IMPORTANT STEPS IN BUYING A PROPERTY
As a real estate broker, it is my duty to communicate my expertise and my knowledge of the market in addition to my negotiating skills to optimize your purchase. In order to organize yourself appropriately, here’s an outline of the steps required to living in your new home!
1. Pre-qualification: This is the moment when one begins the process. I will look at your current situation, your needs, your motivations and your search criteria’s. At this time, I will refer you to experts in the mortgage field so that you can be well prepared during the negotiations and know your exact borrowing capacity.
2. Research and visits: With our office system, automated daily searches are performed and new properties matching your search criteria are sent you by email. This ensures that you will receive the new properties as well as price reductions, as soon as they arrive. When you are interested in one of these properties, I will coordinate an appointment myself at your convenience.
3. Promise to purchase: Once you found the home of your dreams, it’s time to draft the promise topurchase. This legal document will be formulate in your company, and will express your position on the seller on price, dates of signing the deed of sale and occupation, and validate the legal conditions. My knowledge of the market will help you by offering a fair price, based on recently sold comparable.
4. Realization of the conditions: An accepted offer to purchase normally includes different conditions, such as to protect both parties. The most common conditions are those of the inspection and financing;
– Inspection : you asked for the right to inspect the property by a professional within a certain period of time. This period begins when the promise to purchase is accepted. I strongly advise you to inspect the property by a professional because if you let the date expire on itself, you are deemed to declare that you satisfied with the condition of the property. The building inspector will give you a detailed report of its findings and recommendations, the report will allow you to plan the work that needs to be done in your future property. Contrary to popular belief, building inspection is not a tool for negotiating down the price of the property; unless a major problem is discovered, the inspection report will rather prepare
you on a future work plan of your home. You should provide for 2% to 3% of the property value in work renovations and recommendations during the first year.
– Financing : as soon as the offer to purchase is accepted, the funding becomes active. I will send the full promise to purchase to your mortgage representative or banking institution, to then receive a final acceptance within the period prescribed in the offer to purchase. I highly recommend that you get a pre-approval for your mortgage before beginning your purchasing procedures, this way, funding deadlines will be faster and this will facilitate our negotiations. It’s possible that your financial institution requires an assessment witch in this case, an appointment will be taken so that the person responsible for the evaluation comes to the property and confirms that the amount requested for the mortgage is less than or equal to the value of property.
– * In the case of a divided condominium, you should also, after reading condominium documents (declaration of co-regulation of the building, minutes, provident fund) declare that you are satisfied. It’s very important to carefully read these documents before you state being satisfied.
5. The waiting period … and getting prepared before the big move! Once all the requirements are obtained, only one document remaining, the deed of sale. During this time, you can prepare for your move, requesting movers submissions, making your address changes and organizing your boxes! I have a large directory of references that will be useful to you.
6. The act of sale : This event takes place at the notary office of your choice, in the presence of all partiesinvolved in the transaction. You will sign the deed of sale, which is the official document stating that you are now the owner and also the mortgage deed, if any. In the amounts discussed during this day, the notary will proceed to allocations, or reimbursement of the parts for the periods involved (example: if the seller has paid the entire municipal taxes for the year, you will repay him what he overpaid days from the moment you become the owner or he will no longer be owner). The costs of the deed are of your responsibility, also the transfer duties that I will calculate previously for you..
Thank you for the confidence you have shown me in the purchase of your property. I will be happy to assist you with my expertise and diligence throughout all these stages so that you find the property of your dream.
Don’t forget to mention me to your family, friends and colleagues who are also looking for a property, it will be my pleasure to accompany them as well in this process!
Jimmy Arseneault, no. 1 Real Estate Broker RE/MAX in Quebec