Congratulations! You have decided to purchase a home, or are thinking about buying one. You will realize that home ownership offers a number of benefits including building equity, saving for the future, and creating an environment for yourself or your family. When you own your own home, your hard-earned dollars contribute to your mortgage, not a landlord’s. The equity you earn is yours. Over time, your home will increase in value.
1. Pre-Approval – Check and double check to make sure that you are qualified and are approved for a mortgage before you start looking at homes. Ensure that you can purchase a property even if your current property is not sold. Meeting with a mortgage specialist ahead of time can save a lot of time and prevent disappointments down the road. Mortgage Brokers are a great tool and there is no charge as they are paid a fee through the lending institution. I will be more than happy to recommend some great mortgage specialists.
2. Selecting Desired Home Criteria – Narrow down your search criteria to a specific area, price range, and style. Let your me know what features are a must have in your home and any specific details that you are looking for.
3. Viewing Homes – I will schedule a time that works best for you to go out and look at some homes. It is best to look at 2-5 homes at a time. Usually, showings will have to be booked 12 – 24 hrs in advance to allow the sellers enough notice to prepare their homes. Try to focus on structure and design of the home because interior design and colors can always be altered. Feel free to take notes if you like but please no camera’s.
4. The Contract – I will go through the purchase contract with you before you write an offer and have included a blank offer in the back of this package so that you fully understand all aspects. There will almost always be other forms that will accompany the purchase contract that you will be required to sign.
5. Earnest Money Deposit – A deposit must accompany all offers. I will be advising you on an appropriate deposit amount, however, keep in mind that the greater the deposit, the stronger the offer. This cheque will be deposited into a trust account with the listing brokerage within 2 business days of the offer being accepted.
6. Closing / Removing Conditions / Home Inspection – Conditions are things like: inspections, financing, sale of your home before you purchase a home etc…. Once you have decided to remove all conditions, the home will be sold. If we have written an offer subject to an inspection we will schedule an inspection as soon as possible.You’ll be in attendance as well as myself and you can expect that it will take anywhere from 2-4 hours and run on average around $550 depending on the company. The home inspector will likely find loads of deficiencies as that is what you’re paying him/her for, but keep in mind that much of what the inspector will find shouldn’t be grossly detrimental to the home but will most likely just be maintenance issues.
7. Working with a Lawyer – Find a good real estate lawyer that will be able to help you with the closing aspect of the transaction. If you do not know of a Lawyer I am more than happy to refer you to a couple. Make sure that you have met with the lawyer well in advance to ensure that the monies are in place before closing/possession. On the day of possession, the sellers’ Lawyer should receive funds from your Lawyer for the sale, before noon.
8. Possession – Once your lawyer has transferred funds to the seller’s lawyer, I’ll typically be notified by the listing realtor when I’m authorized to release the keys to you. This “typically” happens sometime between 11 – 2 pm.
I Will Give You a Helping Hand Every Step Of The Way! I will help you complete your financing and inspections, and close on the transaction. My top priority is to make sure that your home buying experience is pleasant, cost-efficient, and successful.
Let’s get started!