Home Buying Checklist

There are many steps to buying a home, whether it's your first home or your second or your fifth, there are many boxes to get checked off along the way and some of the most vital ones have to happen quickly during the two or three weeks of your conditions period.

No matter the home you are buying or the agent you are buying with you can use this checklist to make your buying experience as smooth as possible. Along the way I'll explain the why's and the how's and possibly direct you to some people in my area. But the checklist itself will be pretty standard and straightforward.

The Lead Up

A home buying journey should begin with budgeting and a discussion with a mortgage professional. My clients - and myself - have had great success with James Mckeown PFP from Mortgagehfx.ca. It's pertinent to know the budget you are working with as it'll save everyone time and you the heartbreak of finding a house you love only to discover it's out of your reach, this applies to first time home buyers and beyond. A Mortgage broker can help you figure out your down payment as well, but that's a whole different article.

You've found a home you like by searching on Realtor.ca or Viewpoint.ca or some other website, you've contacted a REALTOR, hopefully me ([email protected]) if you are in the Annapolis Valley, we've seen that home and, most likely, a few others, and you are ready to buy! That's great! What's next?

Forms! There are a few forms that must be signed in the Province of Nova Scotia, and likely other places as well. There is the Working With The Real Estate Industry form - this form that you'll get from your REALTOR here outlines a bunch of definitions and is purely informational. There is the Buyer Designated Brokerage Agreement, this gives the REALTOR you have been talking to agency of your behalf and is the contract that you'll work with that person and they'll get a stated commission when you decide to buy a particular house. These forms are typically signed either before beginning the search for a home in earnest, or maybe after one or two showings.

Viewings will be scheduled, homes will be seen and then...

You find that house you like, and make an offer with the Agreement of Purchase and sale!

Crunch Time

After this the real checklist begins as there are things that must be done in a timely manner in order for things to work out.

Once the deal is in place you are going to have some things to get done, if I'm your REALTOR I'll again be able to guide you or make some suggestions, but you'll have to get these things done and it's a good idea to get them done as soon as you can.

The items that are within this time sensitive window are mainly concerning the conditions in place on your APS (Agreement of Purchase and Sale)

Review the Property Disclosure Statement, most homes come with a completed PDS and this is the homeowners statements, to the best of their knowledge, about the state of the home and can give some really great insights as to the state of repair of the home. Hopefully there are no big surprises within this.

Review the restrictive covenants, if any. Some properties come with a detailed list of covenants about what you can do with your property, this might contain that there is a right of way for another home, that you can't park an RV out front, that there is a Home Owners Association and there are rules for the neighbourhood. Many properties do not have this, but if the one you are interested in does, you should definitely be reviewing it and have the lawyer do so as well!

Review the equipment schedule, this one should be pretty straight forward, if there is any rented equipment on sight, or installed equipment that still has paying off to be done it'll be listed here. Propane tanks, solar panels, in some (rare in Nova Scotia) cases hot water tanks. generally there is not a lot to do but to accept this, but you should know what you are accepting.

Financing! This one is important! You might have a 'pre-approval' but that doesn't mean you actually have a mortgage in place, it means that in theory with your income you might be approved for a home of a certain amount. You have to take your documents to the mortgage professional or connect your REALTOR and your mortgage professional so they can exchange documents. It will likely take a few days to firm up your financing so the same day you have an agreement, or the next business day this needs to get done. Tis step will also include figuring out your down payment, your financing is not in place until your mortgage professional says it is!

Lawyer Review. You have to have a lawyer review the documents of the purchase and sale, and they will also look at the property and investigate if the description matches up with what you are buying and that sort of thing. Depending on how busy lawyers are this might take a few days and should be done straight away as well.

Get a home inspection scheduled. Typically your REALTOR will suggest a home inspection, and also typically they will set it up. In the Annapolis Valley I highly recommend Zachary d'Entremont of Informed Home Inspections. It's a very good idea to have a home inspected before your purchase it. Your REALTOR may have seen many homes, you might have seen many homes, a home inspector has seen exponentially more homes and is looking to find things to fix, or that could be a problem instead of things to love about the home you are considering.

