OUR EXPERIENCE BUYING OUR FIRST HOME
I have a big life update to share with you, a few months ago we bought our first home!
So things have been busy, in the best way, and now that we are getting settled, I have time to sit down and share our experience buying our first home.
I do want to start by saying that this was our personal experience and everyone’s situation is so different. For us, we knew we would be staying in Calgary and it was always a goal of ours to buy a home. I wanted to write this blog post to share our biggest takeaways and what we learned along the way.
No one teaches you the process of buying a home. I feel that you can only really learn by going through it and having the right people guide you along the way, which brings me to my first piece of advice.
Before you even start looking for a house, or even if you’re thinking about buying a house in the next few years, talk to a mortgage professional first. You can go to a bank to speak with someone or go through a mortgage broker. The difference is that a mortgage broker will shop around at different banks on your behalf to get the best mortgage rate for you. Otherwise, you would have to call up each bank and do that part yourself.
We had a great experience with our mortgage broker Courtney, she helped us determine how much of a house we could afford by breaking down how much we needed for a down payment and what our monthly costs would look like (mortgage + an approximate of house costs). We had so many questions like how much of a downpayment should we have and why, how long should our amortization be, and if you don't know what amortization is, that's okay because that's why Courtney is here.
With a broker, they have access to numerous different lending options so that if your particular scenario is unique they will likely be able to find a lender to accommodate. Also, a mortgage broker or bank does not charge you a direct fee for their services, they get paid by the bank when you get a mortgage through them.
And when you're ready to buy, a bank or a mortgage broker can give you a pre-approval for your mortgage which will make the buying process so much easier!
If you are in Canada, I would highly recommend reaching out to Courtney Jackson, you can send her an email at courtney@mortgageconnection.ca.
And then, once you have all the information about how much money you need, we found that you should add another 10% to that. There were a lot of fees and costs along the way that we didn’t realize.
Here are some fees that you will incur in the process of buying a home:
Home Inspection
Legal Fees
Closing Fees (gets paid to your lawyer with legal fees, can include things like home tax, land title fees, and more)
Repairs
Home Insurance
Life insurance/Mortgage Insurance
Increased utility and home costs
Furniture
So, when you know how much you can afford and how much you want to spend, it’s time to start looking for a house! It’s so much fun to shop around and to see and feel the different types of homes. And now, you will need to get a realtor.
The first time we met with our realtor Andy, he gave us sooo much information about the type of home and neighbourhoods we were looking at. Most of the homes that fit within our budget were duplexes. We looked at a ton of houses on our first day of viewings and he pointed out what to look for in a duplex, why one neighbourhood is better than another and a lot of things we would not have known on our own. It’s worth getting a realtor that knows your area well.
When looking at neighbourhoods we took into consideration the schools, property taxes, transportation, amenities, parks and house prices. This all affects the resale value of the house which was important to us.
We started looking at homes in November of 2020 and it took longer than we thought. We found our house in May of 2021 and then had a long possession date so we moved in at the end of July. At the time, there were not a lot of houses available and there was high demand so they were selling fast. This is one of the reasons why having a pre-approval is a great idea to make things smoother when you need to make a quick decision.
While we were house hunting it felt like we were seeing houses almost every weekend. We saw a loooot of houses which is just part of learning what you want. The house we ended up buying is not what I initially had imagined but after learning more and seeing different houses, it was definitely the right buy!
I also found that it was an emotional process, it’s a huge purchase and there are a lot of decisions to make. When you find a house you like, your realtor will submit an offer letter and then you wait and see if it’s accepted or they may come back with a counteroffer which you can accept or decline. But if your offer does get accepted then things start to move quickly. The house becomes conditionally sold and then you have to finalize your mortgage with your bank or broker and your realtor will guide you through the rest.
We had put an offer on another house and didn’t end up getting it which we now feel like was a blessing in disguise. We waited a bit longer and the perfect home for us came up. In the end, we ended up spending a bit more than we had anticipated but we are in a better neighbourhood and a house that we couldn't be happier with so it is more than worth it.
We had a great experience with our realtor as well, you can reach out to Andy Jackson at ajackson@charlesrealestate.ca.
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Some more things we learned in this process was to be patient, trust your gut, be diligent, don’t be afraid to ask questions and know that the right house will come along!
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And now, I’m so excited to start posting more home content on the blog! We have a few reno’s to do and I’m loving all things home decor. If you want to see more of the process, follow along on Instagram at @lifewithzandra
