First Time Home Buyers
Our firm works with a network of lenders, appraisers, lawyers to help you from start to finish when it comes to purchasing your first home.
As a first-time home buyer, you probably have many questions or are not quite sure what to start or even what options are available for you. Here is a step-by-step guide.
1. Get a Pre-Approval
This should be your first step and we can assist you with this. A properly underwritten preapproval will give you an idea on what your affordability is, based on various factors like, your down-payment, credit history, income, liabilities etc.
Upon submitting an application for a preapproval, our skilled team can usually get you an official pre-approval within a few hours, giving you the confidence to go shopping. The relationship we have with our lenders also allows us to hold this rate for you for 90-120 days.
2. Shop for a Home
With your preapproval in hand, all you need to do is contact your Realtor (or use one of ours) to help you find your dream home. Once you are ready to make an offer, we recommend having your Realtor connect with your mortgage broker (or us) to review the specifics of the property and get your application ready to be submitted for an official mortgage approval. This improves your chances of getting approved for a mortgage loan because the broker will review the property details and ensure that the lender will advance a mortgage for that specific property. Once the mortgage broker gives you a confirmation, you are ready for the next step.
3. Submit an offer to Purchase
When submitting an offer to purchase a home, we generally recommend that you request a condition for financing and inspection clause in your offer.This helps protect the deposit you will need to put down with your offer.
Once your purchase offer is accepted, you will need to forward a copy of your conditional purchase sale agreement to your mortgage broker. We can usually get you an official approval within 48-72 business hours.
4. Appraisal, Inspection and Down payment
Most lenders require an appraisal to be conducted on the property if your down-payment is equal to or greater than 20% of your purchase price. Your mortgage broker will work on getting an appraisal completed while your Realtor will help you facilitate getting an inspection completed.
The government of Canada has a first-time home buyers plan that allows you to withdraw up to $35,000 from your RRSP account towards the purchase of your first home. Click here to see if you qualify and what the program entails.
5. Paperwork
This is probably the most essential part of the mortgage process. The amount and type of paperwork required is determined by the specific lender and type of mortgage you are applying for. If you started Step 1 with us, we would usually have requested and reviewed most of the documents the lender will require. We work hard to make this process as seamless as possible.
6. Legal Representative
A lawyer is required to represent you when you purchase a home. The lawyer will communicate with you and your lender to ensure that all the conditions the lender requires are met, as well as advice you of your legal responsibilities. He or she will manage all the closing aspects for you (i.e., title registration, property tax set up etc.)