What are the steps involved in buying a home?

This is the fun part!  Don't look at too many at one time or you won't remember one from another.  Record notes about each property on the information sheet and immediately eliminate those that are not suitable.  Remember, it is important to let your agent know which you like and why as well as those you don't like and why.
Open communication will allow your agent to choose only properties that interest you.

Once you select a few homes that you like, your agent will help you to make your buying decision.  Once you focus on one home, your agent will do a Comparative Market Analysis on that property.  This involves determining 'fair market value' by analyzing recent sales of similar properties in the neighbourhood or area.

Offer and Negotiate

When making an offer on your selected property, you, with the guidance of your Agent, will have to decide:

• What price to offer
  
  
• How much deposit you will offer
  
  
• What conditions to include for your protection (finance, home inspection, etc.)
  
  
• What chattels (personal property) you wish to include
  
  
• When you wish to take possession (close)

At this point, figure out what's not negotiable and where you'll be willing to give a little on things that aren't.  A good agent will give you tons of advice on how to structure your offer for your benefit.
Once the offer is presented, the Seller may either accept it, reject it, or change it (make a counter offer). This process may be short or prolonged.  Remember, focus on your real goal!

Satisfy The Conditions In Your Offer

If as a part of your offer, you have asked for time to arrange certain things, you have what is called a conditional offer.  These conditions may be mortgage approval, inspections, condo status reports or  sale of property to name just a few.  Conditions, with their deadlines, must be met exactly as specified in the offer.  Your agent will take responsibility for ensuring that these procedures are done correctly.

Too often, first time home buyers rely of the advice of friends and family and fail to make it a condition of their purchase contract that an inspection be done that is satisfactory to them.  When those deals close, potential problems might not be discovered right away but might start to creep up within a few months.  Maybe the furnace or air conditioning units have broken parts.  Maybe the roof will be in need of replacement very shortly.  All of these things can and do occur.

The potential problems when you purchase a home are many. Unless you are a qualified inspector yourself, it is unlikely that you will catch all of the potential problems.  Licensed inspectors will have a detailed checklist of items to check that they have been trained to review.  The advantage for you the home buyer is that you don't have to contact a plumber, electrician, roofer, etc. to check all of the different systems within your potential new home./P>

Select A Lawyer

When choosing a lawyer, there are  a large number of variables ranging from experience to personality issues.

The first issue most people focus on is price …WRONG!  Price is only one factor and unless the fees of one lawyer are 30% more than another then it should become a minor fact.  Why?… It's simple actually…. by focusing on price you sometimes fail to take into account the more important issues like experience and knowledge.
 
The biggest concern we all should have when selecting a lawyer is experience.  This is the same as with any other business… you want the best person available to help. It's not when things are going well that you have to worry it's when things are going badly… it is at this time that the experience of your lawyer is most important

The lawyer's function is to make sure that all the terms of your agreement are met.  Your lawyer will take care of all necessary legal procedures, conduct a title search, prepare all documentation (deed, mortgage, discharges, registrations, etc.) 

Several days prior to closing day you will meet with your lawyer to sign the documentation required to complete the sale. Your lawyer will explain every document to you in a satisfactory manner. Do not ever feel intimidated.  If you do not understand something ... ask. You will also have to present funds for whatever down payment and closing cost that you are expected to pay.

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