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Patience Please - Under Construction.
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Searching Properties & Getting Ready For Visiting
Go Straight To Search Listings
Wookbook to Help Guide You
Just a few things before you head off in the blue yonder of listings. I'm sure you have already searched the internet for "homes for sale" so you should have some idea of what the offerings are and approximately what the asking prices are. Great! So now let's get down to it.
By this point you should have and realtor working for you with a signed buyers contract in place that specifies price range, area, and expiry date. est. You should also have been qualified for a mortgage and have in place a mortgage approval in writing.
A Little History
The MLS or Multiple Listing Service is a comprehensive database of listings taken by multiple realtors/agency.Created by realtors originally, they would put actual photos in their store front window of homes they had for sale and pinups of listings on their office bulletin boards where other realtor would call or drive by to see each others inventory, eventually leading to booklets, then actual books of all the member realtors listings.
These books were dropped off to each Brokerage by the local Real Estate Board of which they were a member. By the time the internet came along these books had grown into huge volumes for each region of a single city.
The MLS is the bedrock and power of the real estate industry and is fast being deregulated by governments on behalf of consumers.
Lets Get Going On Your Search
You have to be flexible when searching for a home. No house is perfect the idea is to come as close as you can and compromise on the rest. You have heard "Location Location" and this is very true, it's No.1 in my books. However there are two types of great locations the first is a great area for resale value, access to the central city core with transit, shopping, theaters, etcetera. The second is convenience, close to your work, baby sitting, and your day to day circle of life. I suggest choosing the circle of life location.
If your circle is in the city core but you cant afford your dream home there then try scaling down the home specification and if you still cant afford that one then scale down some more. Don't put yourself in the situation of a three hour round trip commute each day especially if you have young children but children do need room to grow.
A general search will reveal many properties for sale but the moment you begin to add filters to your search the numbers will drop dramatically. You should definitely have Search Criteria in your searches but generally no more that about three or four to begin with. Generally Area, Type, (Freehold, Detached or Condo), Number of Bedrooms and Price. If you go beyond these you may just miss a good one. Too many search criterias will get you zero listings. On price you should search just beyond your price range but the most important is area.
All that being said you should be using your agent and let him do the work of finding you a place. If listings are few ask him to set you up so that the new listings and changes that come out each day are emailed to you.
You're going to find that quite a few of the photos in listings are deceiving usually stretched to make rooms look larger. The real estate board has cracked down on this and although it has gotten better you'll still see it from time to time.
Perhaps the best supporting tool for property searches is Google Maps and Google Earth. once you have ID'd a property that you may be interested in, explore them through Google, check out the street, the neighborhood, Parks, shopping, walking and driving distances to schools, access to highways and getting to work and other points of interest.
The Design of a home is important but don't let it deter you from taking a look. The Structure is more important you'll want to verify the exterior building material it is Brick, Siding, Wood est. and the approximate year built. You should always get an inspection done no matter what your impressions are.
If you have children the most important item on you list is Schools Check out Ministry of Education
Briefly, Pools are nice to look at and they do create a relaxed ambiance in the back yard almost like a vacation cottage. The kids will have a ball with their friends till they are about fifteen years old then suddenly you'll notice that a whole season has gone by and almost no-one has used the pool.
Pools are a lot of work consider, opening in the spring, treating and buying chemicals, clearing leaves, heating and its cost, winterizing and closing in the fall, and they are dangerous if you do get one make sure you have liability insurance.
One more thing, pools are not often sort after by buyers and some say they reduce your resale value. I have to say that I had a pool and it was great for about seven years till the kids were in high school but it took a lot of attending to.
New Homes Sales: I'll be updating in the future. But for now keep in mind that when you visit a new home site or pavilion the salesperson you meet there represents the interests of the builder. You have the right to independent representation and can have your agent go with you and register you as a client and help guide you along. This is quite normal in fact the builder in most cases will pay a commission to your agent. At the same time your rep my even be able to negotiate some extras or upgrades for you at little or no cost, but don't always count on this. More info on New Home Buying to come.
FSBO For Sale By Owner: Be careful of trying to negotiate and buy through a private sale (even if you know the seller personally). If you come across a FSBO or private sale have your agent go in and negotiate some terms to represent you, which include the seller paying the sales commission usually through a limited agency agreement.
If you are not represented you must have an independent lawyer review all the legal paperwork but keep in mind that lawyers don't usually visit properties and would not be aware of some obvious concerns about the property that an agent would have seen and known to make provisions for in the agreement of sale. In addition you must have an inspection done by a qualified home inspector to your sole sanctification.
FSBO Info. More from the sellers point.
CMHC Co-Op Housing Guide
Open Houses are a great place to get some sense of what you get for your buck and also get ideas of what to look for in your next home especally around design, colour and use of space. Open houses are advertised on the public MLS websites but if you end up at an open house its more likely you were just driving around and saw the signs.
On entering an open house, which is often limited to just so many viewers at at time, you will be asked to ID yourself and sign the register, there is good reason to do this for security, Once you ID yourself and give you name and contact info it is assumed that the agent at that home is the one that introduced you to that property and may also try encourage you to enlist their services beyond that home.
If you have an agent, you really want him to be there with you if not get a bunch of his cards give one to the open house realtor and tell them you already have an agent. Be careful of giving your email address to websites and realtors online for the same reason.
When visiting homes be careful of falling in love with the one you can't afford, this is a classical mistake that some buyers make because every other listing you see after that just can't measure up. This is the tight rope that realtors also walk in trying to get their clients their dream home without trapping them in this dilemma by showing them a listing beyond their reach. There are times however depending on the client where it becomes necessary to nudge them off the fence that they have been sitting on for three months.
Some Classic Misteps:
Assuming that the next one will be better.
Generally if your agent has done his work, by the time you get to the forth or fifth house you should have seen the best one out there for that point in time given your criteria. Certainly if they were all awful waiting is understandable, in certain markets this can happen.
Assuming there is nothing better out there Just the opposite of the above.
Overlooking important flaws. Every thing about the house is appealing and is overwhelming your better judgement.
Over-estimate handyman skills. Are you really good at renovations? If not add in a budget for some Pro-Skills/Trades.
Rushing to put in offer: I can understand this in an extreme sellers market. Where every thing is flying off the shelf. Where there are few homes on the market and they are selling within hours of their listing and you are trying to avoid a multiple offer situation. Still keep a cool head at times like this.
Dragging your feet: This happens quite a lot in this business, its usually a lack of self confidence and not being methodical in the process. Dragging your feet is compounded if you're a first time buyer, this is understandable but if you have a good agent and you're confident in him, he will guide you through it. OR IS IT SOMETHING YOU'VE BEEN AVOIDING. MAYBE SOMETHING WE TALKED ABOUT "HERE"