Purchasing a home is not all fun, but you shouldn’t turn it into something miserable and upsetting. Make a list of what your home absolutely has to have or would be nice if it had; this would be referring to your wants and needs in buying a home. The first time home buyer should especially consider this step, as they are generally new and inexperienced. Do you need to have a certain amount of bedrooms or bathrooms? Is a front and back porch important? When viewing a home, keep notes for each one that you visit. What did or didn’t you like? What small things that you don’t like can be changed at an affordable price? Take pictures and attach them to their corresponding notes so that you can remember what the home looked like inside and out. Everything starts to blend together after awhile, so when buying a home it is important to have something to make each one stand out.Read more…
The first thing that anyone purchasing a home should know is that representation is key. Sellers are responsible for paying the real estate agency their commissions and as a result you should not be afraid to contact an agent, in fact, you should have your own agent. When Realtors represent the seller and and buyer in the same transaction there is a conflict of interest. Simply put, the seller wants to get the highest price possible for the house and the buyer wants to pay the lowest price possible. There is absolutely no way that the Realtor can represent both parties keeping their best interests at heart. This conflict of interest starts to become apparent when you, as the home buyer, ask your Realtor “How low do you think the seller will go?”. If the Realtor is acting on behalf of both the seller and the buyer, they are legally not allowed to advise you. While a realtor that is acting for you (the buyer) alone can and mostly will give you their recommendation. Always remember, that Realtors are paid by the seller, so get your own representation when you are buying a home.Read more…
Your mortgage can represent more than 80% of the value of the home (referred to as LTV within the industry); this ratio is called loan to value. If the mortgage exceeds 80% LTV, then the lender is required to obtain mortgage default insurance provided by one of three Canadian companies AIG, Genworth and CMHC (with the latter being the most commonly known company). When the lender obtains this mortgage default insurance then the purchasers (or borrowers) are usually stuck with paying the bill which can represent a sizeable amount since the amount is based on a percentage of the mortgage amount.Read more…
Accessing a full selection of banks
One of the things that you should be looking for as a first time home buyer is a large selection of mortgage products. You want to know that you’re getting the best possible deal in terms of both the interest rate and your own personal financial needs. In Canada, there are many banks that can help make the process easy. Using a mortgage broker will enable you to work with many of the top banks in the country. Because each bank has a number of different products, you will have access to as many as 350 different choices.Read more…
Mississauga was incorporated as a city in 1974, and as of January 2010 has a registered population of 729,000 people, making it Canada’s sixth largest city. Mississauga is part and parcel to the Greater Toronto Area, and is located within the boundaries of the Regional Municipality of Peel Ontario. It includes the neighborhoods of Malton, Meadowvale, Streetsville, Erin Mills, Clarkson, Woodlands, Cooksville, Britannia, Port Credit, Lakeview and Applewood.Read more…