How to Buy a Home
Where to begin

How to buy a home is really not that complicated, provided you have good honest guidance along the way.

In order to save you a lot of time, frustration and worries, in order to buy a house with minimal stress, it's a good idea to have ...

Dependable Representation

Finding a REALTOR®, one who sincerely puts your interest ahead of their own, can help you through what may appear to be a complicated process to buy a home.

You can go the uninformed traditional routes of surfing countless REALTOR® websites (not necessarily current), scouring the local newspaper (not all listings make the newspaper), trudging through endless open houses (utterly exhausting the kids and yourself), listening to as many pitches from all the attending agents (confusing), and spending your evenings and weekends (and a ton of fuel money) driving neighbourhoods in search of lawn signs (not all listings have signs), looking for that elusive and affordable home that meets your needs. Or you can ...

Let a REALTOR® Save You Time & Effort

Time is our most precious commodity. Every moment is irreplaceable. So, let your REALTOR® invest their time to save yours. However, they'll advise you to get all your 'ducks in a row' before even beginning the search process.

During the initial consultation, your REALTOR® will ask numerous questions regarding your wants and needs, including your preferred location, style and size of home.

How many bedrooms? Bathrooms? Do you need a garage, or is that a luxury you can live without? School requirements? Flooring? Finished basement? What features would you like to see?

Of course, with every suggestion, you'll have a tendency to say yes.

Ka-Ching.. Ka-ching!!

So, it's a good idea to categorize and differentiate the list by needs and wants. And you must also determine ...

How Much Can You Afford?

There's not a huge difference between buying vs renting. It's simply a difference on how you hold possession. It'll be either you or your landlord who gets to enjoy the benefits of home ownership, including capital gain over the years.

It still comes down to what you want, your physical needs, and what you can afford. Your real estate agent will ask some basic financial questions to determine a target price range, including the amount of your down payment.

Is it all yours or from borrowed funds? What's your gross combined income and outstanding debts with minimum monthly payments? They'll advise you on what to expect for closing costs, including the big one - land transfer tax.

From this basic information, they'll be able to calculate your gross and total debt service ratios to ensure your dream home won't turn into a nightmare.

Your REALTOR® may also suggest that you ...

Buy to Your Maximum Affordability

You may think they're just trying to increase their commission.

This may be true, but more likely, they may want you to not compromise too much in order to save a little money, because the more you compromise, the sooner you'll need to upgrade to a larger home.

This, of course, will result in a move sooner than later, with all the usual expenses like real estate commission, legal fees and disbursements, as well as the cost of movers. So, it might be wiser to invest in a larger home now and ...

Stay Put Longer

... provided of course that you don't buy a home too big for your budget.

So, now you're off to a good start in learning how to buy a house, and what a REALTOR® can do for you. Explore more of this home buyer guide, and make educated decisions.

Now, get busy, do your research on first time buyer programs and any home renovation tax credit plans in your area, and go buy a home.

Click here for a great place to start your search to buy a home in Canada. And click here to begin your search to buy a home in the USA.

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