Upsizing Your Home

About this video

Upsizing your home is about more than getting extra space. Kirby Chan, Broker, of Kirby Chan & Co. Real Estate Team walks growing families through the decisions involved.

He covers timing, financing, neighbourhood choice and long-term lifestyle needs. He also explains why coordinating the move properly supports a more confident decision.

The gap is not the cost of moving up

The number most families carry is the difference between the two prices. It is always the smaller number.

On a move from a $900,000 townhouse to a $1,400,000 detached home, the gap is $500,000. The actual cost adds Ontario land transfer tax on the purchase, which is $24,475 at that price, plus legal fees on two transactions, the commission on your sale and the work the new home needs on arrival. There is no first time buyer refund on a second purchase, so the full land transfer tax is payable.

Why the arithmetic argues against waiting

When you move up you own the cheaper asset and you want the dearer one. If both rise by the same percentage, the home you are buying gains more in dollars than the home you are selling. Ten per cent on $1,400,000 is $140,000 against $90,000 on $900,000, so the gap widened by $50,000 while you waited. A falling market does the reverse and helps an upsizer.

That is an argument about arithmetic rather than a prediction about prices. It is a real input to the decision rather than a reason to rush.

Bridge financing covers the stretch when your purchase closes before your sale and lenders generally want your sale to be firm before they commit. Our upsizing guide for Markham works through the full cost, the sequencing and whether renovating instead is the better answer.