First time home ownership

This post is super important if it's your first time buying a home. I will talk about the process, what I as your REALTOR® will do for you, associated costs, and incentives that exist to make it that much easier.

This may be the very first time you've started doing some research, or perhaps you've looked into the home buying process before and gotten overwhelmed. I'm here to help you through it.

Benefits

Owning a home is an extremely rewarding thing.

The process

It is key that you do the research necessary to know if this the right time for you to buy after all, and if you are prepared financially or what you need to do to get to that point.

How much can you afford? Look at your household income and create a budget to help you estimate how much you could spend on a mortgage per month. It's important to determine a realistic price range before you start looking. You do not want to overextend yourself on mortgage payments and other associated costs with home ownership where most of your income gets spent immediately on housing.

Talk to your bank or lending institution. You need to figure out if you can obtain pre-approval for a mortgage. This is a necessary step in the process as without having a mortgage approval you may not be able to obtain financing and any offers you make could fall through. Make sure you choose a someone who is both reputable and you feel comfortable working with, if you don't have one yet I would be happy to recommend someone. (for more information on lending and mortgages, click here) Getting pre-approved tells the seller that you are serious when you write an offer, plus you will fully understand how much you can really afford which will be instrumental in the entire process.

Narrow your search. At this point you know what you can afford and have gotten pre-approved by a lender, awesome. Now is when you need to decide where you want to live, and what sort of neighbourhhood that will be. I'll be a crucial resource for you when it comes to comparing similarly priced homes in your desired neighbourhoods to make sure you find the right fit, financially and emotionally.

Plan for closing costs. You may finally have found the right house, but make sure you can really afford it first, there are a lot of costs associated with closing and you don't want the deal to fall through because of a simple miscalculation (for more information on closing and associated definitions, click here).

If you haven't already, choose your REALTOR®. This is a very personal choice and it is important to find someone who not only knows the area where you want to buy a home, but is someone that you feel you can trust. Your REALTOR® will work extremely hard in finding you the perfect property, they will be loyal to you, and in turn you should be loyal to them. Obviously, I'd love to recommend myself, though of course you should do your research first. Check out my About Me post, and get to know me a bit more before you make your decision.

Making an offer. You've finally found the perfect property, and you are totally prepared to make your move. I will have the Agreement of Purchase and Sale ready for you to fill out, and will explain all terms to the agreement, clauses, and definitions to you as we go along. (For more information on clauses, conditions, and terms associated with making an offer, click here). I will then present the offer to the seller's agent, and be prepared, they may counter your offer where you will have to go back and forth on negotiations until both parties come to an agreement or choose not to go forward.

An accepted offer. Your offer has been signed and accepted, it's time to send it off to your lawyer for review, and off to your bank for your final mortgage approval. I am happy to refer you to a lawyer if you don't currently have one.

Fulfilling conditions. With the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, you may have chosen certain conditions to be included, for example, the purchase of the house being conditional on an acceptable home inspection. You must complete all conditions within the time frame that was written into the agreement, it's important to note that the other party has the right to assume you have fulfilled all conditions if you do not say otherwise during the allotted time. (For more information on home inspections, click here).

Closing day. All conditions have been satisfied, your lawyer is content with the agreement, and you're ready to take possession of your new home. The morning of your closing day, you and I will do a final walk through of the home to make sure it is left as expected from the previous homeowner, and all agreed upon inclusions are present and in proper working order.

Congratulations, you're a home owner!