The top five — cash needed up front, bidding and offer prices, condominium documents, mortgage terms, and what to look at during a showing — account for nearly two in three of all the questions. The short answers below are general information. Where a figure is given, its source is listed at the end, with the date I read it.
- How much do I need saved?
- What should I offer?
- Is a condo worth it, and what do I read first?
- Fixed or variable, three years or five?
- What do I look at during a showing?
- How do I choose a buyer’s agent?
- How do the FHSA and the Home Buyers’ Plan work?
- Broker, bank or credit union?
- How do I research a neighbourhood?
- What changes with a rural property or a new build?
- What are the closing costs?
- Do I have to waive conditions to win?
- Can I renegotiate after the inspection?
- How do I spot water problems in an older house?
- Pre-approval or approval: what is the difference?
- What does owning cost each month, beyond the mortgage?
- Buy first or sell first?
1. How much do I need saved to buy my first home?
The minimum down payment is 5% on a price up to $500,000. From $500,000 to under $1.5 million it is 5% of the first $500,000 plus 10% of the rest. At $1.5 million or more mortgage insurance is not available, so lenders require 20%. On $450,000 that is $22,500; on $600,000 it is $35,000.
Below 20% down the mortgage must be insured. CMHC’s premium is 4.00% of the loan with 5% to 9.99% down, 3.10% with 10% to 14.99%, and 2.80% with 15% to 19.99%. It is usually added to the mortgage rather than paid in cash. First-time buyers and buyers of a newly built home can take a 30-year amortization on an insured mortgage, for which CMHC adds 0.20 percentage points to the premium.
The down payment is not all the cash you need. Land transfer tax, registration fees, legal fees and adjustments are paid on closing (question 11). The Investment page has an estimator for the total at any price.
2. How much over asking are houses selling for, and how do I price an offer?
There is no single answer, because it depends on the street, the price band and the week. A list price is the seller’s marketing decision, and when a seller sets an offer date it is often set to draw offers rather than to state what the house will sell for. What a house is worth is shown by recent sales of comparable houses nearby, and by what those houses had that this one does or does not.
Before you offer, I pull the comparable sales and go through them with you, along with what the house itself will cost you in the next few years. Then the number you write is yours, and you know why. Why the board-wide average price is not that number.
3. Is a condo worth it, and what red flags are in the documents?
A condo can be good value, but you are buying into a corporation as well as a unit. On a resale, the Manitoba seller must give you an information package: disclosure statements, the declaration, the budget, the latest financial statements, the by-laws and rules, and any reserve fund study or its summary. You can also ask for a status certificate, which says whether the owner owes the corporation money; the corporation is bound by it.
You then have a seven-day cooling-off period, which starts on the later of the day you sign and the day the seller gives you the documents. Read them in that window: the reserve fund against what the study says it should hold, the budget against the fees, and recent meeting minutes for repairs being discussed. A low fee with a thin reserve is usually a special assessment that has not arrived yet. More in Downtown and the condominium buyer guide.
4. Fixed or variable, three-year or five-year, and how do penalties work?
The rate is only half of it. The other half is what it costs to leave the mortgage early, if you sell, move or refinance before the term ends. A penalty is usually the higher of three months’ interest or the interest rate differential (IRD). The IRD compares your rate with the lender’s current rate for the time left, and because many lenders calculate it from posted rates, it can be much larger than three months’ interest. Many variable-rate mortgages charge three months’ interest; your own contract sets the method.
If there is a real chance you will move within five years, ask each lender to show you the penalty in writing for leaving after two or three years, and weigh that against the rate. Your lender or mortgage broker advises on the mortgage itself.
5. What should I check during a short showing?
Start outside, at the ground against the foundation and where the downspouts discharge. Then go to the basement and the utility room: cracks in the foundation wall (horizontal or stepped cracks are the ones that need an engineer), fresh paint or patches in one corner, the size and age of the electrical panel, the age of the furnace and water heater, and the visible plumbing and wiring. Grey polybutylene pipe, knob-and-tube wiring and vermiculite insulation are the materials insurers and inspectors ask about.
