The Buyer Experience
Your Guide To Buying A Toronto Home
Inside discover the buying process explained including
helpful worksheets to assist you in narrowing down
your home and neighbourhood characteristics you
want in your next home
Platform
It's All About You
My real estate business has been built around one guiding principle: It's all about you.
Your needs and key neighbourhood and home characteristics
Your dreams and happiness
Your concerns
Your questions
Your finances
Your time-lines
Your lifestyle and goals
My focus is on your complete satisfaction. In fact, I work to get the job done so well, you will want to tell your friends and associates about it. Maybe that's why a large part of my business comes from repeat customers and referrals. Good service speaks for itself. I am looking forward to the opportunity to earn your referrals too!
The Home Buying Process Explained.
Beginning your home search can be an overwhelming and daunting task. Because of that, our team makes sure that you, and all other potential buyers, understand each of the steps that we take to make the process as easy and painless as possible. By the end of your search, with our support and guidance, you will live happily ever after in your new, dream home.
Pre-qualification
1. Pre-qualification or pre-approval Application - The Buyer provides pertinent documentation including verification of employment and authorization to retrieve a credit report is requested.
2. Underwriting (Mortgage Lender) Loan package is submitted by the mortgage specialist (a mortgage broker or individual you use at a bank) to various lenders to get hold rates and pre-approval status
3. Loan pre-approval Parties are notified of approval Loan documents are completed and sent to the mortgage specialist
4. Offer submitted for financing Mortgage specialist prepares and submits your Agreement of Purchase and Sale to the Lender Lender reviews your documentation (income, T4's, NOA statements, etc.) Lender orders/request an internal valuation of the property to verify loan to value ratio. Once approved, you complete the Lender's documents with your mortgage specialist and funds are secured on your behalf with that Lender
5. Funding Lender prepares a loan instrument Funds are transferred by wire to your real estate lawyer for closing.
Why pre-qualify?
I recommend my clients get at least pre-qualified before beginning their home search. Knowing exactly how much you can comfortably spend on a home reduces the potential frustration of looking at homes beyond your means and saves you valuable time while searching for the right home.
Buyer Consultation
Let’s get to know each other! Once you’re ready to work with our team, we’ll meet together for a Buyer Consultation to focus your search and determine what you want and need in a home.
Listing Alerts Sent To You Based On Your Criteria
At this stage in the process, we’ll send you notifications about the listings that you’re most likely to be excited about. Be sure to let us know if one (or more) jumps out at you so that we can skip to the next step and schedule a viewing.
Schedule viewings and attend open houses
Bring along a binder or notebook and write down everything you like about the home and everything you dislike about the home. Keeping a record of every home you view will assist in focusing your "wants" vs "needs" and help you find the perfect home faster.
Rank each home on a scale of 0-10 with 0 terrible and 10 being perfect and record that number for comparison use later when you see the next property.
The goal will be for you to achieve your 8, 9, 10 scores in order to help you decide if you are going to put forward an offer.
Find the perfect home and write an offer
Once you have found the property you want to purchase, I will craft an offer in the form of an agreement of purchase and sale, review the terms and conditions with you carefully and then have you sign the agreement. While much of the agreement is standard, there are a few areas that we can negotiate while including specific buyer clauses to protect you.
What price you offer on a property depends on a number of factors including its condition, length of time on the market, buyer activity, and the urgency of the seller. While some buyers want to make a low offer just to see if the seller accepts, this often isn't a smart choice, because the seller may be insulted and decide not to negotiate at all.
The Move-in Date. If you can be flexible on the possession date, the seller will be more apt to choose your offer over others. Additional Property Often, the seller plans on leaving major appliances in the home; however, which items stay or go is often a matter of negotiation.
Offer Presentation. Typically, you will not be present at the offer presentation. I will present it to the listing agent and/or seller. The seller will then do one of the following; accept the offer, reject the offer, counter the offer with changes. By far the most common is the counter-offer.
In these cases, our experience and negotiating skills become powerful in representing your best interests. When a counteroffer is presented, we will work together to review each specific area of it, making sure that you move forward with your goals keeping in mind and ensuring that I negotiate the best possible price and terms on your behalf.
Contingencies & Due Diligence
Often homes are purchased with conditions and we refer to them as contingency clauses. You decide to have a home inspection, a financing clause, an appraisal, review of pertinent documents such as in a condominium the status certificate.
If something does become a concern we will work closely with the other agent to communicate the concerns and negotiate to request remediation in the form of necessary repairs, price reductions, or similar options. If satisfactory to you the buyer we will then remove the contingencies and send the seller a notice of fulfilment or a waiver form removing the contingencies.
Contingencies are put in place to protect you. If you do discover something that is unsatisfactory and cannot be resolved then you can consider these contingencies as a "get out of jail" card. In such cases, both you and the seller will agree to sign a mutual release.
Lifestyle - Consider your lifestyle when looking for your next home
When people come to your home, what do you want your home to say about you
What do you enjoy doing at home? What rooms will be most important to you?
Do you do a lot of entertaining? Is an open concept flow going to work for you?
How do you spend your time in the evenings and on the weekends?
Does your home need to accommodate any special needs?
Do you have any pets? Will nearby parks be better than a backyard?
Do you have anything special that needs to be accommodated such as athletic equipment, fine art, large furniture or a large collection?
Location, what is your ideal location? What's important about this location?
What are your maximum commute time and distance to and from work?
Are schools important?
Is there a particular view you are seeking (e.g., skyline, south exposure, greenspace)?
Ready to find your dream home?
Let us help you make that happen!