7 Steps when Buying a Home

As your real estate professional, I am here to help you with your search for a new home. The list below will help you map out the process of buying your home.

Whether it is your first home or your tenth home, a retirement home, or an investment property, I will make your home-buying experience fun and exciting. I can help you find the ideal home with the least amount of hassle; and I am devoted to using my expertise and the full resources of my office to achieve these results!

Purchasing a home is a very important decision and a big undertaking in your life.  In fact, most people only choose a few homes in their lifetime.  I am going to make sure that you are well equipped and armed with up-to-date information for your big decision.  I am even prepared to guide you through every phase of the home-buying process.  This packet gives you helpful information during and after your transaction.  Use its reference pages, note pages and agency explanations, as an invaluable guide on your home-buying journey.

Please keep this packet with you during your home-buying process.  There are pages that contain important phone numbers and dates and areas for notes to help you stay organized.   

So let’s take an exciting journey together!  I look forward to meeting your real estate needs every step of the way!

1. Get Mortgage Pre-Approval

This is an important step, and will help you determine your price range for your home search. When you have completed this step, your home search is ready to begin.

If you need help finding a mortgage specialist, call me at 604-537-5951.

2. Start Looking!

Now that you're pre-approved, you can start your home search. Call me at 604-537-5951 or use my contact form to get in touch so we can start your search together.

You can even start your search on the internet, right from home. With just a few clicks of the mouse, you can search through online listings, view virtual tours, and sort through dozens of photographs and aerial shots of neighborhoods and homes. Using Google Maps, you can even tour the entire neighborhood, virtually. All of this informe mation gathering helps you narrow your search to that perfect home.

3. Found a Home You Like? Time to View It!

When you start viewing homes, remember that the mission is determine if the home is right for you. Commit it to memory, and check every detail.

• Bring a digital camera and take photos of the outside of the house, and of rooms inside.
• Take note of any unusual features, design elements .
• Pay attention to the home's surroundings. What is next door?
• Do you like the location? Is it near a park or a power plant?
• Immediately after leaving, rate each home on a scale of 1 to 10 in your notes.

4. Making an Offer

When you've decided on home that you love, and you are ready to make an offer, it's time for us to talk about how to strategically negotiate the purchase for you. The next several steps become very important, and as you Realtor, I'm helping you the whole way.

Together we will determine the subjects that we place on the offer, and those subjects will often specify that that offer is subject to a home inspection.

5. Home Inspection and Mortgage Time

If our offer is accepted, the clock starts and it's time to arrange for a home inspection and finalize the details of the mortgage. If need be, your offer can be subject to financing, to ensure that you have the time and protection you need to arrange for your mortgage.

When the lender approves your financing, you need only to consider the findings of your home inspector before deciding whether to complete the sale. Consider the report of the building inspector carefully, then proceed as you see fit.

6. Completing the Offer (Subject Removal Date and Completion Date)

The next two milestones in the home buying process are the "Subject Removal Date" and the "Completion Date."

The Subject Removal Date is the final day for you to have your financing complete, and a decision about whether to complete the sale based on the inspector's findings. If everything is okay, then on this date, you can call yourself a homeowner, because it's a deal.

The Completion Date is the day you take ownership of your new home. You get the keys, and you're ready for step 7.

7. Move In!

Yes, after completing the previous steps, and your Completion Date has arrived, all that's left to do is to move in.