A guide for buyers
Buying a home in Greater Saint John, from the first call to the keys.
Everything a printed guide would tell you, with one difference: the numbers in this one are true today. It reads the same sources the rest of the site reads, so open it in March and it says what March looks like.
Andrew Shaw
REALTOR® · REAL Broker · The Ellis Team
Who you are working with
I have lived here my whole life.
Saint John and Rothesay, the whole of it. I have been in real estate since 2022, I am a REALTOR® with REAL Broker onThe Ellis Team, and most of my work is residential in the communities I grew up in. I also built Agent Runway, a tool that tracks everything, and that habit carries into your file.
The rest of this guide is how a purchase actually goes, in the order it happens. More about me.
01
Why work with a REALTOR® at all.
A code you can hold me to
Every REALTOR® works under the REALTOR® Code and New Brunswick's rules for the profession. That is not a slogan. It is a set of obligations to you that I can be held to, and it is why the word has the mark after it.
Someone who has read the forms
A purchase involves dozens of documents, and the wording in them decides what happens when something goes wrong. I read them for a living. You should not have to learn them the week you are buying a house.
Facts about the property, not just the listing
The listing is the seller's side. I bring the rest: what the assessment says, what it last sold for, what comparable homes actually closed at, and what the street has done over the last few years.
A wider net
You will hear about a match the moment it is listed, and sometimes before. You will also stop chasing homes that a search site still shows as available and are already gone.
Negotiation with the whole picture
Price is one lever. The closing date, the deposit, the conditions and how long you take to satisfy them are others, and a clean offer at a slightly lower number often beats a higher one that still has to clear financing.
Current experience
Most people buy a few homes in a lifetime, years apart, and the rules move in between. I am in transactions every month, so what I know is what is true now.
A steady voice when it gets emotional
It is a house, and it is also the largest purchase most people ever make. Having someone on your side who cares about the outcome and is not swept up in the moment keeps the decision about the things that matter to you.
02 · Live figures
The market you are buying into, as of today.
A brochure would tell you the market is busy or quiet. These are the actual figures, from completed sales and the live feed, and they change as the market does.
$360,000
median sale price
July 2026, +5.0% on a year ago
102.2%
of asking price
homes are selling above list
27 days
to sell
median, against 21 a year ago
3.3 months
until everything sells
at this pace, tilted toward sellers
387
homes for sale right now
median asking $399,900, land and commercial excluded
+51.7%
over five years
the same house, July 2026 benchmark $354,400
+17.8%
above assessed value
median across 3,196 sales since 2025
Sold figures are for the Saint John Real Estate Board region, published a month behind; live listing figures are Greater Saint John from the MLS® feed, refreshed hourly. Sold homes and listed homes are different sets, and the two are not two readings of one number. The full read, with sources, is on Market Pulse.
03
Step one: finances and pre-approval.
Before you look at a single house, find out what you can borrow. It changes what you look at, and it changes how your offer is received.
A lender looks at two ratios. Your housing costs against your gross income, and all your debt payments against it. Most cap those at roughly 39 and 44 percent. Then they qualify you at a rate higher than the one you will pay, the greater of your rate plus two points or 5.25 percent, so a rate rise does not put you under. That is the stress test, and it is why the number you are approved for can be lower than a payment calculator suggests.
A pre-approval is a lender saying what they would lend, on today's facts, for a fixed period. It is not an approval. That comes once there is a specific property, and it can change if rates, the market or your circumstances do. Get it anyway. Sellers take an offer more seriously when the financing is real, and it tells you your ceiling before you are standing in a house you love.
You can get one from your bank or credit union, or from a mortgage broker, who shops several lenders on your behalf. Talk to more than one. They are selling you a product, and the terms are negotiable.
The down payment
At least 5 percent of the first $500,000 and 10 percent of any amount above that, up to $1.5 million. Above that, 20 percent. Buildings with three or four units need 10 percent.
Under 20 percent, the mortgage has to be insured against default. That protects the lender, and the premium is yours to pay. It runs to roughly 4 percent of the loan at a 5 percent down payment and falls as the down payment grows, and it is normally added to the mortgage rather than paid up front. The insurers are CMHC, Sagen and Canada Guaranty.
How long, and at what rate
Twenty five years is the usual amortization. Thirty is available on insured mortgages for first-time buyers and new builds, which lowers the payment and raises the total interest.
Fixed or variable, and for how long a term, is a conversation with your lender and depends on how you feel about a payment that can move. Run the numbers on the mortgage calculator before that conversation so you walk in knowing what a quarter point does to you.
These are the public rules as checked on 2026-08-18. They change, and your lender's numbers govern. Nothing here is tax or financial advice.
04
Step two: the search.
Once the money is sorted, this is the part people enjoy. It goes faster if we start with honest answers to a few questions.
I set you up on an automatic search of the MLS®, the database REALTORS® list and search in. The moment a home matching what you want is listed, or drops in price, or comes back on the market, you hear about it. You will not be finding out from a sign.
Before that, we talk. These are the questions I will ask, and it is worth thinking about them before we sit down.
- 01Where do you want to be, and where would you settle for?
- 02Is there a school you want to be near?
- 03New construction, or a home that has been lived in?
- 04What style of home, and are stairs fine?
