House hunting
I can’t believe this is happening, and don’t ask me why it came so suddenly either.
Few months ago, i did have a slight thought of getting a house, maybe in 2 years from now. To be frank, I’m quite comfortable where I am staying right now, home-made food ready everytime i go back home from tiring hours of work is just irreplacable. Until last week, yes 7 days ago, that sudden thunder hit me straight on the head.
The event was so simple. My co-worker showed me this statistics of houses sold and average price of the house. I couldn’t have been more uninterested, I just type in MLS website to my firefox browser and focus on west side of Waterloo. Only one house attracted my attention and this ball has suddenly gone downhill. I started to talk to people and they refer me to an agent and agent tried to make appointment for me. The next day comes and i got a link from another co-worker in the email about tips to save money in buying a house. I just opened up the first link which is bytheowner.com and o la la, only one house put interest in me again.
So…last week i made several appointments and put much emphasis on these 2 houses that I got “the eye” for. I saw 4 houses in total and indeed…the first house i saw on both links was the only ones I have set my heart for. This is true for so many people, if you ask them in their experience, they always say they like the first house that captured their attention the most but they didn’t get it because it is too “early” in the game.
Both houses are not by the help of an agent. Before, i thought you always have to have an agent to take care of your house purchase, but now, I totally recommend not using their service. They tend to be pushy because that’s what they live on, they have to get you to buy house so they can eat. One house I saw in the open house session, and the other one I saw by making a direct appointment with the house’ owner. This is of course not the experience of everyone, if the seller already use an agent, of course it is wiser for you to get an agent too.
Anyways…both houses were great, one is on a hill, overlooking the whole city of waterloo, well-maintained, and have a superb view of a forest on the back deck. The other house is a great deal, the owner is leaving all the furnitures, and the house has that european classic style inside, great paint colours and it gives you that homy feeling that most modern house is lacking for. (There are obviously some modern houses that just makes your brain drool, but usually it is 3 times the price.) On top, it is a bungalow!!!! Bungalow !!! Bungalow!!! I love bungalow!!! People don’t build bungalows anymore because there is not enough land. This does mean: it is technically always bigger than comparable two-storeys or any other detached house’ type. plus your first floor/basement is level with the ground in the front and in the back. Yeah, basement is no longer basement!!!!
I felt really blessed this time and this “purchase” (still in the process) was done with a lot of fellowshipping with some older brothers and families, and friends. I only had 1 day to take the decision and it was quite nervous. I cannot ask more than those time i spend with bringing my brother to the house to look at, to talk about what may go wrong or need to be replaced, potential problems and so on, the webcast meeting at night to again have some little time here and there to turn to the Lord, Lord’s day morning again with numerous opportunities just to forget the outward things and turn to the spirit, the lunch with the brothers in the afternoon and a prayer for this case. All brought me to just a few minutes of this call at 15:22 pm to set up appointment to meet the owner to conduct futher into house purchase.
Believe it or not, when i get into the house, my call sounded like it was just minutes before the agents get to set a deal with the seller to put the house into MLS listing. (this means upward of at least 13,000 in house price. Phew, we talked a bit more and set the verbal deal then. By 5 pm-ish I informally set the deal to buy a house. I still can’t believe it………….
There you go, future home-buyer, keep your eyes and ears open to every suggestion and information you can take in, and most importantly, don’t get buried under the cares and concerns of the process, keep your heart toward the Lord and let the house be for His interest foremostly.
Here I will just write simple steps for your future reference on how to buy a house without an agent:
1. Make an appointment with the seller and visit the house
2. If you are serious in buying the house, take someone who is experienced in house building/renovation to give you some considerations/ideas while visiting the house
3. If you decide that’s your “dream” or at least “semi-dream” house, indicate that you will let the house owner know by a certain date whether you are interested or not
4. Call the owner and set appointment to see the house again and talk about the price
5. Set a price that both parties agree on
6. Get a pre-mortgage approval from the local bank or from mobile mortgage specialist (I recommend talking to a local bank financial representative so you can meet face to face and really walk through many different scenarios, possible line of credit and many government available programs for home buyers). This usually takes a whole lot of time. It took me sleepless night of recalculating…recalculating…recalculating…recalculating….
(do consider these things: mortagage total amount you can afford, amortization period, interest rate whether it will be fixed or variable, TFSA, RRSP, how much leverage you have after paying all mortgages + bills + food + etc., and how much down payment you can put in front)
7. Get a lawyer (barristers and solicitors) to handle all the paperwork (it is wise not to sign anything before you get lawyer’ review)
8. Lawyer will write offer letter(need both parties and their lawyer’s name and closing date) and wait for approval/rejection from owner’ lawyer.
9. After approval, you have few weeks to complete release of mortgage, home inspection and home insurance.
10. If everything works out perfectly, you just have to wait while collecting all the money up to the closing date.
11. On the closing date, you are now officially the owner of a house!!!!
I know, if i can predict easily what the bank’ prime rate will be for the next 5 years, i will be millionaire, but i use my own prediction as to what kind of mortgage i get. This is after moderation, I actually expect it to go as high as 6% at 2015, but i get a bit more modest now:
2010: 2.5%
2011: 3.25%
2012: 3.75%
2013: 4.25%
2014: 5%
2015: 5.5%
Yeah, i took off a lot of details from the above, but it gives you a good sense of what it takes to buy a house.
If there was a list like the one above in the internet, SCORE!!!! I had to sweat bullets just to get the overall picture of what’s going on especially since I am a first-time home buyer, single, newly permanent resident in Canada (apparently you cannot get mortgage if you are not at least a permanent resident), and barely have the minimum 5% down payment ready.
Hunting is done, and deal is about to be set.
Life goes up and down, and you don’t know what to expect next.
That’s the beauty of life my friend, and you just follow and pray in your heart,
God lead you as a great Friend, and you won’t ever regret.
Still stunned,
Andree
Lifeunion 