Buying Process

A professional and experienced real estate agent like us will guide you step by step to find your dream property. We will give you the best suggestions to help you choose the most appropriate properties base on your budget, wants, needs, and current situation.

To get a mortgage pre-approval is highly recommended once you have any thoughts about buying a property. it is free and it does not commit you to a single lender, but does give you a chance to find out the following information which will affect your house hunt in a low-risk way, such as how much you can borrow from the bank, how much you can afford to spend on a house, how much your maximum monthly mortgage payment could be, what mortgage interest rate is available to you, etc. All these critical pieces of information will help you determine your maximum purchase price and give you the confidence to win in the “offer bid war”.

After talking to your bank or any mortgage agent, you should already know how much down payment you need and what is the latest date to transfer the money to your bank account if your money is out of country.  Please make sure to set the deposit aside in case you really love a property and need to make an offer as soon as possible! The deposit usually will be around 5% of the purchase price.

This is the most exciting part of the home buying process. In this stage, you should really consider working with a real estate agent that you trust. As you start looking at homes, don’t just think about the type of home you want—also think about your lifestyle and how close you want to live near amenities such as schools, highways, medical services, shopping, restaurants and recreation.

When you find your dream home, we will run a comparative market analysis to determine what a fair price would be based on recent sales of similar homes in the area before making your offer. The less interest there is and the longer the house has been sitting on the market, the more power you will have to negotiate. Generally, your agent will put several conditions on the contract to protect your interest, such as mortgage, inspection, or status certificate (only for condominium corporation) conditions. If any of the conditions will not be fulfilled at the end, your deposit will be fully refunded to you. If every condition is fulfilled, the deal is sealed.

The lawyer will help you deal with all related legal issues after you have signed the offer. Usually, a lawyer will conduct a full investigation of the property you have purchased, including the history of the property, the title, the lien, the easement, or any other uncertain factors that prevent you from owning all the property rights of the property. The other work of a lawyer also includes buying title insurance, checking loan documents from your banks or financial institutions, calculating land transfer tax, calculating all fees paid by the buyer, registering property rights, adjusting property tax and condo fees (if it is a condominium property), completing the registration procedures for the name change of the home owner, etc.

Before closing, walk through the property with your real estate agent and make sure that everything is in the normal working condition. If the seller agreed to make any repairs, the walkthrough is the time to ensure that the seller has completed them.

On the closing date, the property title will pass from the seller to you. During the closing, you have two major responsibilities - Signing legal documents: This includes the Closing Disclosure, promissory note, deed of trust and certificate of occupancy, and Paying closing costs: This may include fees for your mortgage application, appraisal, survey, title search and funds to establish an escrow account. An escrow account is used to pay for property taxes and insurance premiums.