You have made the decision to purchase your first home. This may be the biggest investment you will have made, so let's get the steps in purchasing a home:

Home Purchase Steps:

1.	Assemble a team of real estate experts including realtor, mortgage consultant ( us of course), lawyer or notary, and insurance specialist.
2.	Define what type of home you want and the location you want to live in.
3.	Find that Home.
4.	Make an offer on the home.  The offer should contains subject clauses in it for your benefit, especially subject to financing and a subject removal date.  The offer must also contain the completion and possession date (the dates on which legal transfer takes place and the date on which you get the keys to the home).
5.	Be prepared for a counter offer from the seller.  You can then decide to either accept the counter offer or make a brand new offer.
6.	If everything is satisfactory, accept and sign the purchase and sale agreement.
7.	Get your financing in place.  This will involve making sure that you have enough money in the bank to cover the deposit on the property as well as the downpayment and closing costs such as legal fees, appraisal and inspection fees, taxes, insurance. survey or title insurance fees and other miscellanious items and, most importantly, your mortgage.
8.	Make sure that  you are satisfied that all the subject clauses are met prior to removing subjects.
You are on your way to become a property owner.
9.	About a week prior to the completion date, your mortgage institution will send mortgage documents, called mortgage instructions,  to your lawyer.  He will already have received documents from your realtor.
10.	Your lawyer will ask you to visit his office where he will explain the legal documents to you and ask you for the remainder of the down payment.  You will sign the legal documents.  He will then register the documents with your local Land Titles office.
11.	On possession date, your realtor will hand over the keys of the house to you.

Congratulations, You are now the proud owner of a new home..

Financing Tips:

1. Pre-qualification ?
All first time buyers find out what they are able to afford prior to home shopping.  This is usually a free service available from us.  Nothing can be more discouraging than test driving a BMW only to find out you can only afford a Focus. Learn your limit and refuse to look at homes outside of your price range.

2. Qualification ?
Qualifying for a mortgage consists of three things:

> Your ability to pay -

> Your payment history or credit: Those with no credit or bad credit can still qualify in many cases. With no traditional credit, alternative credit sources, such as consistently paid utility bills, can be used. In the case of bad credit, assistance from a credit counselor can often turn bad debt into good debt within six months or a year.

> Your down payment. ? 

4. Mortgage approval ? The length of time between application and approval varies. Most lenders will supply a list of necessary documentation. Complete preparation of documents will result in a quicker turn around. Mortgage approval can occur in as little as 24 hours or as long as 30 days