There are a dozen steps that are part of every Grande Prairie home buyer’s process if you can’t afford to pay cash for the property. We’ll outline these steps and involve what is involved in each.  

Step 1: The Introduction  

Before you start touring properties, talk to Grande Prairie Whalen Mortgages. Meet our team and select a Grande Prairie mortgage broker you’re comfortable with.  

Step 2: The Mortgage Selection  

There are far more mortgage products than most people realize. You can choose from low documentation loans or straightforward loans, best rate mortgages or variable rate mortgages. Learn what type of mortgage may be best for you before you start shopping for a new home.  

Step 3: Mortgage Pre-Approval  

A mortgage pre-approval is pre-approval for a mortgage, not a mortgage in and of itself. You are pre-approved for a home loan up to a certain amount. You want to have a pre-approval in hand since this strengthens your position when negotiating for your new home.  

Step 4: The Property Appraisal  

You’ve toured a dozen homes and decided you want to make an offer on the property. The next step is to have the property appraised. The home seller may say they want to sell it for 400,000 dollars, but that doesn’t mean it is worth that much. A property appraiser will tell you what the market value for the property is. You may take out a loan for more than this if the money is invested in repairs and renovations that increase the property’s value.  

Step 5: The Home Inspection  

The appraiser is gauging what the home is worth, and they are assuming no hidden issues exist that pull down its value. The home inspection should find any problems would affect its value. Do the cracks in the wall represent plumbing or foundation issues that need to be repaired? Did they cover up mold in the walls with that new layer of paint? If the problems are severe enough, the mortgage lender may not loan money secured by the home. And you may walk away from the deal if you don’t feel like moving into a fixer-upper or waiting a few months to get everything fixed.    

Step 6: The Offer  

The offer is simply how much you’re willing to offer for the Grande Prairie property. This is the start of a negotiation process. You may offer less than the asking price based on the findings of the home inspection. Or you may offer more to seal the deal on a hot property.  

Step 7: The Home Purchase  

The home purchase could be as simple as specifying a condition date. And it could be a complex legal agreement where the sellers agree to fix a long list of items found in the inspection and give you cashback to replace that erratic furnace.  

Step 8: Financing the Purchase  

This is when the mortgage pre-approval is turned into a formal mortgage agreement. This process could take a week or more. Note that it would take even longer if you weren’t pre-approved for the mortgage. And you will lose that house if you end up being rejected when you apply for a mortgage, so get pre-approved before you select a real estate agent and begin touring properties.  

Step 9: The Paperwork  

Whalen Mortgages can guide you through the mortgage paperwork. Know that you can negotiate mortgage terms just as you can the home purchase itself.  

Step 10: The Legal Review  

Always have a legal expert review your home purchase agreement. Whalen Mortgages can recommend Grande Prairie real estate solicitors or send the paperwork to the solicitor of your choice.  

Step 11: Moving In  

This is the point where you move into the home you’ve purchased. We’ve created a list of tips to minimize the hassles and problems that arise during this process.  

Step 12: The Follow-Up  

You’ve moved into the home. What else might there be to do? In a couple of years, you’ll generally be given the option to renew your mortgage. While most people choose to renew with their current lender, you could save money by changing lenders. Renewal also gives you the opportunity to change the loan terms, whether it is switching to a biweekly mortgage, stretching out the loan terms or putting a large principal payment against the loan balance.