Pre-approval: How it can benefit you as a home buyer

Pre-Approval Letter

Updated from our First Time Buyer's Archive. Originally posted on Jun13, 2007 Imagine falling in love with a home, making and offer only to find out later that you are not eligible for such amount? Or another scenario: Competing with other buyers over your dream home, to find out the vendor accepted the other buyer’s offer JUST because they were already pre-approved. It does happen. … [Read more...]

Asking Price: Comparative Market Analysis vs Municipal Assessments

rowhomes-evaluation

Image by Corbis The asking price of a home should reflect the current market price, which is calculated quite differently from the municipal assessment. The city evaluates properties every three years (meaning they are often behind the going market values), and they base their assessments on the property itself and its neighbourhood. To determine optimal asking price, a homeowner should get … [Read more...]

Asking (Selling) Price Less Than Municipal Evaluation?

Home Evaluation

Sometimes you find properties that have a municipal evaluation higher than the asking price. In most cases, it’s the other way around. So as a potential buyer, you might wonder whether or not this is an error -- how can it be that the person is selling for less than the municipal evaluation? … [Read more...]

Home Buying Process: Closing Costs

Finance

To first-time buyers, closing costs are a mystery; most people have a slight idea of what they are, but don’t know what’s specifically involved or how much the cost will be. Many think closing costs refer to the notary fee, end of story. In reality, though, there’s more to it than that. In addition to a down-payment on your mortgage, you (the buyer) will need to put aside a little extra … [Read more...]

The difference between pre-qualification and pre-approval?

Mortgage Pre-Approval

Updated from our Mortgage and Financing Archives. Originally posted in March 2009 Pre-qualification is the starting point in your search for mortgage financing. A quick snapshot is taken which includes income, existing debt, savings, length of employment, etc. All of these factors will then be analyzed to determine your loan eligibility. Pre-approval is written documentation that shows you … [Read more...]

Q & A: How Many Buying Brokers Can You Hire?

How many agents can you hire to buy?

This is the first post of 2012. I sincerely hope that you all enjoyed a great New Year’s celebration! This video, shot last month, talks about how many agents/brokers you (the potential buyer) can employ when looking for a property. httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqDSNkCPEgs … [Read more...]

How to Protect Yourself When Buying New Construction

Following up with the article: New Condo Building Collapsing. Another great article by William Marsden from the Gazette, on how to protect yourself when buying new construction. The tips are quite interesting, I will add my own comments between the square brackets [ ] The New Home Guarantee covers new condos that are part of small, one-to-fourstorey condo buildings. Highrise condo buildings are … [Read more...]

Montreal Real Estate Blog. Condo & Market News. Broker Deya Bautista.Home evaluation. Selling your home. Condo buying.