Friday, February 17, 2012

This is it


I always thought that buying a home would be a difficult and lengthy process, but surprisingly it was the opposite! I didn't even have any help from my parents, because they are not too keen on me moving out. Fortunately my realtor told me exactly what I had to do.

Here are the steps I went through:

- Looked at 25 places in two months. I was on vacation for two weeks out of those two months so it was more like six weeks... I spent almost all my days off with my realtor.
- Got a mortgage broker and found out how much I would be able to afford comfortably
- Found this place in early February, then took a second look a couple days later because I liked it so much
- Put in an offer, went back and forth in negotiations with the seller for two days, and finally agreed on a price
- Sent my mortgage broker the contract, bank, and employment info so he could work on my financing
- Read through the strata minutes and engineering reports (a 1 inch binder worth)
- Had a bank draft made up (it took longer than necessary because the bank printed the name as "Reality" instead of "Realty"and I had to get it replaced... sigh)
- Had a home inspection done and came to an agreement with the seller on things to repair before moving out
- Tomorrow I remove the subjects of the contract (subject to financing, subject to inspection, etc) and give the realtor the non-refundable bank draft for $15 000. This is it. I'm committed.

PS. Did I mention I was working every single day since I put in the offer? I was originally supposed to remove the subjects two days ago but there was no way I would have been able to do the home inspection by then because I didn't have a day off until today!

Things to do:

- Find a lawyer
- Meet with the broker to discuss financing options
- Think of how to decorate my future home
- Find a handyman to make me a custom desk (I had a lot of time to think about furniture options because the home inspection took 3 hours)
- I take possession at the end of March :)

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