If your down payment is below 20 percent, add the provincial sales tax on your CMHC, Sagen or Canada Guaranty mortgage insurance premium, which is due in cash at closing in Saskatchewan rather than rolled into the mortgage the way the premium itself can be. A home inspection, generally $400 to $600, is another standard cost a buyer should have already budgeted for before an offer is written.
The First Home Savings Account and the Home Buyers' Plan both let you build this cash pool inside registered accounts rather than an ordinary savings account, which is worth setting up well ahead of when you plan to buy.
At the current Saskatoon benchmark of $444,700, a buyer who has saved the minimum down payment plus this closing cushion is genuinely ready to make an offer, not just ready to start looking.
Get your hand-reviewed valuation from Joel Dyck.