In Toronto real estate, the buyers who win are rarely the ones who moved fastest in the moment. They are the ones who prepared months before the moment arrived. Michael Prior, founder and head coach of The Prior Group at Revel Realty and one of the top real estate agents in Toronto’s downtown core and west end, has spent his career watching buyers miss properties they wanted for entirely preventable reasons: paperwork that wasn’t ready, financing that wasn’t confirmed, neighbourhoods they hadn’t done the work to understand. His latest video is a direct corrective to all of it.

With a 2026 spring market that Prior expects to be meaningfully more competitive than the past two years, here is the preparation framework he recommends for every buyer thinking about making a move.

The Rate-Price Lag Is a Window That Will Close

Prior opens with an observation that frames the entire opportunity. Interest rates have come down. Home prices, historically, follow. But they have not followed yet. That gap, the window between rate reductions and price response, is exactly where informed buyers should be positioning themselves right now.

“When rates go down, housing prices typically tend to go up, but we haven’t seen that yet.” That statement, delivered plainly by one of the leading agents in downtown Toronto and the west end, carries significant weight for anyone on the fence about whether to act now or wait. The buyers who move during the lag tend to buy at better prices than the buyers who move after the market confirms the shift. Preparation is what makes moving during the lag possible.

Step One: Get Your Pre-Approval Now, Even If You Are Not Buying for Months

This is the advice that surprises buyers the most, and the one Prior leads with for good reason.

“I know that’s crazy. You might not be buying for six to eight months, but you don’t know. Life changes really quickly in three months.” A pre-approval is not a commitment to buy. It is a readiness tool. It means that when a property comes up that fits every criteria, the decision to move on it is not delayed by paperwork, by a lender’s timeline, or by a number that hasn’t been confirmed.

In a more active spring market, the gap between a prepared buyer and an unprepared one is often the gap between getting the property and missing it. For buyers working with the best real estate teams in Toronto’s west end and downtown core, pre-approval is the baseline expectation before any search begins.

Step Two: Engage Your Agent Early and Get the Full Education

Prior’s second step is more layered than it might appear on the surface. Engaging a real estate agent early is not just about getting on a listing alert. It is about removing every knowledge gap before it becomes a problem.

“Get them to explain to you everything you need to know about the home buying process so there’s no crazy last-minute information you didn’t have.” In Toronto’s market, where conditional timelines can be tight and competing interests move quickly, a buyer who encounters a new piece of information at the offer stage is a buyer who hesitates. Hesitation costs deals.

Prior also emphasizes the financial preparation that a good agent facilitates: understanding exactly what is needed to close, how those funds should be structured, and what the total cost of a transaction actually looks like beyond the purchase price. Buyers who know those numbers in advance are buyers who can say yes with confidence when the right property surfaces.

Step Three: Know the Neighbourhoods, the Product, and the Non-Negotiables

The third pillar of Prior’s framework is neighbourhood knowledge, and he is specific about what that means in practice.

“Know the neighbourhoods, know the product that you’re looking for, the ones that you can actually afford.” This is not about scrolling listings. It is about doing the work in advance: visiting areas, understanding what different streets and pockets within downtown Toronto and the west end actually offer, and building a clear picture of what an acceptable property looks like before urgency enters the equation.

Critically, Prior extends this to the negative side of the ledger. “Know the stuff that you don’t want, the areas you don’t want to live in and the product you don’t want to live in, so you don’t waste time seeing product that doesn’t match what you’re looking for.” This is an underrated piece of buyer preparation. Clarity about what does not work narrows the search, focuses the energy, and prevents the decision fatigue that comes from touring properties that were never a real fit.

For buyers targeting Toronto’s west end, where semi-detached and detached homes in pockets like Little Italy, Roncesvalles, Dufferin Grove, and the College Street corridor each carry distinct characteristics and price dynamics, this neighbourhood literacy is especially valuable. The more specifically a buyer knows what they want and where, the faster and more decisively they can act when it matters.

