMHC Homebuying Guide to start.
Your completion document checklist
Completing a property purchase requires a specific set of documents. Having them ready in advance keeps your settlement on schedule.
Your completion checklist:
- Mortgage approval and all lender documents
- Proof of down payment funds: bank statements and savings account confirmations
- Government-issued photo identification
- Your Ownership Pathway Agreement details, which your solicitor will work from
- Any remaining items your solicitor has specifically requested
Your solicitor handles title and registration on your behalf and will tell you precisely what they need from you and when. The CMHC Homebuying Step by Step guide covers the standard documentation for a Canadian purchase closing.
Assemble everything into a single folder, physical or digital, as soon as your mortgage is approved. A complete folder means settlement day is a confirmation, not a chase.
Devon kept a single labelled folder for completion. Mortgage approval, proof of funds, identification, and his agreement details all in one place. When his solicitor requested items, he sent them the same day. His completion stayed exactly on schedule.
Work through your completion document checklist and note what is already in hand versus what still needs to be obtained.
Working with your solicitor
Your solicitor handles the legal mechanics of completing your purchase. Understanding their role means you can be a prepared, responsive client, which keeps the timeline on track.
What your solicitor does:
- Reviews all legal documents related to the completion
- Conducts title searches and ensures clear title
- Handles the transfer of funds between lender, you, and the property
- Registers the change of ownership on title at the Land Title Office
- Ensures the purchase completes legally and without issue
What you do:
- Respond to requests promptly
- Provide documents when asked
- Ask every question that comes to mind, there is no such thing as too basic when completing the most significant purchase of your life
- Engage your solicitor early in Year 10, not at the last moment
The IGVhope team can connect you with solicitors familiar with the program if you do not already have one. Solicitors who understand the Ownership Pathway Agreement structure make the process smoother.
Sam engaged his solicitor as soon as his mortgage was approved, several weeks before settlement. He wrote down every question he had, including ones he thought might be obvious. His solicitor answered each one plainly. Settlement day held no surprises because everything had been understood in advance.
Book your solicitor appointment and prepare your list of questions, particularly anything about the Ownership Pathway Agreement converting to completed ownership.
What actually happens at settlement
Settlement, also called closing, is the day your purchase completes and ownership transfers to you. It is often quieter than people expect.
What happens on settlement day:
- Your lender advances the mortgage funds
- The purchase funds are transferred from you (via your solicitor) to the seller
- Your solicitor finalizes and submits the registration documents
- The Land Title Office registers the change of ownership on title
- Once registration confirms, you are legally the owner of your home
Most of this happens between your solicitor, your lender, and the Land Title Office. Your role on settlement day is typically limited to confirming final document signatures and waiting for the registration confirmation.
The dramatic moment most people imagine is, in a well-prepared completion, a calm series of confirmations. Your ten years of preparation is why.
Maya expected settlement day to be stressful. Having prepared thoroughly, she signed her final documents in the morning, her solicitor confirmed registration in the afternoon, and by evening she owned her home. The biggest financial moment of her life felt, fittingly, like the calm arrival of something long and carefully built.
Read through the settlement steps above once more so you know exactly what to expect on the day. Note any questions for your solicitor.
Your first 90 days as an owner
You have completed your purchase. You are a home owner, exactly as you set out to become on Day One. This final lesson is about stepping well into ownership.
Your first 90 days, the practical steps:
- Confirm your mortgage payment schedule and automate it
- Update your insurance to owner's coverage (if not already done)
- If you are in a strata: introduce yourself to the council, attend your first meeting as an owner, and read the current financial statements
- Set up your home maintenance fund, even $50 a month, started now, builds the buffer that makes ownership comfortable for years ahead
- Keep your monthly financial dashboard habit going: you built it in Year 1, and it still matters
Take a moment to recognize what you have done. Statistics Canada's Survey of Financial Security shows median net worth for homeowners under 35 is $457,100, against $44,000 for renters the same age. Owning a home is one of the ways households build financial stability over time. You have spent a decade building steadily toward that change.
And stay connected. The IGVhope community that carried you through the middle years has something new to gain from you: your story. New participants in Year 1, facing the same doubts you once felt, are helped enormously by hearing from someone who walked the whole pathway and arrived.
In her first 90 days, Maya automated her mortgage, updated her insurance, joined her strata council, and started a $100 a month maintenance fund. Then she wrote a short post in the community for the Year 1 participants: a decade ago I was exactly where you are. It works. Dozens replied. Her arrival became their encouragement.
Complete your first 90 days checklist. Then write one sentence in the IGVhope community for someone who is just beginning the journey you just finished.