80 flights per week between Canada and Phoenix

I went to a recent presentation from Bryant Andrus of Keats, Connelly and Associates, LLC discussing issues involved with Canadians buying homes in Arizona. Keats, Connelly specializes in advising Canadians regarding their U.S. activities.

Arizona-Canada Factoids

• 100,000 Canadians live the Phoenix area



• 80 per week from Canada to Phoenix (including 2 new weekly flights from Montreal)

Arizona home buying - Quick reference guide of timelines and procedures

The quick reference guide below is from Joe Bartley, Branch Manager/Escrow Officer at Magnus Title Agency. It's a great little summary!

The following is a quick reference of the timelines and procedures of a Real Estate Closing in Arizona.

Prior to submitting a contract to purchase a property you will want to have your financing secured and documented.

If you are obtaining new financing an LSR and/or bank approval letter should accompany the purchase contract. If you are securing financing otherwise and purchasing the property cash then a Proof of Funds letter should accompany the contract.

Unless the terms of the contract specify differently –

Once the contract is accepted Earnest Money, ranging from $1000 - $5,000 depending on the sales price, is deposited to the Escrow Company. This can be done by wire* or check.

The 1st 10 days after contract acceptance is the inspection period. Before the end of your inspection period you will submit a request for repairs (if any) to the Seller or notify the Seller of items you disapprove of, cancel the contract and retain your earnest money. The document used during the inspection period is called the BINSR (Buyers Inspection Notice and Sellers Response). Once you submit the BINSR to the Seller with the list of repairs you are requesting, the Seller then has 5 days to respond to your request. You will then have 5 days to approve or disapprove their response. In the event you disapprove their response you may cancel the contract and retain your earnest money. Please note there is only one submission of the BINSR so you will want to make sure all of your inspections are done prior to sending your request to the Seller.

Upon opening escrow, the Title Company will send a copy of the preliminary title report for your review (usually sent within the 1st week of escrow). You have 5 days to review and cancel if there are items disapproved.

If the property is in a subdivision with a Homeowners Association, the Escrow Company will request the Association's Management Company to send their disclosure package to you for your review. This may be in the form of a booklet or CD/DVD. Per the contract you have 5 days after receipt of this information to cancel if there is an item that you reasonable disapprove of.

Once in a position to do so, the Escrow Company will send docs to you to have signed, this is usually within a week of Close of Escrow but varies depending on circumstances. There may be documents to have notarized. This will include the closing statement with the breakdown of the closing costs and the amount the Escrow Company will need from you to close and record.

Funds for closing should be deposited with the escrow company in enough time to allow escrow to close. If Funds are being wired* it is usually suggested to have the wire send a day or two before close of escrow to cover any delay due to processing.

* When sending a wire from a Canadian Account it is usually suggested to add an additional $50-$100 to cover any conversion fees that may apply. Any overages deposited in the transaction will be refunded to you at close of escrow.