My family and I are in the very early stages of buying a house. I think the first step is to get pre-approved for the mortgage but how do you know the best place for that? What are the steps I should take to ensure I get the most for my money?
|
2
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
Be sure you look at lots of houses. 50 doesn't seem like a high number. Your real estate agent won't like that, but you really need to see lots of neighborhoods and lots of features before you can really get a feel for what you want. Remember your real estate agent isn't really working for you. They are working for themselves and will do their best to sell you anything. The sooner you close, the sooner they get their money. You do need them to show you houses and you need them for home tours, but always remember who they are working for when they give you advice. I don't mean to foster an adversarial attitude, but the wisdom is to look out for yourself. Also be sure that whoever does the home inspection is highly reliable. Choose your own inspector if you can. You would much rather spend a few hundred bucks to learn that the house you love is in bad shape than buy a house and learn on your own. Next consider the neighborhood. You will be stuck with these people. Don't buy in a dying neighborhood. Make sure you visit the home during morning and evening commutes, when people are home, and on the weekend. You need to know who you live near. All this advice comes from buying a house I kinda regret. |
|||
|
|
2
|
I'm not certain if it's the same in Canada as the US but for us it didn't matter where we got our pre-approval. The assumption was that if we were pre-approved at one financial institution we would also be at others. We went to our bank and talked to a mortgage consultant for our pre-approval. This gave us a sense of our price range before shopping. We then went to three separate banks to apply for a mortgage to determine who would give us the best terms and interest rate. After finding the house, your next step would be to get a lawyer. |
||
|
|
