Get pre-approved with your mortgage broker. This will tell you what price range to be house shopping in.
Get your realtor to set you up with a search that will automatically email you homes that are filtered to your search criteria. This is sometimes referred to as a client portal.
Go look at houses with your realtor.
Your realtor will draft an offer to purchase when you’ve found “the one”. As long as you’ve chosen a good realtor, they’ll guide you through this process and make it easy for you.
Once you’ve negotiated on price/terms and have an accepted offer, you’ll have to give the seller a deposit which is usually in the $1,000 to $10,000 range. (At this point you’re still not locked into the purchase. You’ll get that deposit back if for some reason, you don’t go ahead with the purchase)
Your realtor will send your signed purchase contract to your mortgage broker. Your mortgage broker will work on securing your financing and give you a commitment letter saying that the bank is committed to funding your mortgage.
Book a home inspection for the property. (Its best to book the date of the inspection 2-4 days before condition day)
If you are happy with your home inspection, financing, and you’re ready to go ahead with the purchase, you’ll remove conditions.
After waiving all your conditions, you are now locked into the purchase and will lose your deposit if you back out. (Not to mention, you could be sued!) Once conditions are waived, your lawyer would like at least 10 business days to handle transfer of funds and title before possession day.
Your realtor will send any amendments made to your “purchase contract”, as well as the “waiver of conditions” to your mortgage broker and lawyer.
Contact your insurance provider to put a property insurance policy on the property for the day of possession. This must be done before meeting with your lawyer in the next step. If you don’t already have a life insurance policy, this is a great time to do that as well.
Your lawyer will contact you to set up a meeting to sign purchase documents. This meeting usually occurs 1-3 days before possession.
Contact the city to set up how you would like to pay property taxes.
Congratulations, its possession day! You’ll meet your realtor at your new home to get the keys.
Take our Team Member survey to let us know how we helped, and collect your $500 reward.
