Step #1 is to ask yourself; are ready for homeownership? Are you financially stable? Do you have the financial skills and discipline to handle large purchases. Are you ready to take on the responsibilities and costs associated with that purchase? such as saving for a down payment and closing costs and then your ongoing costs such as mortgage, utilities and regular home maintenance.
Step #2 financing your home! if you will be using a traditional mortgage then you need to get in touch with a mortgage broker or your bank and get a pre-approval. A pre-approved mortgage tells you the price range of a home you can afford, what your interest rate will be and what your monthly mortgage payments will look like.
Step #3 is to get in touch with a real estate professional. This is when you’re going to have a conversation with your REALTOR® about what kind of a home you are looking for and what your needs are for the next 5-10 Years. Your REALTOR® will suggest houses within your budget and criteria and show you all the options that are available to you.
Step #4 Making an offer and securing the deal. When you’ve found the home you want, it’s time to make an offer to the seller. Now this is where your REALTOR® will help you make a decision on what that offer should look like and that can be dependent on area and the market conditions. When you make an offer, you may put certain conditions into the offer such as two typical big ones are financing and inspection. You then have a conditional time period to meet conditions, get your financing approved and get the home inspected. If everything goes well, you can then go ahead and l waive your conditions. Once you do that, congratulations property is sold and is officially yours!
Step #4 (a) If you’ve secured a pre-construction home then the builder will notify you when you are ready to make an appointment with the design team to pick our the finishings of your home. This is a fun step for anyone looking to build their home through a builder because you get to pick out the carpet colors, tiles, backsplash, couter tops and cabinets according to your style and options available by builder.
Step #5 Is now to prepare for the possession of your home. At this point you will schedule an appointment to meet with your lawyer at their office where you will sign all your closing documents to transfer ownership from the seller to the you. During this time period you will make sure that your utilities and home insurance are also setup up for when you take possession of your home.
Step #5 (a) If it is a pre-construction home you will be given an walk-through date and time from builder approx 35 days before possession, at which point you will walk through the home together to make sure it is just as you had hoped it would be.
Step #6 is now the most exciting day of all is the possession date. On this date your lawyer will pay the balance of the purchase price owing to the sellers lawyer. Once that is completed Then sellers lawyer will authorize the key release to your new home and your REALTOR® will deliver the keys to you.
