Buying A Home First Steps

What are the first steps in buying a home you ask? Buying a home first steps to me start with looking inward!

The temptation to go see either brand new homes or open houses in your neighbourhood are hard to resist! You might get caught up in "how great it would feel" to finally own the place you call home. The natural next step is to go see places to fuel the imagination! But hold on...

That is the fun part for sure. As with many important things in life, some effort and working out the details is usually needed first.

This is an important step in life, and in reality requires some effort if you want to buy the right home for you!

Not to worry! - hard work can be fun too! We can work through this together and get you started on your buying a home first steps!

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The Home-Work Starts Here

While heading out to see what the housing market has to offer can be fun, it will not be productive unless you have truly sorted through your own priorities. It will be something you adjust over time as the realities of life give you clues, and we all have to start somewhere.

Let's start by asking yourself, and your partner, the basic five questions:

1.  Who is buying the home?

Who will be living in the house - how many people?; how many bedrooms? - is there a preferred versus minimum?; how many bathrooms; are there accessibility issues in the family? Will there be a parent or other benefactor helping with any of the financial aspects? Do they need to be consulted as you move forward, if so when?

2.  What kind of home do I need?

What type of home would you be willing to consider - single family, townhomes, condominiums? What age of home would you be willing to look at? Older homes come generally with more repair work, newer homes usually come with bigger projects like landscaping and fences.

** If you would like to compare the advantages and disadvantages of buying a newly built home versus and existing home, click on the Building A Home vs Buying page.

3.  Where am I looking to buy it?

Where do you want to live? How far away from your work can you be? What transportation restrictions does your family have? Are school catchment areas important now or in the future? How quiet does the neighbourhood have to be? Does it need to be close to key hobbies or activities? Are there natural phenomenons which need to be considered (such as flood zones, or sink holes)?

4.  When am I looking to buy?

Do I need a place this year? Or can I wait to find the right deal? Hopefully you are not in a rush, because finding the right home for you at the right price usually takes time.

5.  Why do I need a home? 

I saved the hardest question for last. Do you want to set down roots? Tired of dealing with landlords? You can’t renovate a rental property to suit your needs (for example wheel chair access)? You can’t find a rental property in an area you like? You just want to have a place of your own to build some equity? 

**  Have a look at the advantages of buying a home, a long with a serious look at the disadvantages and what you can do to mitigate them...all on the Advantages of Buying A Home page!

What Are Your Real Priorities?

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For me, buying a home first steps, has to start with establishing your real priorities. Not the “dreams and wants” type priorities, the “no I won’t buy this house with it” type of priorities.

This is especially critical if you are buying a home with a partner / significant other. You may both have different priorities, and unless those are out on the table finding a house that you both will be happy with will be a real struggle, not to mention waste of time.

Now you both may not realize entirely which one is truly important to each other, and finding that out along the way is perfectly normal, and in my opinion NOT a waste of time. Some people, myself included, don’t really release how much of a priority something is until you are presented with an option without it.

Step One of Buying A Home First Steps - The List:

Start with writing down your TOP 3 real priorities (as near as you can figure out). Call it your “MUST HAVE” list. Compare your list with your partners’ as see if they are different. For the moment, talk them out but keep the priorities on the list and expand from 3 to 6 if need be as a starting point. You can always refine it later - that is part of the journey!

Once you have your “MUST HAVE” List. Now work on your “WANT TO HAVE” list. Write down the things you would want in a home that are realistic for your search. It can be as long as you want, but more than 8 to 10 and it is either getting to detailed or may become unmanageable for the initial part of the search.

Step Two of Buying A Home First Steps - Rank The List:

Rank the MUST HAVE list first, try to make them sequential and avoid having more than 2 #1’s, etc. (if you can). These can change later, it is simply a starting point.

Then rank the WANT TO HAVE list. Again this can change later.

Remember though, in order to change the rankings make sure both partners agree. If you can’t find a way to agree now, it won’t get any easier when you are ready to place an offer.

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Step Three - Search For Your House:

Now you can search online to see if your list of priorities exist, and for what price. Check of each criteria - start with the MUST HAVE list. Is it what you thought it would cost? More than what you thought it would cost?

Do you need to revisit any of the items on your MUST HAVE list? If so, can you really live without that? If so, move down to the WANT TO HAVE LIST. If you can’t, you may have to either find more money, a different area to live, or change one of the other criteria. Something likely has to give - get prepared to do some real soul searching!

[Best websites for buying a home]

Step Four - Rinse and Repeat!

Adjust and revisit your list, finalize the MUST HAVE list before you adjust the WANT TO HAVE list. For the WANT TO HAVE list, it may just mean putting something as a much lower priority rather than crossing it off entirely as you could possibly add yourself in the future or just live without it if need be.

Other Important Decisions!

When considering your buying a home first steps, there are potentially additional aspects you will need to consider.

Everyone will have a different set of circumstances that they need to deal with in life, and for some that may mean more financial challenges than others.

Possibly the financial industry has awarded you a lower credit rating?

Perhaps continuing to rent in the short term may be more beneficial?

Don't worry if you have some extra challenges or decisions to consider - there is no perfect path!

The best path is the one that works the best for you! Just figure out which one that is and do your best to follow it!

** Considering buying a home versus continuing to rent? Have a look at some of the main considerations on the Buying vs Renting A Home page to help focus the decision making process!

[Buying a home with bad credit]

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Ready For The Next Step?

Have you decided that being a home owner is the right choice for you? Now or in the near future?

If you are ready to start your research on the process of buying a home, then by all means head on over to the "Process of Buying A Home" page and continue your journey to "Own the Door"!!

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