Surprising Insider Secrets for the 5 Stages of Buying Your First Home

Buying a home is not a discrete event; it's a process - a sequence of events that happens over time, sometimes over as long as several months or even years! While general guides to buying a home are a dime a dozen, I'm excited to share with you some insider secrets you may not have heard elsewhere - one for each stage involved in buying a home.

Stage One: Deciding Whether It's The Right Time toBuy.

Insider Secret: The market is the least importantfactor you should consider when deciding whetherand when to buy a home.

Why: Everyone knows affordability is at an all-timehigh. Home prices are low, and so are interestrates. But trying to time the market is a fool'serrand; many who get caught up in that game oftrying to make sure they buy at the absolutebottom will end up losing out on very, veryfavorable conditions.

Stage Two: Getting Pre-Approved.

Insider Secret: Working with a mortgage brokerreferred by your realtor broker, or agent maysave you money.

Why: Brokers can access up to 30 differentlenders for your mortgage- offering moreflexibility.

Stage Three: House Hunting

Insider Secret: "Distressed" doesn't alwaysequal "deeply discounted" - in some cases, a"regular" sale can be a deeper deal.

Why: Foreclosures comprise roughly 3 percentof the homes sold on today's market. Theaverage sale price of foreclosed homes was 7%lower than the average sale price of non-foreclosed homes, at last count.

Stage Four: Negotiations

Insider Secret: Your family and friends can causeyou to lose your dream home.

Why: With so much information on the web andthe news every day, everyone seems to be anarmchair economist/real estate savant. But muchof that news is national and based onmedians, averages and trends. That is, it might notnecessarily apply to every home on the market inevery city, and more importantly, it might havenothing to do with "your" particular home.

Stage Five: Inspections and Underwriting

Insider Secret: It's critical that you attend yourhome inspections.

Why: When it comes to inspections, many first-timebuyers expect that a home will either pass or fail.The home inspection is more about educatingyou, the buyer, as to the details and nuances of thehome's condition than about seeing if the place hitsa particular target for "good" or "bad" condition.

What stage of the home buying process are you in?

Randy BettInvestment Realtor/Author/Investor

Real Estate Professionals Inc.Better Group Real Estate 202-5403 Crowchild Trail NWCalgary, AB T3B 4Z1

Phone:403-774-7464 Ext:1Fax:403-208-0082Toll Free fax:888-711-6801

Randy Bettwww.BetterGroupRealEstate.ca