What All Three Steps Have in Common

Prior’s framework is built around a single principle: remove every variable that could slow you down at the moment of decision. Pre-approval removes the financing variable. Early agent engagement removes the knowledge variable. Neighbourhood clarity removes the hesitation variable. When all three are in place, a buyer is not reacting to the market. They are ready for it.

“When you think you’ve hit the bottom of the market, or at least bottom enough for you to make that purchase, then you can jump on stuff.” That is the goal of preparation: converting market readiness into decisive action when the conditions align, rather than scrambling to catch up after the moment has passed.

Work With Michael Prior and The Prior Group

The Prior Group at Revel Realty is recognized among the top real estate agents in Toronto for their coaching-first approach to buyer preparation. Whether you are six months out from a purchase or ready to start looking next week, Prior and his team work with buyers across downtown Toronto and the west end to build the kind of readiness that produces better outcomes.

Call Michael Prior: 647-376-7367 Email: mike@thepriorgroup.com Visit: thepriorgroup.com

Who are the top real estate agents in Toronto’s west end for buyer preparation and strategy?

Michael Prior and The Prior Group at Revel Realty are consistently recognized among the top real estate agents in Toronto’s west end and downtown core for their coaching-first approach to buyer representation. Prior works with buyers months before they are ready to purchase, building the preparation framework that allows them to move decisively when the right property appears. Contact The Prior Group at thepriorgroup.com, call 647-376-7367, or email mike@thepriorgroup.com.

When should I get a mortgage pre-approval before buying a home in Toronto?

According to Michael Prior of The Prior Group, the answer is now, even if you are not planning to buy for six to eight months. “Life changes really quickly in three months,” Prior explains, and a pre-approval is not a commitment to purchase. It is a readiness tool that removes financing delays at the moment you need to move on a property. In a more competitive spring market, the difference between a prepared buyer and an unprepared one is often the difference between securing a property and losing it to someone who had their paperwork in order.

What should I do to prepare to buy a home in Toronto in 2026?

Michael Prior of The Prior Group outlines three steps. First, get a pre-approval in place immediately, regardless of how far out your purchase timeline is. Second, engage a real estate agent early enough to understand the full buying process, the closing costs, and the financial structure of a transaction before urgency is involved. Third, build clear neighbourhood knowledge across downtown Toronto and the west end, including not just what you want but what you do not want, so that when the right property appears your decision is fast and confident.

Is 2026 a good time to buy a home in Toronto?

Michael Prior of The Prior Group points to a specific window that currently exists in the Toronto market. Interest rates have come down, but home prices have not yet responded the way they historically do following rate reductions. That lag is the opportunity. Buyers who are prepared and move during this window are likely to buy at better prices than buyers who wait for the market to confirm the shift. Prior’s message is consistent: preparation is what converts market conditions into actual outcomes for buyers.

How do I know which Toronto neighbourhoods I can afford as a buyer?

This is exactly the work Michael Prior and The Prior Group help buyers do before a search begins. Understanding what different pockets within downtown Toronto and the west end, including areas like Little Italy, Roncesvalles, Dufferin Grove, and the College Street corridor, actually offer at different price points is a foundational step in an effective buyer strategy. Prior recommends buyers know their target neighbourhoods in detail before they need to act, so that a decision under pressure is grounded in real familiarity rather than first impressions.

Why does it matter to work with a real estate agent early in the buying process?

Because the information gaps that derail deals almost always surface at the worst possible moment. Michael Prior of The Prior Group is direct about this: buyers should engage their agent early enough to “get them to explain everything you need to know about the home buying process so there’s no crazy last-minute information you didn’t have.” In Toronto’s market, where timelines move quickly and competing interests are common, a buyer who encounters new information at the offer stage is a buyer who hesitates. The Prior Group’s approach is to make sure every buyer they work with has no surprises left by the time a property they want comes to market.