House Hunting

Hey Gems, 

Happy house hunting blog!

If you follow my socials you know we have been going through the process of house hunting over the last three months or so! From 2-3 visits every weekend, to offers in which we came second in and then finally getting our home! I will update you all on the process, give some pointers and biggest lessons learned in the coming blogs! For today lets talk about the step by step we went through in our process. 

1. Budget: This being our first ever purchase, we were very much prioritizing budget over all. We wanted to make sure that what we got was within our comfort level and that we would never be the people who had to say no to an outing or date night because of our home payments. The first thing we did was look up what was for sale in our desired areas and in what range the  prices fell. We then met with our mortgage broker who broke down a variety of prices into monthly payments for us. This way we know what monthly payment we wanted to stick to and therefore what our total budget was. We definitely could have gone higher in budget but again, this is our first home and we don't know the expenses to come such as furniture, lighting, etc. so we prefer to have extra wiggle room. 

2. Our Realtor: We couldn't be more thrilled with our choice in realtor. Melanie is so professional and really had our back. In terms of being first time buyers, we didn't know what we wanted, what to ask, etc and she really jumped in and asked all the questions we needed to know. She was great at giving us all the information and pointing out items we may not have noticed. Overall, I think your realtor can really make or break the experience and I cannot recommend Ryan and Melanie's Team enough.  

3. The Search: The search was a very emotional process because of the difficult market we are in here. I know across Canada is similar situations but essentially the first week we were looking there were a tone of options in our budget, and then by the last week there were barely any options due to how quickly the market was going up. I was quite overwhelmed at some times and was losing hope but all was meant to be and we found our place!

4.  The Offer: After seeing the property and deciding we'd be interested in putting an offer, our realtor did the research necessary to give us the appropriate price range within which we should bid. We made our decision, had some quick paper signing to do and bam! Offer made!

5. Hearing Back: So in our search we made two offers total. The first was followed by a call from our agent letting me know that although we had a strong offer, we came second place. The next offer we made was the one we got and we knew right away it was good news because our agent called me and asked me to get my boyfriend on the line as well! 

6. The Final Steps: Something that I don't think I fully understood is that it really isn't over until it's over. Even once your offer is accepted the inspection, amendments, rate locking in, etc. all come into play. The toughest part here is that none of it is in your control so it is almost best to expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised! 

We can't wait to move in, decorate and make our house a home!

Talk soon, 

T