Your ultimate success in buying a home depends on how well prepared you are. One big mistake is going into the market without a clear understanding of your needs, wants and financial capability. Start with a needs vs wants list!

Consider:

* Your real reason for moving
* Time your are prepared to spend commuting
* Size of accommodation your really need
* Preference for old vs new
* Importance of schools, shopping and services
* Character of neighbourhood and environment
* Type of ownership ie. freehold vs condo

There are a lot of choices to be made. Save yourself time and effort by deciding on many of these issues and preferences before you start to look. Be flexible!

Without a doubt, this is the most important step in the process.  You need a professional that you like and trust.  Your agent can make the process pleasant and rewarding or frustrating and disappointing!  They are the key to your finding what you want, in the right area, at the right price! .

Listing agents represent the best interests of the seller.  "Buyers Agents represent the best interests of the buyer and the agency agreement creates that relationship.

A  Buyer's Agent can:

* Provide you with information and guidance to help you make an informed decision about the "right" price.

* Help you negotiate the best deal for you.

* Assist with structuring the many terms in a sales contract so they are to your advantage.

* Keep confidential any information about you which could hurt your bargaining strength.

* Inform you about the desirability of different areas, floor plans and resale characteristics.

* Point out reasons NOT to buy a particular house.

* Your Buyer's Agent will protect your interests and disclose any "behind the scenes" information which might affect your decision.

* What does this service cost?  Usually nothing.  Your agent is usually paid by the Listing Broker, commission which is considered to come from the transaction itself.

* YOUR agent is representing YOUR interests, exclusively!

Once you have chosen your agent, Loyalty, and Honest Communication is all we ask for! Always call your buyer's agent for information about any property that interests you, no matter who has the listing, we can get you what you want to know.

Remember, you have a self-employed business person working for you free of charge!

If they are not providing the level of service you deserve...tell them!   If they are doing a great job...tell them!
      
The nicest way to say thanks is….TELL YOUR FRIENDS

Now it is time to select a mortgage lender.  I strongly recommend that you select a lender based on the recommendations of someone you respect and has knowledge about the Lenders, either your Agent or someone who has actually recently gone through the loan process will steer you in the right direction

You'll want to meet with a mortgage lender as soon as possible to make sure you understand every aspect of the loan process.  Getting 'Pre-Approved' is simple to do and makes you more comfortable knowing exactly what you can spend.  
As a result you should know:

*your maximum purchase price

*your complete monthly payments

*an estimate of how much cash you will need

*what supporting documentation you will need

Once you have selected your Realtor/Agent, you will be directed to a respected Mortgage Lender.

Most lenders can get you pre-approved for a loan even before you have selected a home. Your loan will be approved "pending a property appraisal". Pre-approval makes you, the buyer, much more comfortable knowing that you won't find your dream home only to have the loan turned down. The sellers are also more likely to deal seriously with you on the sale if they know that you are a qualified buyer.

Looking At Properties

This is the fun part!  Don't look at too many at one time or you won't remember one from another.  Record notes about each property on the information sheet and immediately eliminate those that are not suitable.  Remember, it is important to let your agent know which you like and why as well as those you don't like and why.
Open communication will allow your agent to choose only properties that interest you.

Select Your Home

Once you select a few homes that you like, your agent will help you to make your buying decision.  Once you focus on one home, your agent will do a Comparative Market Analysis on that property.  This involves determining 'fair market value' by analyzing recent sales of similar properties in the neighbourhood or area.

Offer and Negotiate

When making an offer on your selected property, you, with the guidance of your Agent, will have to decide:

* What price to offer

* How much deposit you will offer

* What conditions to include for your protection (finance, home inspection, etc.)

* What chattels (personal property) you wish to include

* When you wish to take possession (close)

At this point, figure out what's not negotiable and where you'll be willing to give a little on things that aren't.  A good agent will give you tons of advice on how to structure your offer for your benefit.
Once the offer is presented, the Seller may either accept it, reject it, or change it (make a counter offer). This process may be short or prolonged.  Remember, focus on your real goal!

Satisfy The Conditions In Your Offer

If as a part of your offer, you have asked for time to arrange certain things, you have what is called a conditional offer.  These conditions may be mortgage approval, inspections, condo status reports or  sale of property to name just a few.  Conditions, with their deadlines, must be met exactly as specified in the offer.  Your agent will take responsibility for ensuring that these procedures are done correctly.

