The shift from visitor to owner is one that many Canadians reach gradually, often after a particular winter that feels one season too long, or a retirement that opens up time that deserves somewhere beautiful to unfold. The good news is that the path to owning here is, in many respects, more straightforward for you than for buyers coming from most other countries. You don’t need a visa. Lenders in the US are familiar with Canadian borrowers. And the US-Canada tax treaty provides meaningful protections that give you a real advantage in structuring your purchase wisely. What I want you to know before anything else: the most important thing to get right is your day count.

Here’s something I make sure every Canadian client understands before we close: the IRS Substantial Presence Test means that if your US days — calculated on a rolling three-year weighted average — exceed 182, you may be treated as a US tax resident. That changes everything. I’ll make sure you go into this with eyes wide open, and connected to the right cross-border tax specialist from the start.