In this video we'll look at the step-by-step process of buying a house for
the first time, and how long does it take? That's starting right now.
Welcome to Homebuyer's School,
brought to you by Brookfield Residential.
– Hi everyone I'm Karl,
welcome to another Homebuyer's School video, a channel where you get the latest
strategy tactics and tips from home buying experts, and remember if this is
your first time on this channel and you want to get a latest strategies from the
experts, hit the subscription button below, hit the little notification bell
so you don't miss anything. So today I'm joined by Kevin French, realtor with
Re/max Realty, and the question we're gonna answer today is, what is the first
time home buying process in 2019? So Kevin, today if I was a first-time
homebuyer, what is the steps I would need to take on the path to homeownership?
– First step is going to be meet with a lender and understand your
affordability. So what range you're shopping within. Then you're going
to want to start looking at you—probably already have an idea of the areas that
you want to live in, and then it would be good to understand those areas more
through whether it's a brand new home and you're looking at the new build
options in the area or if you're meeting with a real estate agent and then going
to discuss you know, what your options are and then what your needs are with
them, and then they'll be able to narrow things down from there.
– So first of all we got obviously, your financing, right—
and again if you want to know more
about mortgage approval process, check out our playlist here in the description
below—and the second thing in terms of is area. So when you're looking at an
area, what are some things that you want to keep in mind?
– It depends on the person
and what their needs are but most important is going to be amenities, or
the amenities there or the amenities coming, how far do you want to be away
from them, how close do you want to be to them. Schools, if that's important, if the
homebuyer has children—and then access to main roads—access to whatever
routes they're going to take on a daily basis—and then lake communities, having
community with an HOA fee. A lot of the more inner-city communities don't have
HOA fees, that's because they weren't really a thing back when they were
developed, however now having a homeowner's association and then having
a yearly fee allows for your community to have a lot
of added green space that the City of Calgary is not going to take
care of, or added amenities such as a recreation centre, maybe a pool. Some
communities of course have a lake which would be included in there. So those are
yearly fees, they typically range from one hundred and fifty to five hundred
dollars which actually add a lot of value for a once a year—for a one-time payment.
– And if you want to know more about HOA fees, check out our video above and
in the description below. So once you've actually selected an area, and then now
you mentioned new versus previously owned homes, is there a way to
think about should you buy new versus should you buy previously used?
– I would say firstly depends on the person. If you're a person who's nervous about
unknown expenses or having to replace a roof, replace a furnace, a hot water tank,
those are things that are more common obviously in a resale property.
And then if you're purchasing brand new you get the comfort of having
everything new of course, and then having the benefits of a new home warranty plus
a builder warranty that's going to be included with that. And then you're going
to want to make sure that you're purchasing with a reputable builder that
stands by their warranty in their product.
– Let's say you've actually selected a home whether it's new or previously
owned. What are the next steps after that?
– Once you've—some people are more comfortable having a
property inspection on a new home as well, but obviously on a resale I'd
recommended having an home inspection and then from there you go through the
property. It's important to have a real estate agent that has a critical eye and
it's important for the buyer to be critical themselves. It's easy to walk
into a home and love the vaulted ceiling or love that it has a big garage or love
that it has a nice ensuite, but the reality is is that once you get past all
of the nice-to-haves you should look at the negatives in the
property as well, and kind of be more critical so that you understand what
you're getting yourself into. For example, the renovations that were
done professionally versus renovations that we're done by the homeowner who is
obviously not a contractor, not qualified to do them, and then other
things such as you know, do the exterior of the property and how the land is sloped,
and is the foundationg going to have issues. Most of these
items are covered with the home inspector but it's important to know
what you're getting yourself into so you can feel sound in the purchase in the end.
– And if you were to purchase a brand new home, what are some of the things in
terms of upgrades that you would be thinking of - because I'm sure the home
builders would probably want you to you know, include a whole bunch of other
things and whether you could afford it or not right?
– Yeah in 2009 when it was difficult to sell homes, builders started to include a
lot of the things that were then considered luxuries because you would
pay extra for you know, hard surface floor, and you'd pay extra for granite or
stone countertops, whether it be quartz, granite or other, and tile flooring,
things like that. In 2009 when it was more difficult to sell homes, those
things started to get thrown in as a bonus to incentivize people to buy homes.
Ever since then, in newer communities it's almost become the standard.
