1O STEPS TO BUYING A HOME
Step 1: Determine How Much You Can Afford
Before you start looking through listings in the hope of finding your dream home, conduct a personal audit of your finances. Taking a serious look at all your finances will prepare you for this huge step. You will be better able to know how much of a house payment you can afford and if you can cover the ongoing expenses of owning a home.
Step 2: Obtain a Pre-Approval for a Mortgage
Getting a pre-approval from a lender removes a lot of the hassles from the home buying process. Your lender will provide a pre-approval letter stating how much you are approved for. This will be based on your credit standing, income, and present assets. The pre-approval letter will help your agent find homes within your budget and proposed loan amount.
Step 3: Find a Real Estate Agent
Your Realtor will be one of your biggest assets when trying to find your next home. Its important to select someone you trust and who has the market experience to help make your buying process as smooth as possible. With over 20 years experience, I know how to negotiate and protect my clients.
Step 4: Analyse your Needs in Buyer Consultation
I will sit down with you and go over your needs and wants to make sure that we have a plan in place for your home search. This will help me sort through all the listings to find you the right home.
Step 5: Viewing Homes
Now that we have established the type of home you are looking for, the next step is to start viewing the homes. It is very important to be honest with your likes and dislikes of the homes you have viewed as they will help narrow down the search.
Step 6: Preparing & Submitting an Offer
Now that you've found your dream home its time to write an offer! With years of experience, I help guide you through making a strong offer and negotiate on your behalf. An offer consists of more that just an offer price. There are important clauses and conditions that I will walk you through that will protect your interests.
Step 7: Conditional Period
Once your offer is accepted, most purchases are conditional on satisfying items such as financing, home inspection and due diligence. During this period, if your conditions are not satisfied, you are able to back out of the contract without financial penalty as long as you made every effort to fulfill them.
Step 8: Remove Conditions
Congratulations! Once you remove all your pending conditions you know have a firm deal. I will send the paperwork directly to yourself and your lawyer.
Step 9 Appraisal
Your financial institution will likely arrange an appraisal of your new home before the closing day. This is a third party will who evaluate and look at the recent sales to determine the true value of the home. Don't worry, this is completely normal.
Step 10. CL DAY!!!
Your lawyer will be in touch and let you know when the monies and title have changed hands and arrange pick up of the keys to your new home.
