First Time Home Buyer Checklist – New Brunswick

Let me present to your the Ultimate First Time Home Buyer Checklist for New Brunswick Canada ! I am going to do a quick run-down on most critical steps for a home purchase covering:

• Affordability
• Pre-approval
• Realtor Role
• Home Searching
• Offer
• Inspection
• Appraisal
• Closure

What you can afford

This is a reality check, make sure you are ready, make sure your bank account is ready, buying a home is a big deal; 

it’s probably the largest purchase in most people lives. Being prepared means also understanding that expenses go beyond purchase price.

Take a look at how much you can afford each month. Based on your income and expenses, I will add a link to affordability calculator to this video to  help you estimate your maximum affordable mortgage payments.

Get pre-approved

If you don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars at your immediate disposal, a mortgage is a loan can help you cover the cost of buying a home.

There are hundreds of banks, credit unions and other lenders out there who would love your monthly mortgage payments. So shop around for the best deal.

 Mortgage brokers are another great resource. Their job is to find low lending rates and they usually don’t get paid unless you sign a mortgage through them – meaning they’re highly motivated to get you the best deal.

What means getting pre-approved? It means the lender has reviewed your income, expenses, credit report, and has conditionally agreed on the money for a mortgage. This enables you to look for a home with confidence below pre-approved amount.

Find a realtor

Now it’s time to go shopping, and you might need some help to get into peoples houses in a timely manner. This is where a good realtor can help you. An experience agent will guide you stress free through the process and will share with you the knowledge and experience.

Where to look for a realtor? Recommendations, friends and family, and perhaps online. Make sure you research your realtor throughout, if the realtor doesn’t have time for you, run away, its going to be slow and painful process.

Search for a home

Your realtor will help you with the search, setting up an account with Multiple Listing Services provided by Real Estate Boards, for the desired price range, location, and any other criteria that are critical for your needs. You are going to receive an alert as soon as a new property with established search criteria hit the market. Another good strategy is to visit open houses, that would give you some perspective about various features and finishes a house can offer in different price ranges and can help you understand better different neighbourhoods and properties that suit your needs.

Submit an offer

You found your home, and are ready to make an offer, your agent can help you prepare one. It includes, offer price, establishing contingencies, obtaining disclosures, defining offer conditions and establishing closing timelines. Be prepared to negotiate the purchase price if the seller presents a counter offer. It is always a good idea to submit a strong offer, not too low and not too high, a well though offer that you are not going to regret in the future.

Get an inspection

One of the offer conditions is a house inspection, a good home inspection will help you identify issues and determine the needed repairs. Usually inspection includes Visible isolations, roof, windows and doors, atic, foundation, walls, ceilings ,floors, interior plumbing and electrical systems, HVAC and more. Your local inspector can help you with that, ask your realtor or people you trust for some recommendations.

Get appraisal

Another surprise from the lender is an appraisal request. Most lenders require appraisal of the property prior to issuing a mortgage. Appraisal is an estimate of the value of the property from a professional appraiser. Lenders are trying to protect themselves from giving too big of a mortgage for a property.

Renegotiate

If problems arise during the inspection period, you may be able to renegotiate the home purchase price to account for any repairs or ask the seller to repair the property prior to closing.

Close the sale

On closing day, after your final pre-closing walkthrough , all parties sign the papers officially sealing the deal and ownership of the property will be transferred to you. Usually the closing happens closure to the end of the day as there is a sequence of actions that need to be taken by lenders and lawyers.

Hope this is helpful and now you have a better end-to-end understanding of the buying process, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions for need help finding a new home !