Mortgages for First Time Homebuyers

Buying your First Home

The process of purchasing a home can be overwhelming for first time homebuyers.  As a mortgage broker, part of my job is to help ensure that you understand the process completely and are comfortable with the process.

Step 1: Meet a Mortgage Broker to Prequalify for Mortgage Financing

Before you can go out and buy a home, it is a good idea to find out if you can qualify for a mortgage, and how much of a mortgage you can qualify for.  After a short meeting at a time and place convenient for you, I will have all the information necessary to work on your application and typically within 24 hours I can get a rate hold in place for you and tell you what you could qualify for.

If you have RRSP savings available to you, they could help you get the downpayment you may need to qualify for a mortgage.  Please see my Home Buyers Plan page for more details.

As a first time home buyer, you are also eligible for the CRA First Time Home Buyer’s Tax Credit.

Step 2: Work With a Realtor to Find a Home That You Love

If you have a realtor that is helping you through the process of buying a home, you would let them know the information I have given you for your mortgage financing, and they would start to provide you listings that fit your criteria and price range.  The listings that you are interested in, they would make arrangements for you to see them.

Once you find the property that is right for you, you would work with your realtor to come to an agreement with the sellers on price and terms.  In the contract, you will usually specify subjects that you will have to meet before providing a deposit.  There are usually 2 major subjects in a purchase contract.  The first is a satisfactory property inspection. You will hire a property inspector to ensure that the property is in the kind of condition you would expect.

The second subject in the purchase contract would be mortgage financing.  That leads me to the next step.

Step 3: Back to the Mortgage Broker for Final Mortgage Approval

You and/or your realtor would inform me of your accepted offer, and will provide me the necessary documents to obtain your firm mortgage approval.  Providing you have already been prequalified to purchase, this is usually a fairly straight forward process.  As part of this process, you will choose a solicitor to complete the legal documents with at closing.

Step 4: Subject Removal and Providing a Deposit

After you are satisfied with the inspection on the property and you have a firm mortgage approval, you would sign a form to make the purchase contract firm and provide a deposit, usually in the range of 5% of the purchase price.  If you have funds in your RRSP as mentioned before, you can use these funds for your deposit by withdrawing them through the Home Buyers Plan.

Step 5: Signing the Purchase and Mortgage Documents

Within a few days of your closing date, you will meet with your solicitor and make arrangements to sign all the documents to complete the purchase if your new home.  Your solicitor will let you know if there is any further funds required to complete the purchase.  This can include:

• Any additional downpayment you may make on the purchase
• Solicitors fees
• BC Property Transfer Tax (if applicable)

You can read more about closing costs on my closing costs page.

Step 5: Moving Into Your New Home!

You have done everything necessary to have your new home in your name.  Now, it is time to move!  You can arrange a moving Van and do everything yourself, or you can hire someone to do it for you.  It is advisable to give yourself some time from the time you have to be out of your old home and the time you take over to give yourself a chance to do some things to make the home comfortable for you to live in before moving all of your belongings in.

Getting Started with a Mortgage Pre-qualification

The home buying process is not a terribly complex one, and with good advisors such as a mortgage broker (myself) and a good realtor and solicitor, the whole process should be a fairly smooth one.  If you are considering buying a home, and would like to get some more information, please fill out the short form below, and I will be very happy to help you get started.