The Buying Process

Buying is an exciting time in your life, but make no mistake, it is a process. Obviously, there are several stages between deciding you'd like to buy a new home, and actually moving in. Every time I start working with a new buying client, I like to sit down with them and make sure they understand the when, who and why of each step, so they know what to expect, when they need to have a deposit etc. I thought I'd list it out for any buyers out there reading this today. Hope it's of use to some of you.

1. Deciding you want to buy - this is the first step, and it's by no means a small one. This involves examining your current living and financial situations very carefully, and it also involves getting very, very excited.

2. Mortgage Pre-Approval - This will let you know what price range we can look at.

3. Meeting with your Realtor® - I will arrange a meeting with you to discuss what exactly you are looking for. Number of bedrooms, pet restrictions, zoning, area etc will all be covered. I will also go over the Working with a Realtor® pamphlet and Exclusive Buyer's Agency Contract with you at that time.

4. Search Property Listings - I will set up a personal website for you that will automatically update with properties according to your preferences as soon as they come on the market. I will also search the listings daily for you, to see if I can spot anything that may be of interest.

5. View Properties - Once we find something that looks right, I will arrange a viewing for you. I also encourage you to check out Open Houses you come across, but please let me know when you are doing so if possible.

6. Offer - When you find a property that's you wish to purchase, we will write up the offer and I will present it to the Seller and Seller's agent. There may be counter offers or questions, so I'll need to be sure I am able to contact you when I am doing this.

7. Satisfy Subjects - Once we have an accepted offer, we will work to remove our Subject Conditions. Subject Conditions are placed in the contract to provide you an opportunity to really examine your potential purchase. We will generally have about a week to do so. Some examples of Subjects are: subject to inspection, subject to financing, subject to the approval of the land title. We will partner to decide on the best subjects to include in your offer.

8. Remove Subjects - When we have satisfied all the subjects, we will remove them, creating a firm contract. At this point, you will need to provide a certified check or money order for at least 5% of the purchase price to be placed in deposit. This is to insure you will complete the deal on the completion date. When the deal completes, the deposit will become part of the purchase price. (It is essentially your down payment)

9. Completion Date - This is the date the money changes hands, and the land title for your new home is put into your name.

10. Possession/Adjustment Date - This is the date, usually one to two days after completion, that you can finally get the keys to your home. The adjustments are generally made to this date as well, which means the property taxes and other closing fees are adjusted to this date.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions,

All the best,
Neacol