Firstly, congratulations to you, first time home buyer! Purchasing a home is a big milestone, but often bring many questions, including “what do I do next” and “where do I start”? Follow this step-by-step guide to make sure you don’t miss anything.
What does a Mortgage Broker do?
1. Meet with a mortgage broker. A mortgage broker is a professional whose job is to help you budget and to qualify for a mortgage (loan secured against your property) so that you understand your price range and can confidently make an offer when you are ready to house shop.
Tip: make sure you have a “life budget”. Write down your income and your actual and anticipated monthly expenses (like BC Hydro, Fortis, cable, strata fees, property taxes, food, transit, entertainment/ fun money, etc.) so that you can be comfortable knowing that you can afford your mortgage payments in addition to all your other expenses.
Tip: most people are concerned about mortgage rates, but you should also ask about penalties if you need to get out of your mortgage early.
What does a Real Estate Agent Do?
2. Meet with your realtor to set your property parameters.
What are your “must -haves,” your “would-be-nice-but-I-can-live-without-its,” and your absolute “dealbreakers”?
3. Start shopping!
Visit open houses, drive through neighborhoods, search MLS, etc.
4. Make an offer
Your Realtor should walk you through the offer process, including exploring potential and required subjects, explaining the contract, and submitting the offer to the seller. This is especially important for first time home buyers, since a contract is a legal document and you want to make sure you understand that obligations, terms and conditions before you sign the real estate contract.
Tip: If you have subjects on your contract, after the seller accepts the offer, you’ll need to provide the accepted contract to your mortgage broker (if you require financing) and complete due diligence so that you can remove your subjects prior to the subject removal date.
Tip: If you require legal advice on your contract, a Notary Public can help, but needs advance notice and may charge an hourly rate or set fee for the review and advice, separate from the regular conveyance fees. Krische & Co. Notaries routinely works with first time home buyers to help look out for their legal interests and make sure their first purchase goes smoothly.
5. Contact a Notary Public to handle your conveyance.
Tip: Many legal offices get very busy so you’ll want to call ahead to make sure that the Notary can take your file.
Note: Our policy at Krische & Co. Notaries is to ask you for your completion date (which helps us to determine deadlines for your file). Please be advised that even if we provide a quote or answer questions for you, we cannot start work on your file until your subjects are removed and your realtor sends us your contract (steps 6 and 7).
6. Remove subjects to make your legally contract binding.
Tip: you need a minimum of 2 weeks between your subject removal date and completion date to allow for enough time for the required documents to be provided to, prepared by and signed with your Notary.
Note: 2 weeks is considered a “rush” closing and it is customary to allow for 4+ weeks between subject removal and completion.
Tip: at this point, you can start to arrange for movers and set up service accounts like cable, wifi, hydro, etc. as at your possession date. (Click here to read and download our real estate moving checklist, which is especially helpful for first time home buyers).
7. Advise your Realtor and Mortgage Broker of your Notary Public’s contact info.
- Ask your Realtor to forward your completed contract (including subject removals, Strata Form B Information Certificate, and conveyancing instruction report/ commission sheet) to your Notary.
- Ask your Mortgage Broker to arrange for your lender to send mortgage instructions to the Notary.
Contact Notary Public as a First Time Home Buyer (or Lawyer)
8. Schedule an appointment with your Notary
At Krische & Co. Notaries, once we receive your contract, we open a file for you and then we call you (about a month prior to completion) to gather required information and schedule your appointment time to sign documents with us; commonly your appointment is scheduled for the week of completion.
Note: if you have not heard from us by 3 weeks before your completion date, please call us to check that we have your file and to schedule your appointment.
Tip: don’t take vacation before your completion date!
BC law requires you to sign purchase and mortgage documents IN PERSON with your Notary Public. Completing a real estate conveyance requires your Notary to work with 5+ separate parties (strata management company, seller’s Notary/lawyer, your Realtor, seller’s realtor, your mortgage broker and/or lender, your insurance provider) to obtain information and documents required for your deal. This means that we cannot guarantee early appointments if you are leaving town.
9. Watch for email(s) from the Notary office
At Krische & Co. Notaries, it is our office policy to email you prior to your appointment. The email will:
- Enclose an engagement letter, which explains what you are hiring us to do and gives you some preliminary information about your conveyance;
- Provide confirmation of your appointment with us;
- Advise you if we need anything else from you in order to complete your file.
10. Obtain a bank draft
Once we have all the documentation that we need to prepare your file for your signing appointment, we will email you to advise you of your “balance [of money required] to complete” your purchase so that you can obtain a bank draft to bring to your appointment. The Balance to Complete will include the balance of your equity in the property and all closing costs (legal fees, taxes, disbursements, adjustments on monthly and annual costs like strata fees, property taxes and property transfer tax).
Note: some first time home buyers are eligible for an exemption from property transfer tax (PTT) if they meet all the government requirements. Don’t automatically assume you will be exempt from the tax – ask if unsure!
11. Attend appointment with Notary (with your bank draft)
Your Notary will explain and witness your signature on the required legal documents. In our office, this means that we review every single form that you sign, including mortgage documents and statements of adjustments, so that you understand what you have signed and how the process works.
12. Wait for the Notary office to notify you on Completion date!
Note: You do not need to attend the Notary’s office again on Completion date.
On completion, the Notary registers the Transfer and Mortgage at the Land Title Office and disburses funds in accordance with the approved documentation, including making arrangements with and notifying the seller’s Notary when sale proceeds are available. Your Notary also confirms completion with both the selling and listing Realtors so that your Realtor knows they can give you keys.
When you use Krische & Co. Notaries for your purchase, we guarantee that we will always call you (the buyer) on the completion date to personally advise you that everything is complete.
We love working with first time home buyers and would love to work with you – give us a call at 604-576-3211.
