Buying New or Building a Home:
Video on buying your first home.

Prospective Buyer Application in PDF, please print and fill it out.

Once you have made the exciting decision to buy a new home, careful research is a must. The following checklist will help you get started and make your search a little easier.
Determining a price range is the first step. Affordability Estimator
Now that a price range is established it is time to decide where you want to live. Research the neighbourhood thoroughly before making a commitment.
Contact a real estate office and request a Realtor who specializes in new homes. Someone who is familiar with the professional homebuilders in your area
Select a quality builder. Ensure that the builder belongs to a professional association with a strict code of ethics. Ask for recommendations from people who have recently built. Talk to at least three registered and recommended builders before choosing one. Check out the quality of work in the builder's previous homes and talk to the homeowners. Ask about a follow-up system for any problems you may have after you have moved in.   Just remember, builders and developers are not Realtors and are not bound by the Real Estate Act. This means that an uninformed buyer may discover that the property they purchase is nothing like the property they were sold. Furthermore, because their builder is not covered by Errors and Omissions insurance, the unwary buyer may find himself or herself solely burdened with fixing problems left behind by the builder. Having an agent asking the right questions on your behalf and working for your protection is the surest way to ensure the timely and accurate fulfillment of your builders contract.

Considerations:

• Is the home in a safe neighbourhood where people want to move, buy homes, and raise families?
• Is there access to schools, transportation, and shopping?
• Is the area run-down, filled with high crime, or noisy?
• Are people moving away to better places to live?
• Look for an area where homes sell quickly and easily. It's a good sign if houses stay on the market for less than three months; if it takes six months or more for homes to sell look elsewhere.
• Avoid neighbourhoods with a large number of undeveloped lots, abandoned homes, poorly maintained homes and yards, a large number of FOR SALE signs, or mixed zoning (commercial and residential together).
  
  Before you embark on your search for the perfect house, it is important that you make a realistic "shopping list" in an attempt to narrow your choices of properties. Hunting for a home can be a time consuming process, especially if you have not determined in advance the parameters of your search. Many home buyers make the mistake of misinterpreting a WANT as a NEED. As a result, they often dismiss homes that perfectly fit their needs in search for one that has their wants. This is not to say that you cannot have what you desire in your home--just that you must be able to differentiate between what you truly need and what you would like to have. Note, also, that in the examples below, many WANTS can be changed in a particular home (if the house doesn't have that feature now, you can change it later).

 

• Enough square footage for comfortable living
• Enough bedrooms to accommodate your family
• Adequate number of bathrooms
• Eat-in kitchen
• Garage or basement for storage needs
• Lot size to accommodate children's play area
• Adaptation for Handicapped
• Proximity to a specific school

 

Examples of WANTS

• Carpeting colour, paint colour, exterior colour, roof colour, etc.
• Pool or Jacuzzi (unless for medical reasons)
• Wood floors
• Bay windows
• Built-in entertainment center
• Brass lighting fixtures
• Skylights
• A pretty view