During the inspection time, if you are buying a rural home especially you'll want a water and septic test. The water being drinkable and with enough flow may also be a condition of your mortgage. The septic is a big system that needs to function for your home as well, and is a large expense if it needs to be fixed so it's best to have that looked at as well before a purchase.

Get an insurance quote. Unlike a mortgage, when you get an insurance quote made up basically the insurance company is ready to go with insuring the home. That does not mean however that they will give you a quote for the home you are looking at. If it's particularly old, or has a certain set of problems an insurance company may decline to provide you a quote. So it's best to get this looked after quickly as well. There is typically a 2 or 3 page form to fill out and the tun around takes a day or two. The only real exception to this would be newer homes, or if you find out who is currently insuring the home and go with them as they already have this information. Without insurance you cannot have a mortgage, so you MUST get this done if you require a mortgage!

Submit a deposit. you can submit your deposit at any time throughout the conditions period, I would suggest doing so after the big boxes are checked. There is no point in tying up thousands of dollars on a deposit if the mortgage isn't going to come together, or no one will insure the home. Simply ensure you have enough time to transfer the required amount according to your daily e-transfer limits.

Next Steps

All the things in Crunch Time need to get done within the two or three week period between having an offer on a home accepted and your conditions date. Once those are met the frenzy slows down a little depending on how long your closing is. Typically you have at least a few weeks now, but sometimes it can be months until your closing date.

Book your moving truck. I typically like to have people close their sales on a Thursday, this would mean that you are likely going to rent that U-Haul for Wednesday and be able to drop it back off on the Friday. Trying to book a moving truck over the weekend really can be a nightmare. The best thing to do is book way ahead. As soon as you know your closing date, get on the U-Haul website and book that truck.

Get in touch with the Utilities. Your current utilities and the ones you'll need at your new home need to know what's up for a smooth transition and so that you can avoid costly fees.

Pack your things from your current home. Packing doesn't take as long as you might think typically, but it's definitely not a quick process and there is always at least one box of random things at the end. The stuff you don't use every day, get that packed up two weeks ahead of time so you can avoid a mad packing rush the week you are supposed to be loading the truck.

Load the truck and be ready to get out of your current place, if you are moving from one home to another you have to be sure to leave your current one in a state where it will be acceptable for the pre-close inspection. The sooner this gets done and everything checks out, the sooner money changes ands at the lawyers.

Pre-closing inspection. The day of the closing you get to do a pre-closing inspection to be sure everything is the way it's supposed to be, and / or identify things that need to be brought you with the seller, and hopefully not go as far as the lawyer.

Wait. This wait can be pretty agonizing as it's completely out of your hands and you are waiting on lawyers to do their thing. Once you get word that everything is done and the house is yours, your REALTOR will get you access to the keys and you can start unloading the truck! This might be late in the afternoon! Plan accordingly.

Unload the truck, move everything in, Congrats! That's it you've bought a new home and the process is over! Your REALTOR will likely follow up with you, if they have done a good job you should probably leave a nice review or recommend them to all your friends! ;)

Hopefully you find this article and the checklist to be helpful in your home buying adventure.

Home Buying Checklist

Lead Up

? Discussion with Mortgage Broker

? Working With The Real Estate Industry Form

? Buyer Designated Brokerage Agreement Form

? House Showings

? Agreement of Purchase and Sale Form - and possibly attachments

Crunch Time

? Review the Property Disclosure Statement

? Review Equipment Schedule

? Financing in Place

? Have the Home Inspected

? Water and Septic

? Get Insurance

? Submit A Deposit

Next Steps

? Book Your Truck

? Contact Utilities

? Pack Up

? Load the Truck

? Clean up

? Pre-Close Inspection

? Move In

Download the PDF for printing here.

Thanks,

Chris Barnes

Your Real Estate Expert