My wife and I were on the hunt for a home for our family in the beautiful city of Camrose. We looked at a fair amount of homes that were different sizes and had different layouts. Every home we looked at, had something we wanted to change, whether it be paint, taking down walls, or even adding bedrooms.

Eventually, we did find a home but yet again it just had a few things that needed updating. It was a very well maintained home that we purchased from the original owner but it had original 1980’s flooring throughout the entire main floor, each bedroom had it’s own colour of carpet and the living room was different in colour as well. The kitchen was separated from the living room and dining room, which coming from an open concept kitchen, had to change. What we wanted to do was redo all the flooring in the basement and living spaces upstairs, open up the kitchen by cutting a few large holes in the wall, put a raised bar in that opening, and redo all the finishing trim in the house. The benefit to us was that we knew about a Canadian lending program called Purchase Plus Improvements.

What is Purchase Plus Improvements?

As the name suggests, it’s the purchase price of your home plus cost of the improvements that you’re wanting to do. For example if the purchase price of the home is $300,000 and the improvements amount is $30,000 the new mortgage amount is $330,000. How does it work? When you are dealing with your lender just let them know that you are or might be interested in doing purchase plus improvements. What your lender will need is quotes of the work being done and possibly an appraisal of the property. The other option is to hire a general contractor who will provide the total cost of all the work that you’re requiring and submit that to your lender.

Once you take possession of your new home, the quoted amount of improvements will be held in trust by a lawyer until all the work has been completed. The purchase plus improvements maximum limit is $40,000 at most lenders, however, there are ways of getting more money if you’re doing a major renovation and knowing which lender will facilitate that. A word of caution, most lenders give you 90 days from the date of your possession to complete your improvements. To ensure you meet the 90-day deadline, while staying on budget, schedule, and having quality workmanship, using a general contractor can be extremely beneficial. Whether you’re renovating or building a new custom home, staying on budget and schedule can be overwhelming. We at Alair Homes use a 100% transparent process which allows you to see every aspect of your project from quotes to invoices to schedule through our proprietary software.

For my wife and I, purchase plus improvements was an amazing program that helped us make the home we purchased our own. It seems like every day is busier than the last, this program can reduce the amount time spent out shopping for a home, especially if there are a few things you want to change. We all have dreams of where or how we want to live and usually it’s financing that holds us back, but by knowing what lending products are available to you, those dreams become more of a reality and that’s why we believe living better starts here.