Home Inspection

Too often, first time home buyers rely of the advice of friends and family and fail to make it a condition of their purchase contract that an inspection be done that is satisfactory to them.  When those deals close, potential problems might not be discovered right away but might start to creep up within a few months.  Maybe the furnace or air conditioning units have broken parts.  Maybe the roof will be in need of replacement very shortly.  All of these things can and do occur.

The potential problems when you purchase a home are many. Unless you are a qualified inspector yourself, it is unlikely that you will catch all of the potential problems.  Licensed inspectors will have a detailed checklist of items to check that they have been trained to review.  The advantage for you the home buyer is that you don't have to contact a plumber, electrician, roofer, etc. to check all of the different systems within your potential new home./P>

Select A Lawyer

When choosing a lawyer, there are  a large number of variables ranging from experience to personality issues.

The first issue most people focus on is price …WRONG!  Price is only one factor and unless the fees of one lawyer are 30% more than another then it should become a minor fact.  Why?… It's simple actually…. by focusing on price you sometimes fail to take into account the more important issues like experience and knowledge.
  
The biggest concern we all should have when selecting a lawyer is experience.  This is the same as with any other business… you want the best person available to help. It's not when things are going well that you have to worry it's when things are going badly… it is at this time that the experience of your lawyer is most important

The lawyer's function is to make sure that all the terms of your agreement are met.  Your lawyer will take care of all necessary legal procedures, conduct a title search, prepare all documentation (deed, mortgage, discharges, registrations, etc.)  

Several days prior to closing day you will meet with your lawyer to sign the documentation required to complete the sale. Your lawyer will explain every document to you in a satisfactory manner. Do not ever feel intimidated.  If you do not understand something ... ask. You will also have to present funds for whatever down payment and closing cost that you are expected to pay.

You can try our personalized search service

Use our: Preferred Home Buyer Service

Please let us know how we can help.

This is the last and probably the hardest step in the home buying process! A little bit of planning and forethought, though, will make for a much smoother move. If you are using a moving company, call as soon as you can. Get at least two competitive quotes.
Be sure to change your address with the post office, your banks and any other correspondents at least 30 days in advance.  Call to order your utility hook ups at least  fourteen days prior to your move.

By following these steps, buying a new home should be a smooth and satisfying process.

Most mortgages have the option to allow payments to be made on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. This option may be desirable for two reasons. The first is it can save you money as you can expect to pay off your mortgage about 4 years sooner. This can save you dramatically over the life of your mortgage. The other reason why these options are so popular is that if your employer pays you on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, you can simplify your budgeting by making the payment line up with the way you paid.

Paying extra amounts on your mortgage can make a big interest saving over time. When we select a mortgage company, privilege payments options are something that we look for. A 20% privilege payment will allow you to pay off up to $20,000 per year on a $100 000 mortgage. It is important that the privilege payment also be flexible to allow you to pay smaller payments on the mortgage and as often as you wish. An extra $1000 periodically paid on a mortgage can help you become mortgage free faster.

When you require a mortgage for more than 80% of the purchase price of a property, that mortgage must be insured by Canada Mortgage and Housing (CMHC) or GE Mortgage insurance. The premium charged by these company`s decreases as the down payment increases. When you finance your property at 95%, a premium of 3.75% is added to the mortgage. By increasing the down payment to 10% of the purchase price the premium can be reduced to 2.5%. If you can put down 20%, you can avoid any additional insurance fee. Depending on your situation there are ways that you can structure this financing to avoid the CMHC or GE insurance premium.

As mentioned above, when you put a 25% down payment on your purchase you can avoid the CMHC premium. More importantly the larger the down payment, the lower the amount of interest you will pay over the life of your mortgage. It is important to note that it may not be wise to stretch yourself to increase your down payment and end up borrowing on credit cards or a line of credit at a higher rate.

The options for mortgages available can be very confusing for most mortgage shoppers. Terms for mortgages vary between variable and fixed rate, 6-month terms to 10 year terms. Taking a variable or floating rate mortgage can have savings. Typically the shorter the term or guarantee of the rate, the lower the rate will be. This does not always happen, depending on the market place and the economy, but history has shown that short-term rates tend to be lower than long-term rates. The up side of variable rate is the strong potential for interest rate savings. The down side is the fact that you are accepting the interest rate risk without a guarantee. If you are considering a variable rate mortgage you need to look at your own risk tolerance, and your cash flow available to deal with potential increased payment. Considering projections of rates and where we see interest rates heading can also be important in this decision. Make sure you talk to an expert when you are making this decision.