Are you planning to buy a house? Not sure where to begin?
In this video we look at what to look for and what you should know when
buying your first home, that's coming right up.
Welcome to Homebuyer's School
brought to you by Brookfield Residential.
Hi everyone, I'm Karl Yeh, welcome to another Homebuyer School video,
a channel where you get the latest strategies, tactics
and tips from Home buying experts, and remember if this is your first time on
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miss anything. So today I'm joined by Cory McDonald, community manager with
Brookfield Residential, and the topic we're gonna discuss is, what should I
know and what should I look for when buying a house for the very first time?
So Cory for first-time homebuyers, what are some things they--first of all what
should they know when buying a house, and two, what should they look for?
So the first thing they should know is,
what is this home accommodating in your lifestyle. so
it's a very introspective question that I like to ask customers is what are the
pain points you're moving away from because that'll give me a really good
idea as far as what they're trying to find in a brand new home. Some people
will come in and give you a very canned answer because what they've seen on home
building network or things they've heard other people ask, "I want three bedrooms
because it's better for resale"--but that might not necessarily fit the lifestyle
that they're trying to fulfill so trying to figure out exactly what this new home
is fulfilling in your lifestyle as far as once you've found that out and taking
your time to do the research of the community that best fits that lifestyle
and possibly the builder or the resale home that would best fit that
lifestyle as well. A lot of builders will have slightly different building
specifications depending on the style of home that you're looking to buy or how
their home is constructed so having a really good idea of the materials used
in the home of the specifications that they adhere to on building.
And I just wanted to know,
is that-- does three bedrooms actually increase resale?
If it's good for what you're looking for, somebody else is also gonna be
looking for that as well, so if you like three bedrooms there's a really good
chance somebody else likes three bedrooms. If you want two
bedrooms there's a really good chance there's somebody else listing
for two bedrooms. So that's a very loaded question that I can't honestly
give you an honest answer for because sometimes a two bedroom and they'll sell
faster than the three bedroom depending on what individual ammenities are
looking at that time.
So we kind of looked at what you should know, what are
some things you should be looking for as a first-time home buyer in a house that
you're kind of walking through or considering buying?
Yes great question.
A lot of people might fall into money pits. If you're quickly rushing into a
brand-new home, you'll like it, you'll love it but you don't do your due
diligence and do your research on either the builder or how the the resale home
was maintained previously, they'll rush into a home and then there they'll start
running into problems because it wasn't properly assessed or there--there wasn't
an inspector that came through to check for any damages that had been
encountered. I would be saying that there is a bias and in buying a brand-new home
because there are a lot more checks along the way for making sure that you
know you're building to a specific code and you're--you're hearing specific
guidelines when building a brand-new home and then there's also warranty
that's provided with a brand new home as well to take care of some of those
issues as they come up down the road.
Let's go from inside out when you're
purchasing a house for the very first time, when you're walking through, what
are some key things you want to look at?
And that's again a very loaded question
because what I'm looking for in a brand new--it might be completely different
than what you're looking for but you're right, sometimes it is as you're walking
through, you get a feel of "yes this fits" or "this just doesn't feel like home to me."
So again I always tell people it's okay
to take your time to walk through different homes to research different
areas, having a good checklist of things that I need and in the brand new home
over and above this many bedrooms this many bathrooms. trying to
accommodate a specific lifestyle that I want to live what am I looking for in a
brand new home but sometimes once you're narrowing it down it's how does
this home make you feel, it gets a kind of little personal in that sense so
that's a very loaded question that I don't know if I can honesty answer for
everybody but for what I'm looking for might be different than what everybody
else is looking for in a brand new home.
And remember we do have a video on
questions you should ask when buying a house for the very first time above.
As we take--as we look at going outside, what are some of the things that I
should look for maybe outside the home or outside the community? And I know it--
I guess it's a loaded question again but again, looking at amenities looking at
transportation, looking at you know, different aspects.
Absolutely. Amenities in the area, that's gonna help with resale down the road but
more importantly lifestyle. You don't want to be traveling 40 minutes each way just
to go get groceries on a week-to-week basis, if it's close by that's gonna help. If
there's parks in the area, if there's walking paths, if you like going for long
walks or riding your bike, having bike paths in the areas is it is a must-have
or city transit if that's necessary for you as well I'd say on the outside of
the house sometimes yard space is very important to people, if it has a yard can
the area accommodate pets? Is there a park for kids? So lots of little things
you might want to be considering on the outside of the home. In construction
itself what the the home is made out of, what the exterior is, is it stucco? Is it
vinyl siding? Is it hardy board--the colour is matched what you're looking for in a
brand-new home because these things they do matter right, so having a little bit
of research and finding out exactly what's used on the outside of the home.
I know as first-time homebuyers when you go into a house you might not know
that you can upgrade a lot of different things, what are some key things that
first-time homebuyers should know in terms of upgrading or customizing their
home? Yeah great question and that would really depend on home to home
and builder to builder. Some builders will let you customize everything from moving
walls or rearranging laundry rooms to give you more space, some are maybe a
little more streamlined in saving efficiencies for time and for money so
they might not allow those kind of customization's but each of them will
allow you to do some form of color selections and matching up your counters
to make sure they match your cabinets with your flooring and even different
materials used, as an example, some forms of flooring are may be a little bit
better for water resistance or a little bit more durable if you have kids or
pets or countertops, some of them are a little bit better than others as far as
being maybe less porous stone as a quartz versus a granite which might be
more porous and might require a little bit more TLC to maintain
over those long period of time so taking your time, don't rush when making
those color selections but also having a look through different show homes,
Pinterest is great to kind of see differen colour ideas to look at.
What might best suit your likes and have an idea of what best suits your lifestyle.
Great. I remember when I was buying my first home one of the key
things that I really--was valuable to me it was actually driving around the
community right, so it isn't just you know, walking through the house but it's
actually driving around maybe doing a test drive from house to work, test drive
from house to any activities you have or maybe activities that your family or
maybe your kids have right.
Yeah doing that research and take a day in different
days too right? Test out what rush hour is gonna be like, driving to and from work
or driving kids to and from school, how often do the buses come so if little
Johnny misses the first bus how long is he waiting outside? And the weather,
depending on that day so you're exactly right doing that research and taking the
time to to go do it yourself?
So do you have anything else to add in terms of
things that I should know or things that I should look at when buying a first
home for the very first time?
Yeah, each home is a little bit different, each
builder is maybe a little bit different as far as the materials they use and how
they construct their home so taking a deep dive into the specifications that
each home is built will definitely help solve those questions or eliminate
problems running down--running for them down the road.
Perfect, well thank you very much Cory.
You're welcome.
Thank you very much everyone for joining us and we'll catch you next time.
That's another edition of
Homebuyer's School. Tune in next time
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