Home Purchases
You have made the decision to purchase your first home or another home. This may be the biggest investment you will have made, so let's get the steps in purchasing a home:
For a more complete explanation, get our free home buying and a home buying and financing e-books.
These e-books contain information that will make your home buying process a lot less stressful.
Home Purchase Steps:
1.
Assemble your team
You should assemble a team of real estate experts including your realtor, your mortgage consultant (us of course!), your lawyer or notary, and your home insurance specialist.
2.
Location
As you know, real estate values are defined by location, location, location.
Now is the time to define what type of home you want and the location you want to live in.
3.
Find that Home
This is where your real estate agent comes in. He or she has all the tools to help you locate your new home.
As a buyer, you do not pay for her services. So take advantage of all the expertise and assistance that is available to you in making that crucial decision.
4.
Make an offer on the home
You've looked at a number of properties and have chosen the one that best fits your needs. You now need to make an offer on the house.
Your offer should contains several subject clauses in it for your benefit. These subject clauses include:
Subject to financing- if you require financing, then you must include this clause to protect yourself in the event that you are unable to obtain satisfactory financing. The amount of financing and the interest rate should be specified.
Subject to house inspection - Hire a house inspector to make sure that the house is in good condition and that there are no significant defiencies.
Subject removal date - A specific time period should be included in order for you to obtain all the necessary documents to forward to your lender and for them to approved your loan. A period of two weeks would be ideal; however, 7 days is the minimum time required.
The offer must also contain the completion and possession date (the dates on which legal transfer takes place and the date on which you get the keys to the home).
5.
Sign the purchase and sale agreement.
If everything is satisfactory, accept and sign the purchase and sale agreement.
Be prepared for a counter offer from the seller. You can then decide to either accept the counter offer or make a brand new offer
6.
Get your financing in place
Talk to us right away.
We have the expertise to help you get the best mortgage for your circumstances.
In order for the lender to approve your mortgage, you will need to provide documents to prove your income. These include pay stubs, letters of employment, income tax records, proof of downpayment via bank statements,etc.
Once an appraisal has been done and submitted to the lender together with all the requisite documents, the lender will review the loan application and issue an approval if their requirements have been satisfied.
7.
Remove Subject Clauses
You have until a specifed date to remove subject clauses. The removal of the subject clauses makes the contract of the purchase of your new home firm and binding on both the seller and purchaser.
If you have any issues that have not been resolved to your satisfaction, do not remove subjects.
Make sure that you are satisfied that all the conditions in the subject clauses are met prior to removing subjects.
8.
Sign documents at your lawyer
About a week prior to the completion date, your mortgage institution will send mortgage documents, called mortgage instructions, to your lawyer. He will already have received documents from your realtor.
Your lawyer will ask you to visit his office where he will explain the legal documents to you and ask you for the balance of the down payment, and any other fees that may be incurred. After you sign the legal documents, he will register the documents with your local Land Titles office, thereby transferring ownership of the property from the seller to you.
9.
Move In
On possession date, your realtor will hand over the keys of the house to you and you can move in.
Congratulations, You are now the proud owner of a new home..
Where Do We Come In?
Pre-Qualification
All home purchasers should find out what they are able to afford prior to home shopping.
Nothing can be more discouraging than test driving a BMW only to find out you can only afford a Focus. Learn your limit and refuse to look at homes outside of your price range.
This is a free service available from us.
Qualification
Qualifiying for a mortgage consists of three things:
- Your ability to pay - Usually your loan will depend on your total annual income and expenses.
- Your payment history or credit: Those with no credit or bad credit can still qualify in many cases. With no traditional credit, alternative credit sources, such as consistently paid utility bills, can be used. In the case of bad credit, assistance from a credit counselor can often turn bad debt into good debt within six months or a year.
Mortgage Approval
The length of time between application and approval varies. Most lenders will supply a list of necessary documentation. Complete preparation of documents will result in a quicker turn around. Mortgage approval can occur in as little as 24 hours.
