Home Buyer's Toolbox
|
|
When working with you to purchase real estate in the
Okanagan, it's essential that you understand the completehome
buying process before we start making appointments to
view possible real estate. As your consultant I am always
working in your best interests, and that means helping
you decide if and when buying a home is the right choice
for you. The basic steps when buying real estate are:
- Timing
Determine
if buying NOW is right for you.
- Finances
Get
your mortgage pre-approved & evaluate your TOTAL
COSTS.
Decide
what you can afford.
- Knowledge
Study
Kelowna's real estate market.
Choose
your real estate agent.
- Location and Type of Home
Identify
the neighbourhoods you like.
What
type of home are you looking for?
- Selection
View
specific homes.
Home
Buyer's Check List
- Decision
Pick
a home that meets your needs.
- Offer
Analyze
the value of that home.
- Negotiate
Negotiate
the contract.
- Acceptance
Closing
and Moving
Moving
with Children
A
complete moving checklist.
- Determine if buying
NOW is right for you - Do you currently
own real estate now? Why are you moving? When do you
want to be moved into your new home? Buying and selling
can be a stressful event in life, so you want to make
sure that now is the right time for you and your family.
 top
- Get your mortgage pre-approved
& evaluate your TOTAL COSTS
- In order to be in a strong negotiating position
you want to make sure your finances are planned and
approved BEFORE you start looking. The fewer conditions
on your offer the better your position when negotiating
price and possession.
You also want to take the time to review your total
costs. It's really important that you don't forget
to include closing costs when calculating how much
you can afford. Property Transfer Tax is calculated
based on 1% of the first 200,000 and 2% on anything
above that. For example - on a $400,000 house the
Property Transfer Tax will be $6,000. You may have
legal costs,
inspection
costs, appraisal costs, survey costs, insurance,
and GST if applicable.
Know your ideal price and your maximum price. I do
not want you to buy real estate and have you find
out that the only thing you can afford in life is
the mortgage payment.
Click here to view a list of real estate Brokers
& Bank in the Okanagan
- Decide what
you can afford - Figure out your monthly
mortgage payments and decide what you can afford and
are comfortable spending. Even though a bank maybe
comfortable lending you a certain amount of money
– you and your family may not want to spend
that much. Spend some time and figure out what number
you are comfortable with and determine what price
range your new home search is in.
top
- Study
Kelowna's real estate market -
Is it a buyer's market or a seller's market?
How long are new homes in Kelowna sitting on the market
vs older homes? What are you peak purchasing months?
What are your peak selling months? Reseach like this
will often determine how quickly you will have to
decide and offer on a home. Will you be comfortable
moving quickly if you find the right house? Are houses
selling way below asking or close to asking? All of
the answers to these questions maybe dependant on
the neighbourhood in the Okanagan you would like to
buy in. It's my job to know or find out the answers
to questions so that you can be properly informed
BEFORE you start looking.
- Choose
your Real Estate Agent - Especially in the
Okanagan here, it's important to choose an agent who
will listen to your requirements and truly look out
for your best interests. You want to find someone
who is competent, timely, educated and has good communication
skills. You could be spending significant time with
this person so make sure you choose someone who you
like, trust and get along with.
From here on in, let your Agent do their job and help find you the perfect home. Oh and of course, make sure you call me!
top
- Identify neighbourhoods
you like -
Now
that you know how much you can afford – it’s
time to think about where you want to be here in the
Okanagan. Kelowna realestate prices can vary significantly
from neighborhood to neighborhood. Be an informed
buyer and spend some time researching Kelowna and
the Okanagan. Here are a few points to concider prior
to buying a new home in Kelowna:
What neighbourhood do you want to live in?
Consider schools,
day care facilities, health facilities, and other
amenities.
Availability of fire protection and emergency services.
Proximity to commercial and industrial activities
Look at views, traffic, airport flight paths and other noises
Are there any parks or recreational areas in the neighbourhood?
Go
out and drive around some Okanagan neighbourhoods
and get a feel for the community. Try to narrow down
which area you’d like to live in.
- Have
you thought about what type of home you are interested
in? - Think
about the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Do you
want a newer home or an older home? Are you prepared
to fix up an older home if required? Do you want open
concept or more distinct living spaces? Do you want
a pool, garage, yard? Does the new home have to have
a master en-suite, powder room on the main floor?
