Buying a House

What to expect during the house BUYING process! đź‘Ś

There’s a lot to know when it comes to buying a house in and around Saskatoon. Understanding the details of the local community, identifying the size of the house, style of house and setting, and of course, organizing a budget.  These are all important details to consider. Whether you’re a first-time buyer, looking for a bigger house, or downsizing, we are here to help you every step of the way. At The Urban Farmhouse, our goal is to provide you with expert, caring, and candid advice throughout one of the most important transactions in your life. That is our commitment to you.  Helping buyers in Saskatoon and the area since 2013.​

A Step by step Guide

Couple excite about buying a house

​Buying a house can be a bit of a mystery sometimes but an agent will be the best asset you can have as they are there to take the mystery away and give you peace of mind!  So first off congratulations on the opportunity to a house!  It truly is an exciting time!

So here goes…gonna start to take the mystery away….

Getting Started

Step 1 – Find awesome real estate agent – Check âś”  (congratulations)

Step 2 – Get Pre-approval from a lender – Not sure where to start?  Let me know and I will connect you with one of our referral partners.

Step 3 – Start looking at houses 🏡

Negotiate the Purchase

Step 4 – We found it! The house!  We write an offer to purchase. (bear with me this one has a bit more meat)The offer will include details like:

    • offer price, deposit value (Typically $5000), down payment value (the deposit of $5000 will become a part of the total down payment)

    • possession date

    • conditions with deadline, typically 7 – 10 days

      •  mortgage approval

      •  home inspection 🏡🔍(this will be at your expense so be sure to budget $450 – $500

      • PCDS (Property condition disclosure statement which is basically a document with a bunch of questions about the property which the seller answers, ie have you ever had water issues)

      • PID (Property Information Disclosure which outlines the permits pulled and their current status, the cost is $20 which I cover)

Step 5 – Send the offer 📤 to the selling agent.  They present to their clients and will do 1 of 3 things; accept (rarely happens), ignore (thankfully rarely happens unless we make a very very low offer) or counter (typical).  They will counter  📄 with any of the items on the offer, ie price, possession etc.

Step 6 – We receive and review the counter. đź“„  Now we have 3 options, Ignore, write a new offer, or accept.

We have a Deal

Step 7 – Once we have an accepted ✔️ offer the following happens:

    • You will get a bank draft from the bank for the deposit of $5000 (this must be within 24 hrs of the accepted offer) – we will deposit into a trust

    • I forward the contract to your mortgage broker so they can start working on the condition to get the mortgage financing in place. You will need to meet with them at some point to sign papers

    • We schedule any inspections that need to take place.

Step 8 – Assuming all goes well with the mortgage and all inspections, we remove conditions and you have a firm sale.  Congratulations, you are buying a house!  This means you now can give notice to your landlord (assuming you are renting?)  Please DO NOT give notice before this point!

Step 8a – if conditions are not satisfied.   IE there is something terribly wrong discovered during the inspections.  Your deposit is refunded and we return to step #3

Prepare to Move

Step 9 – START PACKING! 📦

Step 10 – When we are closer to the possession, you meet with your lawyer. (do you have one?  I could recommend one when the time comes if you like.)  The lawyer will have you sign a butt load of papers!  At this time you also supply the balance of your down payment. Remember the $5000 deposit is already in trust and we have provided it to the lawyer. And of course, you pay the lawyer.  You should budget approximately $1800 -$2000. Sounds like a lot I know but the Lawyer fees are actually only about $800 of that the rest are fees that you pay to register title etc.  The Lawyer will explain all of this in detail.

Possession Day!

Step 11 – MOVE IN!đźšš – on possession day we meet at the house and I provide you with the keys.  Woooohooo!  Wasn’t that fun……and maybe slightly exhausting!  🙂

So after all of that, I haven’t explained how I get paid.  Good news.  YOU DON’T PAY ME!  The Seller pays me.  When the seller listed the property with their agent their contract contains the details on how both the seller agent and buyer agent (that’s me) get paid.  So one day when you go to sell your soon-to-be new home you will need to consider these costs.  But, until then I am basically free!  🙂  AND I would love to hear from all of your family and friends if they are looking to buy or sell.  I base my business on referrals as I feel it is these strong relationships that create a great business!

I hope this helps clear up some of your questions?  Buying a house can be exciting and a little scary, we are here to help.  Contact us if you have any questions or are ready to get started!