Buying a home is probably the largest personal purchase you will make. You need to protect that purchase by putting an experienced real estate agent on your side. The following information provides and overview of the process that most agents follow to ensure you get the best home for the best price whether it be a starter property or a million plus dollar residence. If you have any questions of would like clarification on anything please contact me and I will be happy to provide answers.

If you are looking for links to valuable resources visit my real estate directory and my Calgary area directory.
When you are ready to buy your next home, get my experience and knowledge of the Calgary market on your side. Contact me to get started on buying your next home. Thanks

The beginning
OK, you have made the decision to purchase a home, what next?
There are many ways to get started and here are a few suggestions.

• Determine how much of a home you can afford. By setting up your mortgage first, you determine the most important house hunting criteria. A mortgage broker or your bank will put together your financial picture and have an answer for you within a day or two. Be cautious as to how many lenders you approach as each will obtain a credit report on you and multiple requests for your report can lower your rating. If you are using a bank, even if it is your own and you will use them out of loyalty, tell them you are shopping around and they will usually give you their best rate.
  
• Visit open houses in the areas that you think you would be interested in. Public open houses are usually held Saturday and Sunday afternoons and Realtor open houses are held Tuesday to Friday mornings from 10:00am until noon. A warning here, if you do not want every real estate agent trying hard to pick you up as a buyer, tell them you are already working with a real estate agent.
  
• Search on-line for homes and areas you might be interested in. Our real estate directory page has links to M.L.S. homes, for sale by owner properties and virtual tours.
  
• Do you have a home to sell? What are your options? How much is your home worth? Our home sellers page will give you more information relating to these questions.
  

Selecting a Real Estate Agent
After you have done your initial foray into the market, it is a great idea to get your own real estate agent to work for you.
Of course we would love to help you find your next home, but here are some general tips to help you make an informed choice.

• Be aware of the limitations dual agency puts on an agent selling a listing with their office. Agency laws in Alberta require the agent acting in dual agency to be neutral on negotiation of price and disclosure of motivation and show favour to no one. This agent helps put the deal together will protecting both parties interests. In these situations the agent acts solely as a line of communication and can provide the buyer only with the same information he presented to the seller at the time of listing the home.
  
• Select your own agent for maximum benefit. By choosing your own agent, you are bringing aboard an experienced professional who under single agency can act in your best interest. Your own agent can provide you with the most up to date market analysis on any homes you are interested in, pull title on these homes, ensure all related documents on the home are current and negotiate hard to get you the best home for the best price in the best place.
• Once you have selected an agent, stick with them. As a buyers agent, we do not receive any pay for the work we do until we sell you a home. Many agents are now using a buyers brokerage contract that clearly spells out what I will do for you as your agent and the expectations on you as my clients.
  

Determine your dream home criteria
Everyone has a vision of their perfect home, and your real estate agent can help you complete that picture.
Working with your agent come up with criteria that match availability.

• The biggest determination in what and where you can buy is pricing. Buying a single detached home for under $200,000.00 in Mount Royal would not be possible, but finding one in Haysboro is. If you are looking to spend $600,000. on your next home, where should you be looking for one that has mountain views or even lake access?
  
• After pricing the next most important consideration is location. Calgary is a city that grew from the centre out in a four quadrant sprawl. Determining the best areas to buy in are influenced by many factors, but if you have flexibility in this area we can show you all the options you should be considering.
  
• Once price and location have been decided, the next step is to determine your list of needs and wants. When coming up with your list, prioritize according to how crucial a feature will be to your enjoyment of your new home. If you would like a fireplace, but find an otherwise perfect home, don't pass on the property as it is relatively affordable to have a fireplace installed. This would apply to all such scenarios. Be careful however when it comes to compromising on your needs. If you need a home with three bedrooms above grade, do not buy onewith only 2 bedrooms as putting in a third with an addition on the main level is an expensive proposition.
  

The house hunting process.
You have set up your mortgage, selected your real estate agent and developed a picture of your ideal home, now it is time to visit the prospects.

