A Beginner’s Guide To Buying A Home

Unless you have a couple hundred thousand dollars or more to spend, you can’t just plunk down cash and buy a home. Instead, you need to go through a process that takes you from getting loan approval to sitting down at the closing table. This can be overwhelming, but if you break the procedure down into steps and take your time, you can be a homeowner one day, living in your dream home! To help first-time buyers like you understand the many steps involved in purchasing your first home, Cody Rowe - Mortgage Broker has written down a Beginner’s Guide to buying a home.

Getting Started

Hire a mortgage broker: Hiring a mortgage broker to assist you with your home purchase is like borrowing someone’s years of experience when it is your first time going through the process. Added to that, they have access to multiple financial institutions, offer better deals, and work on a flexible timeline. They can also help you save money on hidden fees and access lower interest rates.

Organize your finances: If you are looking to buy a property, it’s important to know how much money you currently have and if you’re able to pay back a mortgage. First, make sure you are financially secure and comfortable going into what will be the biggest purchase of your life. This means having an established career with a consistent income, savings set aside, as well as the ability to budget and be organized with your finances.

Next Steps

Start as early as possible: Real estate is not the same beast as it was when your parents bought their first home, which would serve as their forever family home. Today, to purchase your eventual dream home typically requires a few extra steps, such as purchasing strata first so you can begin building equity and appreciation value to use towards the next house. If you start early, you’ll have the benefit of time on your side to reach that goal quicker.

Find your team: Before you start thinking it’s a good idea to start attending open houses and putting in offers, you should already know who your real estate agent, your mortgage broker, and your real estate lawyer are. This is the group of professionals you will be leaning on the most throughout the process of buying your first home.

Get preapproved: Far too often, people make the assumption that they will be approved for a mortgage. If you find out later on down the road that you need to work on certain aspects to get approved, you’re not just wasting your team’s time but yours as well. Use the services of your mortgage broker early on in the process - typically as one of the first steps when you start planning for your home purchase - to discover if there is anything in your mortgage application that you need to work on.

Advice From The Pros

Nothing good happens overnight: Purchasing your first home requires the three Ps - preparation, planning, and patience - to get yourself to the finish line. From the time you start thinking about buying your first home, you should give yourself a timeline of one to three years, as this is the average of how long it will take. If you can accomplish it sooner, great! But setting realistic timelines for this milestone will help you deal with the expectations you create for yourself.

Ask questions: Don’t assume you know everything, and talk yourself out of asking a question. One of the main reasons it is so important to set up your team of real estate professionals early on is so you can create a circle of trust to feel comfortable asking questions and confident that you are in good hands and won’t miss a step along the way.

If you are looking for a mortgage broker in Victoria, BC, then reach out to me at Cody Rowe - Mortgage Broker. I have spent the last ten years in sales, banking, and operating several entrepreneurial ventures. My business experience and wealth of knowledge in mortgage finance give me the knowledge to provide my clients with creative financing solutions and full-picture credit solutions. With sophisticated solutions and innovative strategies, I can identify your needs and your short-term and long-term goals while keeping your best interest at heart. My services include first-time home buyers, renewals, refinancing, reverse mortgages, private lending, commercial mortgages, construction financing, self-employed mortgage, investment properties, new to canada mortgage, etc. I serve clients across Comox, Vancouver, Campbell River, Victoria, Mill Bay, Cobble, Hill, Duncan and Nanaimo, and British Columbia.

For a complete list of my services, please click here. If you have any questions about mortgages, I would love to hear from you. Please contact me here.