The Home Buyer's GuideThe Home Buyer's Guide

Start with the brief, not the search

Most buyers open a listings app before they have decided what they are actually buying. A brief fixes that. It is a short, honest document: the life you are planning for over the next five to ten years, the commute you will tolerate, the number of bedrooms you need now versus later, whether a suite matters, and the compromises you are not willing to make.

The brief is what turns a search from endless into targeted. It also protects you from the most expensive mistake in real estate, which is buying the property that photographs best rather than the one that fits.

• Needs, wants and deal-breakers, in writing
• Time horizon: how long you expect to own
• Commute, schools, transit and family considerations
• Resale: who buys this property from you later

Financing before falling in love

A pre-approval is a lender reviewing your documents and committing to a rate hold for a set period. A pre-qualification is an estimate based on what you say. Only the first one carries weight when you make an offer. Get it before your first viewing, and update it if your situation changes.

Your qualifying amount is shaped by the federal stress test, your down payment, your debts and the property itself. Strata fees, for example, reduce what you can borrow. Closing costs sit on top of the down payment: property transfer tax, legal fees, adjustments and insurance. Your mortgage broker or bank will quantify each; I work alongside them and can make introductions.

Searching with context

A listing is a price and a set of photographs. Context is what comparable homes sold for, how quickly, what buyers overpaid for and what sat. I read every candidate property against that context so you know whether the asking price is a starting point, a fair number or an anchor.

Viewings are data points. Each one teaches you what the market offers at your number, which is why the first few are rarely wasted even when the property is wrong.

Strata: the documents that matter

If you are buying a condo or townhome in British Columbia you are buying into a strata corporation. The building's health is in its paperwork. I walk through each document with you, but the short list is: the depreciation report, the contingency reserve fund balance, two years of minutes, any special levies passed or discussed, the bylaws on rentals, pets and age, the insurance summary and the Form B.

Read the minutes last and slowly. Buildings tell you what they are worried about in their own words.

• Depreciation report and its funding model
• Contingency reserve fund relative to building age
• Minutes, levies and insurance deductibles
• Bylaws that affect how you will live and resell
• Form B: the strata's official statement for your unit

The offer: price, subjects, dates, deposit

An offer is four decisions, not one. Price is the obvious one. Subjects are the conditions your offer depends on: financing, inspection, review of strata documents and sometimes the sale of your current home. Dates set completion, adjustment and possession. The deposit, usually paid when subjects are removed and held in trust, signals commitment.

In a competitive situation you may be asked to shorten or remove subjects. That is a risk decision, and it should be made with information: a pre-inspection, a lender who has already reviewed the property, strata documents read in advance. My job is to make sure you remove a subject because you have the facts.

Due diligence and completion

Between acceptance and subject removal you confirm everything: the inspection, the financing commitment, the strata review, title and any property disclosure statement. Once subjects are removed the contract is firm and the deposit is at risk, so this window is where the work happens.

Completion is handled by your lawyer or notary: funds, title transfer, adjustments for taxes and fees. Possession follows, usually a day later. I coordinate the hand-off, and we stay in touch with an annual Home Investment Check-In.