You have never done this before and everyone has an opinion. We go slowly, in plain language, from working out your real budget through to the day you get the keys, and I explain what is happening at every stage so nothing later comes as a surprise.
The purchase price is not the number that matters. This is.
Anything under twenty percent down also needs mortgage default insurance, which is added to your mortgage rather than paid up front. These rules do change, so treat this as orientation and confirm the current numbers with a mortgage broker before you plan around them. I am a REALTOR, not a mortgage advisor.
The market out here moves quickly on the good listings, and that is real. What is not real is the pressure some people feel to decide on the spot.
I would rather you walked away from three houses that were close and felt certain about the fourth. You are the one living there long after the paperwork is done, and I am still the person you can call afterward when something needs a plumber.
Nothing here is complicated. It just has to happen in the right order.
None of these are silly mistakes. They are all completely reasonable, and all of them cost money.
Down payments, closing costs, land transfer tax and what actually happens at each stage. Written for Huron and Perth, not copied from a national template.
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If your budget is tighter than you would like, these three are where I would look first.
At minimum, five percent of the first five hundred thousand of the price, plus roughly one and a half to two percent for closing costs. On a three hundred thousand dollar home that is around fifteen thousand down and another four to six thousand for closing. A mortgage broker will give you the exact figure for your situation.
Have that conversation with me directly and I will explain exactly how it works before you commit to anything. It is a straightforward conversation and I would rather you understood it up front than wondered about it.
Yes, and it is the single most useful thing you can do first. It tells us your real budget rather than a guess, and when something good comes up in a small market, a pre approved buyer gets taken seriously and an unapproved one often does not.
From first conversation to keys, most first time buyers here take somewhere between two and six months. The search is the variable part. Once you are firm on a house, closing is usually thirty to sixty days.
Then this is exactly the right time to talk. There is no obligation and no pressure, and knowing the process before you fall for a listing puts you in a far better position than working it out as you go.