- 05Do you need a garage, and how much yard is enough?
- 06How soon do you want to move?
- 07Is a deck or patio a must, or nice to have?
- 08What are the three things you will not compromise on?
- 09What would make you walk away from an otherwise perfect house?
- 10What is your real ceiling, before you are standing in one you love?
The community pages are a good place to start on the first one. Nine of them, each with live listings.
05
Step three: the offer.
An offer is a legal agreement to buy. Once the seller accepts it, you are bound by it, subject to whatever conditions you built in.
Before I write it, I need to know six things from you.
- The price you are offering
- How much of it is financed
- The conditions you want, and how many days to satisfy each
- The deposit, and when it is paid
- What is included and what is not: appliances, fixtures, the shed
- Your preferred closing date
What that means right now
In July 2026 homes across the board region sold for 102.2% of asking, in a median of 27 days.
That is a market where a good house draws more than one offer, and where the strength of your offer is not only the price. A clean offer with sensible conditions and a deposit that shows you mean it will often win against a higher one that is loaded with outs.
When there is more than one offer, the seller can accept one, counter one, or turn them all down, and you will usually not be told what the others say. Decide your real ceiling before you are in the middle of it.
06
Step four: the conditional period.
Once your offer is accepted you have a window, usually ten to fourteen days, to satisfy the conditions in it. This is when you find out what you are actually buying.
Home inspection
You choose the inspector and you pay for it. Book it the day the offer is accepted, because good inspectors are busy and the deadline does not move.
Financing
Your lender turns the pre-approval into an approval for this specific property. This is where an appraisal may be ordered.
Insurance
Proof that the home can be insured. Older wiring, oil tanks and wood heat can complicate this, so ask early.
Water test
For homes on a well. Bacteria and chemistry, and sometimes flow rate.
Deposit
Paid on acceptance or shortly after, held in the brokerage's trust account and credited to you at closing.
Inside the window you can satisfy each condition, go back to the seller about a repair or a credit if the inspection turned something up, or end the agreement on that condition and walk away with your deposit. If a condition is not met by its date, the deal can fall through. Once every condition is satisfied and waived, the sale is firm.
07
Step five: firm sale.
The conditions are met, the sold sign goes up, and the lawyers take over.
Your lawyer starts the title search and deals with your lender. You will meet them, or speak by phone if you are away, to go through the documents and sign. Before closing, make sure your lender and your lawyer each have everything they asked for; the thing that delays a closing is almost always a document nobody chased.
This is also when you call the utilities to have power, heat and internet transferred to your name for closing day, and when you book the movers.
08
Step six: closing.
On top of the down payment there are costs to close. As a working rule, budget roughly one and a half to three percent of the price for them, and run the estimator below for your actual number.
Land transfer tax
One percent of the price or the assessed value, whichever is higher. New Brunswick charges it on the greater of the two, which catches people when the assessment is above what they paid.
Legal fees and disbursements
Vary by firm. Ask for a quote up front.
Adjustments
Property tax and any utilities the seller has prepaid past closing day, reimbursed to them.
Appraisal
If your lender orders one.
Title insurance
Often required by the lender, arranged through your lawyer.
Moving
The one people forget to budget for.
The closing cost estimator works it out for a specific price, and takes the assessed value so the transfer tax is charged on the right number.
The last day
You walk through the home once more, usually the morning of closing or the night before, to see it is as you agreed. Your lawyer then completes: funds go to the seller, the deed goes into your name, and the keys follow once that is done. Keys can come late in the day, so plan the truck accordingly.
09
After you buy: the tax bill will change.
This is the part most guides leave out, and it is the call I get a year later.
New Brunswick caps how fast an assessment can rise for the owner who is living in a home, and that cap resets when the property changes hands. Your first full assessment after buying can be a real jump, and the tax bill follows it. It is not a mistake and it is not about you. It is how the Act works, and knowing it now is the difference between planning for it and being blindsided.
What actually happens to property tax after you buy, with the statute cited, and a lookup for any address so you can see the current assessment before you offer.
10
The people I recommend.
Three names in each category, so the choice is yours. These are professionals my clients have worked with and would work with again.
Mortgage specialist
Gets you pre-approved before you look, and finds the rate and terms you actually qualify for.
Julie McCrodan · The Mortgage Group
Cindy McKinley · National Bank
Brad Donnelly · Premiere Mortgage
Home inspector
Tells you what you are actually buying, inside the conditional period, while you can still walk away.
Chris Melanson · A Buyers Choice
Kevin Travis · A Buyers Choice
Darren Ritchie · Pillar to Post
Lawyer
Handles the title search, the closing documents and the money on the day.
Veronica Ford · Lawson Creamer
Fred Fernandez · Fernandez Law
Darren Marr · Marr Law Office
Insurance broker
Your lender needs proof the home is insurable before closing, and it can be a condition of the sale.
Dawn Ellis · Hovey Insurance
Jeannie McKay · Carleton Fundy Mutual
Welch Insurance
Some firms run referral or reward programs. Where that applies to anyone listed here, you will hear it from me before you engage them, as the rules I work under require. You are free to use anyone you like; these are the ones I know.
Ready to buy?
Let’s start with a conversation.
Tell me what you are trying to do and I will tell you what it looks like in this market, honestly, before you commit to anything.