A showing tells you what to ask; it does not tell you a house is sound. That is settled by a home inspection, and where needed an electrician, an engineer or a sewer camera. What to check in a house built before 1960.
6. How do I choose a buyer’s agent, and can I buy without one?
You can buy without one. If you do, remember that the contact button on a listing usually reaches the listing brokerage, which works for the seller. If you choose an agent, ask how they read a house, how they would price an offer on one you like, and how often they have talked a buyer out of one. Before you sign a buyer agreement, read how long it lasts, what it covers and how the brokerage is paid.
7. How do the FHSA and the RRSP Home Buyers’ Plan work?
A First Home Savings Account takes contributions of up to $8,000 a year, to $40,000 in a lifetime. Contributions are deductible and a qualifying withdrawal for a first home is tax-free. Room only starts building once the account is open, and unused room can be carried forward, so it is worth opening one early even with a small amount.
The Home Buyers’ Plan lets you withdraw up to $60,000 from your RRSP for a first home, which you repay over 15 years. For a first withdrawal made from 2026 to 2028, repayment starts in the fifth year after the year of the withdrawal. You can use both for the same home, as long as you meet the conditions of each when you withdraw, which means up to $100,000 per buyer. Which to draw first is a tax question for your accountant or adviser.
8. Should I use a mortgage broker, a bank or a credit union?
A broker compares several lenders for you, including lenders that do not have branches. A bank or a credit union offers its own products, sometimes with more flexibility for an existing member or customer, and not every credit union is available through a broker. Getting one quote from a broker and one from a credit union or your own bank is a fair test. Compare the penalty terms and the prepayment privileges, not only the rate.
9. How do I research a neighbourhood before buying?
Visit at the times you would live there: rush hour, a weekday evening, a Friday night. The Winnipeg Police Service publishes crime and calls-for-service maps by neighbourhood. For a recently renovated house, ask for the permits and check them with the City. The neighbourhood entries describe Winnipeg areas through the age of their houses.
Then radon. Manitoba has historically had higher radon levels than the national average, and the Province estimates about 19% of Manitobans live in homes above Health Canada’s guideline of 200 Bq/m³. A proper test runs at least three months, ideally between October and April, so it rarely fits into a purchase. Ask the seller whether one has been done, and plan to test after you move in. The only way to know is to test.
10. What is different about a rural property, an acreage or a new build?
On rural property, the well and the septic system are part of what you are buying, and the offer should be conditional on a water test, the well’s flow, and a septic inspection. Lenders also treat land differently from the house on it, so ask yours early. Wells, septic and permits on rural property.
On a new build, GST applies. A new housing rebate recovers part of it on homes up to $450,000, and first-time buyers may qualify for a rebate of the full GST on homes up to $1 million, reduced up to $1.5 million; confirm eligibility with the Canada Revenue Agency. Ask about an inspection before the drywall goes up, while the framing, wiring and plumbing can still be seen. Manitoba does not require new homes to carry a warranty, so ask whether the builder is enrolled with a third-party warranty provider and what is covered.
11. What are the closing costs on top of the down payment?
The largest is Manitoba’s land transfer tax, paid through your lawyer on the fair market value: nothing on the first $30,000, 0.5% from $30,000 to $90,000, 1% to $150,000, 1.5% to $200,000, and 2% on everything above $200,000. On a $400,000 home that is $5,650. The provincial rates have no first-time buyer rebate.
Add the Land Titles fees ($137 to register the transfer and $137 for the mortgage in 2026, when filed electronically), your lawyer’s fee and disbursements, title insurance, and the property tax and utility adjustments at possession. Get the lawyer’s quote in writing before you offer. The estimator adds it up for any price.