• Travel in your own vehicle if possible. You need to discuss the homes you have seen openly between showings and although you may like and trust your real estate agent, you may not feel you can openly discuss each listing in their presence. This will also allow you to get a feel for driving to and around the different communities.
  
• Take notes of both the good and the bad features of each home you see. If you found a home that had a lot of great features and a lot of initial appeal for you but had what you think are significant bad features, review those negative items again. If the bad is merely an aesthetic problem or something that can be easily or affordably changed, then consider buying the house expecting to do some work. Review the pluses and minuses after you have visited each home, eliminate the obvious wrong homes and if there are any homes you need to see again do not be afraid to ask.
  
• Let your agent know of any criteria changes. If the homes you are seeing just are not what you want and you decide to expand your search to other communities or increase your price range we need to know.
  
• This is a good time to set up who your lawyer and home inspector will be. Ask your agent for names of real estate lawyers and inspectors and phone around to find one that you will be comfortable with.
  
• Take a good look at both the exterior, interior and out buildings on the property. Most people take a long look at the inside of the home and usually just take a glance at the yard and garage. Make sure a home fits your needs on all levels prior to starting the offer process even if you have to see it three or four times.
  
• If you are looking through mls.ca on your own and find a property that might be interesting, let your agent know the mls# of the property to check why you have not already seen it. Your agent is going to be filtering what you see according to your wants and needs and the home you found on mls.ca may not meet all your requirements.

The offer process.
At last we have found you your dream home, now it is time to start the offer process.

• Prior to writing the offer to purchase, your agent should work up the history on the home. This involves accessing an exclusive online property database, pulling tax info, pulling title, running an mls sales history and doing a comparative market analysis on the property. All this information will help determine a starting point for your offer.
• When writing the offer to purchase, ensure that each and every section is clearly understood. We provide an overview of the offer to purchase form but ensure that each section is clearly understood as we are writing it up. The conditions that you place in the offer to purchase are there for your benefit and protection and could include a home inspection, new financing and a property disclosure statement that are to your satisfaction.
• Your agent will then make arrangements to present the offer to the seller. This is done through the listing real estate agent. As negotiation is one of the expectations that both sides may share. We recommend that you stay close by when the offer is being presented in order to respond quickly to any counter offers the seller may put forth. The top items that are negotiated on any offer usually are price, possession, inclusions/exclusions and condition dates.
• If a deal cannot be worked out, then the search for your next home resumes. If the buyer or the seller has a change of heart after this offer is officially dead, a new one can always be put together down the road.
• If a deal is arrived at and the offer becomes a conditional offer, the conditions then need to be worked on. If the conditions are all met to the buyers satisfaction the buyer must waive these conditions using a formal notice and the sale moves from conditional to firm. If any conditions are not met the deal can be renegotiated or if it is to be ended then each party must sign a form ending the conditional contract.
  
• Once an offer to purchase has been turned into a firm deal, preparations need to begin for your move.
  

The post offer to move in period. After you have bought your home there are usually a number of tasks you will need to perform.

• How will you be moving, on your own with the help of some friends or with a moving company. If you have a possession date that is at months end you will want to book a truck or moving company as soon as possible. Possession on your home will be possible at noon on the date of possession.
• Set up insurance and utility accounts on your new home. Some utilities require a deposit for new customers and some require a longer period of notice for transferring services than others so find out all this information in a timely manner.
• Get all your closing costs together. If you need to pull money from rrsp for your down payment get to work on it soon after the purchase becomes firm.
  
• Within a week or two prior to moving in you will get together with your lawyer to sign all the documents pertaining to your purchase. This starts the registation process at land titles and will ensure the home is in your name when you move in.
• Possession day! It is finally time to move into your new home. In the morning your real estate agent will receive permission from the selling agent to release the keys at noon if there are no complications (there rarely are). If there are any problems (again it is rare if there are any) then the buyers agent and lawyers begin discussions to get them rectified. If there are no problems and all is as it should be, then the home is yours to enjoy!

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This page last updated January 16, 2005.

This site was co-created September 30, 1999 by Robert Charlton and Scotter.
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