So having hard surfaced flooring in the main areas, whether it's laminate, luxury
vinyl plank or hardwood, having tile in the entryways and in the bathrooms, and
then having stone at least in the kitchen at the bare minimum and then
throughout the rest of the home is key. From there I would be careful with what
you spend your money upgrading if you wanted to do knock down ceiling versus
popcorn, it's not going to get you more money in the end when you go to sell
your property. Those are nice-to-haves. Hot water on demand, paying to have the
landscaping above and beyond just sod depends on of course the price point of
the property, but typically there's a lot of things that you can spend money on.
You should know going into it that you're spending it for your own use and
not for a resale return when you ultimately sell the property.
– So once you've actually selected a home, done the property inspection or inspected
it yourself, gone through the positive, negatives, and you want to make let's say
the offer on the house, what are the steps after that?
– So you would typically be
working with an agent. The agent will go through the—should go through the
comparable sales with you so you have a better understanding of what
properties in the area that are comparable are selling for don't so that
you can understand that this is a reasonable price to offer. They would
typically advise you on what to offer and then you'd have a few conditions.
Typically financing and property inspection there might be special
conditions if you're purchasing a condo that the pet is approved,
or multiple pets, or if you're purchasing, and then any condo typically
you would have a condo document review as well—and newer homes that's a pretty
straightforward because they're typically in many documents to review
except for the bylaws, but if you're purchasing a resale one you're certainly
going to want to know that, understand the financial health of the building to make
sure that there's no upcoming special assessments or surprises—and then to
make sure that you know what's planned for the building – are there windows being
replaced, is deciding getting repainted, things like that they're going to impact
how you live in the building.
– And then so, what is this step to actually once
you've made your, I guess your offer, what are the steps after that?
– Once the offer is made, hopefully accepted, then you'd have a conditional
period which is typically about 10 days. In that time if you're purchasing a condo,
the seller would provide you with the condo documents typically. Unless it's
foreclosure and then they would you would get the condo documents reviewed
by a professional reviewer, unless you're comfortable reviewing it yourself, and
then we'd have the financing condition. So as soon as the offer's accepted, that
would be sent to the lender and then they would get working on the file, and
then during that ten day period you would also do your home inspection.
You'd get a report from the inspector and then if you're comfortable with that and the
document review, and you do have financial approval, then you're good to
waive conditions and it's your home.
– Is there a place in there for any legal—
like, do you have to hire a lawyer when you buy a house?
– You can hire a
lawyer and have a lawyer review the purchase agreement in the documents.
Typically if you're purchasing a single-family home or bare land condo,
it would come with a real property report. You can get that, you can ask for
that or request that ahead of time during that conditional period to have
your lawyer review it and make sure that the land is exactly what you're
purchasing, but a lot of people often not go that route understanding that
it's a relatively straightforward process and the contracts do protect them.
– Okay, and then from there—so we went pretty much through the entire process
of buying a home. How how long does it normally take to do that?
– That depends on the buyer. Some buyers understand and know exactly
what they want and they purchase pretty quickly after they start the shopping
experience. I would say on average it's anywhere from two to four months. Some
buyers take a couple years or even longer than that, making sure that they get
exactly what they want. Or they're looking for a specific property that
doesn't come on the market often, but if you are purchasing and within that
two to four month time frame, I think it's important to look at more options
than less because when you move into the property and you ultimately take
possession, you want to make sure that you're comfortable with in the end. You
never want to have buyer's remorse and feel that you didn't see another option
that may have worked better for you, and the more that you see the more that you
become an expert yourself in the market, and the more you understand that it is
the right purchase when you ultimately do make it.
– All right. Do you have anything else to
add in terms of the actual first time home buying process?
– Iwould encourage people to understand lifestyle is probably the most important
thing to them and not give up anything—sorry, give up other things
such as a nicer home or a home that's slightly larger to get exactly what they
want. If commuting to work and having people over and entertaining is key, then
find a place that has a shorter commute to work and it has a nice entertainment
area—but perhaps maybe the basement is unfinished or maybe it's a
smaller home overall. Ultimately I think you should choose what fits your
lifestyle. Not what not what fits the larger home or the nice finishes.
– Great. So the question of the day I have for you is – what part of the home buying
process, whether you heard it today or your experience, did you find most
challenging and why? Let us know in the comment section below.
And if you want know more first-time
homebuyer tips, watch this video here as
well as other home buying videos
right here. And don't forget to hit the
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experts. Thank you for watching and
we'll catch you at our next video.