Buying Home
Finding and purchasing a home that will meet your needs is a significant and often stressful time. Our goal is to make this transition as smooth as possible. We are experts in the area, and once we learn what it is that you’re looking for, finding your dream home is simple.
Before you start looking for a home you should ask yourself a few questions:
- Where do you want to live? Are there particular neighborhoods or communities that you like?
- What kind of house would you like (need)? Are you looking for a particular style? How many bedrooms and bathrooms do you want?
- Is a home office a necessity? Do you need a bonus room or flex-room?
- Do you entertain often? Is a home suitable for entertaining something you’re looking for?
- Do you want a yard, pool, gated or guard gated community?
- Have you determined your price range or consulted a lender to determine the best price range?
Searching for your dream home can be a time-consuming experience. Working with our professional team will make the process much more efficient!
Closing Costs
You’ve found your dream home, the seller has accepted your offer, your loan has been approved and you’re eager to move into your new home. But before you get the key, there’s one more step the closing.
As a responsible buyer, you should be familiar with these costs that are both mortgage-related and government imposed. Although many of the fees may vary by locality, here are some common fees:
Land Transfer taxes: This expense is charged by most states for recording the purchase documents and transferring ownership of the property. (1- 2%)
(In the city of Toronto transfer tax is double)
Mortgage Broker Fee: This fee covers the lender’s loan-processing costs. The fee is typically one percent of the total mortgage.
Lawyer and Title Insurance Fees: These fees generally include costs for the title search, title examination, title insurance, legal document preparation and other miscellaneous title fees. ($1600- $2000)
PMI Premium Mortgage Insurance fee: If you buy a home with a low-down payment less than 20%, a lender usually requires that you pay a fee for mortgage insurance. This fee protects the lender against loss due to foreclosure. Once a new owner has 20 percent equity in their home, however, he or she can normally apply to eliminate this insurance.
Costs such as legal and professional fees, taxes, appraisal costs, approvals, loan discount fee, property tax, utility deposits, home inspection and insurance, escrow accounts, add up to thousands of dollars and some cannot just be “rolled up” into the loan. They are due upon closing and generally in cash.
Mortgage Pre-Qualification and Tips
One of the first steps in the home buying process is to consult with a mortgage lender about your financing options.
Pre-approvals come with a mortgage rates and verify how much you can afford through your income and credit score. That said, they are valid for a fixed period of time – typically 90 or 120 days – and are not final decisions. A lender may not be able to provide you with financing after your offer of purchase has been accepted for a few different reasons including: the appraised value being lower than the purchase price, the property having asbestos or knob and tube wiring, or the home being a heritage home.
However, a certificate of pre-approval for a mortgage is not an irrevocable guarantee that you are going to be approved for any specific mortgage loan on a particular property. Even once you are in possession of a certificate of mortgage pre-approval, it is still necessary to hold a meeting during the conditional offer period with the lending institution to obtain the conclusive approval.
Home Inspection Report
The intent of the home inspection report is to provide the purchaser with an overall summary of the condition of that specific residential property in order to assist the buyer in determining how to proceed. Although the specific purpose of a home inspection report is not to serve as justification to renegotiate the entire offer from scratch there have been numerous cases where a home inspection has revealed extremely serious defects in a home which would require significant expenditure to correct, which fall outside the expectation of normal maintenance costs.