Can it be 2 storey, split-level or a rancher? All
of these different criteria will help narrow down
the number of Kelowna homes you look at. Make sure
you discuss and figure out your “must haves”
vs. your “nice to haves”. Be sure to take
a very close look at the “must have” list
– you could be limiting your search if this
list is too long.
Communicate all of these requirements to me and I will go to work for you.
top
- View specific homes
- The next step is for me to create a short list.
I will give you detailed printouts for each house,
locate them on a map for you and ask you to drive
by each one at your own pace. I know this sounds a
little different, but trust me, your time is very
valuable and I don't want to drag you through homes
in Kelowna you don't like look of or the neighbourhood
in which they sit. This will allow you to determine
which ones you want to see the inside of and which
neighbourhood you like best. It's amazing how many
homes people don't like from the outside because of
criteria they didn't even know they had. When you
ask them why they don't like a house when they see
it - they may say "we don't want a steep driveway
because the kids play basketball" or "we never want
to be on a corner" or "we only want a southern exposure",
something that they didn't think of when we were discussing
criteria.
Once you have seen all the houses on the list and come back with a short list of the ones YOU would like to see, I will make arrangements to see them. If we follow the steps above, we should be able to narrow it down to 10 houses for you to choose from - and one of these will fit the bill!
top
- Pick a home that meets
your needs -
Do not over analyze! Some people can look
and look and look and look and never choose a home
in the Okanagan. It's very rare that you will find
a house that fits 100% of your criteria. Even those
of us who have built a house, didn't manage to build
it with 100% of our criteria. You want to find real
estate that meets most of your requirements and one
that feels right. For each house that you visit, try
to envision your furniture in each of the rooms. How
would you arrange the family room? Where would your
family get together be? Can you see yourself hosting
a BBQ in the backyard? These are the kinds of questions
you want to ask yourself, you are trying to see if
the house fits your family.
top
- Analyze the value
- Once we have the perfect
house, we need to do some more research and figure
out the value of the house to you as buyers. We will
run some comparable searches and find out what comperable
real estate in the area is selling for and come up
with a value range. We will decide what you want to
pay for the house and write up an offer. We will also
decide if any conditions are required to protect your
best interests. For example, usually an offer is subject
a home inspection.
Changes in the Kelowna
real estate market will often effect the strategy
used when writing up offers.
top
- Negotiate the contract
- It's the real estate agents
job to take care of your best interests. This means
that when I'm negotiating the contract on your behalf
I am 100% committed to getting you the new home you
want, for the price you want, under the conditions
you want. Once an offer is presented to the sellers
they have 3 options; Accept, Reject or Counter. We
hope for the first but quite often the sellers will
counter offer and I will help you understand the information
in their offer and implications of accepting it, rejecting
it or countering back again. The goal is always to
negotiate a contract that is acceptable to all parties.
You never want to forget your end goal, to buy a new
home in Kelowna. It is easy to get caught up in negotiating
just for the sake of negotiating!
top
- Closing and moving
- Once the contract is firm
and all conditions have been removed we are nearing
the final stretch. Some of the terms that are negotiated
on the contract are closing and possession dates.
These dates determine the deadlines for communicating
with your financial
lender , real
estate attorney, movers etc. I will follow-up
with your attorney and financial lender to ensure
that all the proper paperwork has been received.
- Moving with
Children - Often when you are thinking about
moving with children, you decide to move in the summer
when they are out of school. If you are moving to
a new neighbourhood in the Okanagan, it is important
to think about how difficult it may be for them to
make new friends during the summer holidays. Moving
during the school year allows them to instantly meet
children in the classroom. This gives them time to
make a couple of friends their own age, who live in
the neighbourhood before the summer holidays.
- A Smooth Move:
- Prepare a file to keep receipts of moving expenses, you maybe able to claim some for tax purposes depending on how far you are moving and why you are moving,
- Get written estimates from at least two moving companies,
- Go through everything and donate what you no longer need to charity - moving cost is by weight so don't take what you don't need,
- Get packing paper, boxes, pens, tape,
- Transfer the utilities out of your name,
- Change of address for Canada Post, newspapers, magazines, clubs, organizations, doctors, friends and family, services, insurance company,
- Order new cheques from the bank with your new address,
- Notify the outbound and inbound schools,
- If moving into our out of an apartment, book the elevator,
- Return all items you have borrowed and get back what you have loaned,
- Plan and start early!
For a detailed moving check list, e-mail or call me and I will send one right out to you.
top |
