Experience Edmonton Real Estate
The first and most important step would be to find out what your budget is to purchase a home.
Make an appointment with your financial advisor, mortgage broker or bank to go through the financial details and find out the maximum price range that you qualified for. Then, determine what would be the most comfortable price range that would not leave you “house poor” as they say. Ask about the amount of down payment required and mortgage details. (According to the latest rates). Ask about insured versus conventional mortgages. With minimum down payments quite often, there will be an insurance fee to protect the lender.
What kind of housing would suit your lifestyle? Do you have children or planning a family and need a certain number of bedrooms or space? Do you need/want a yard? Garage? Are you more interested in newer housing, or would you be comfortable in an older house in a mature neighborhood that may need updating? If downsizing what housing types would interest you? (Adult duplexes, condos, etc).
For many buyers, quite often the location is one of the most important factors. Consider the proximity to schools, work, family, amenities, recreation centers and public transportation. The neighborhoods chosen will affect the age of the homes, with the more central ones having older homes on larger mature lots, and the outlying areas having newer homes often with much smaller lots. That being said, some of the more central neighborhoods are being rejuvenated with newer builds called infills.
Once you decide on a neighborhood, we would provide the most recent sales information to indicate the sale prices to help you gauge whether it is affordable.
To get a feel for the market, it is very important to start looking at houses in your chosen areas and price range. You will also know the sale prices of some of the properties you look at even though they were not suitable for your needs. When the right house comes along you will already have some hands-on knowledge of the comparables in the area that will help to make an informed decision.
Understanding the forms, paperwork and all the steps required will be explained to you. Knowing the different elements of the offer and important clauses will be explained to make the process easier to understand. Things like, chattels, completions dates, deposits, conditions, RPR’s and Title insurance. We would go over all the important details to ensure the forms are completed properly and explained to you in full.
Once the offer is complete it must be presented to the seller for consideration. How does this happen? We would contact the listing agent and determine an appropriate time for the offer to be presented to the sellers. At one time we would sit down with the sellers and their agent to discuss the offer, however, currently most offers are looked at electronically.
The elements that sellers will look at in multiple offers are 1) the price 2) the completion date 3) the conditions and 4) the deposit. When competing you must put your best foot forward. Sellers want the best price with few conditions, if any, and an offer that suits their schedule.
The deposit (certified cheque, bank draft or e-transfer) must be delivered to the seller’s brokerage for deposit into their trust account within the time limit specified in the offer. Sending a copy of the offer to the mortgage broker/bank approval is also necessary. Book a house inspection. Once the Bank gives their blessing and any house inspection issues are ironed out, conditions can be waived to create what is called a “firm” offer. The deposit then stays in trust until the completion date.
Once the buyer selects a lawyer, letters of instruction are sent to both the buyers and sellers lawyers by the sellers brokerage. Your lawyer will advise when to come in to sign mortgage documents and the transfer of land prior to the Completion or possession.
Prior to moving, aside from making arrangements for a mover, you will need to contact utility and insurance companies and the post office to notify your change of address.
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