12. Do I have to waive the inspection and financing conditions to win?
No, and waiving them blindly is how buyers lose deposits. If you offer without a financing condition and the lender’s appraisal comes in below your price, the difference is yours to find. If you want a clean offer on a competitive house, do the work before offer night: an inspection before you offer, your lender looking at the property and the comparable sales, and the condo documents read if it is a condo. Then you are not guessing.
13. Can I renegotiate after an inspection, and what happens before possession?
If a conditional inspection finds something significant that you did not know about, you can ask for a lower price or a credit, ask for a repair, or let the condition lapse and walk away. The seller can say no. In Manitoba a Property Disclosure Statement is voluntary, but the standard offer asks for one and most buyers request it; read it before the inspection, not after. Ask in your offer for a viewing shortly before possession, so you can confirm the house is in the condition you bought it in before your lawyer releases the money.
14. How do I spot water in the basement, bad grading or a failing sewer line?
Ground that slopes toward the house, downspouts that drop water against the wall, white mineral staining (efflorescence) on the concrete, and a musty smell are the usual signs. On Winnipeg clay, a sump pit and a backwater valve added to an older house are a good sign, not a bad one; ask when they were installed and whether permits were pulled. For an older house, a camera inspection of the sewer line costs little next to replacing it. The City and the Province have at times offered a basement flooding protection subsidy; confirm its current status before relying on it.
15. What is the difference between a pre-approval and a final approval?
A pre-approval is a lender’s review of your income and credit and, usually, a rate held for a set period, often 90 to 120 days. It is not a commitment to lend. Final approval comes after your offer is accepted: the lender verifies your income documents and where the down payment came from, and approves the property itself, often with an appraisal.
Either way you are qualified at a higher rate than you will pay. For an uninsured mortgage from a federally regulated lender, the minimum qualifying rate is the higher of your contract rate plus 2% or 5.25%.
16. What does a home cost each month beyond the mortgage?
Property tax, Manitoba Hydro and gas, water and sewer, the waste fee, insurance, condo fees where they apply, and maintenance. On a principal residence in Manitoba, the Homeowners Affordability Tax Credit ($1,600 for 2026) is applied directly on the tax bill, so the tax figure on a listing may already be net of it. Twelve months of utility bills tell you more about a particular house than any estimate. Each cost, with its current rate: what it costs to own a house in Winnipeg, and how the tax bill is built.
17. Should I buy first or sell first, and how does bridge financing work?
Selling first tells you exactly what you have to spend, but you may need somewhere to live in between. Buying first secures the next home, but you carry the risk that your own sells for less, or later, than planned. If the two possession dates are a few weeks apart, many lenders offer bridge financing, usually only once the sale of your current home is firm. One common middle way is to buy with your offer conditional on selling, though in a busy market sellers are less likely to accept that condition. Ask your lender what it needs before you commit to either order.
What these answers are, and are not
General information, written by a REALTOR®. I am not a home inspector, engineer, lawyer, accountant or mortgage professional, and nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice. Rates and rules change; confirm the figures that matter to you with the source and with your lender, lawyer or accountant before you rely on them.
Sources: CMHC, mortgage loan insurance premiums and 30-year amortization premium · Department of Finance Canada, mortgage reforms in force 15 December 2024 · Manitoba, buying a condominium unit · Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, prepayment penalties · Canada Revenue Agency, Home Buyers’ Plan and FHSA and housing tax measures · Canada Revenue Agency, first-time home buyers’ GST/HST rebate · Winnipeg Police Service, crimes and calls for service maps · Manitoba Health, radon · Province of Manitoba, land transfer tax · Teranet Manitoba, Land Titles fee schedule 2026 · Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, minimum qualifying rate · RBC, mortgage pre-approval (an example of a lender’s rate hold). Read 10 November 2026.
Continue in the journal, or, if you have already found a house on REALTOR.ca, send me the address or the MLS® number and I will go through the comparable sales and the questions to ask before you offer.