Monday, October 29, 2007

Five Secrets to Finding the Vancouver Home of your Dreams

Everyone dreams of finding the home in Vancouver that suits their family perfectly. It’s important to remember that during your search for your dream home that finding your dream home starts with you. Throughout your journey you will find yourself being derailed by one thing or another. Everyone will try to give you advice on where is the best location, which is the best Vancouver realtor, who is the better contractor, and so on. The first thing to do is to determine the area you want to find a house in. Your dream home should not be too far away from your work place, family members, and schools. It is wise to enlist a real estate agent to help you buy the house from the original owner. There are several websites that allow you to key in an area code and they will provide you with a whole list of houses on sale in that area. If your dream house is listed, you’re in luck. They will assign a realtor to work with you on buying your dream home.

The next step towards buying your Lower Mainland dream home is financing. If you are lucky enough to have the cash you can buy your dream home rather easily. Most people do not have this option so it is best to start researching an affordable and viable home loan. The process between signing the agreement to getting to the loan to having the keys handed to you is a long one. This may be the time that you choose to find a contractor to design and construct your dream home for you. The best way to find a suitable contractor is to ask around as there is nothing like a referral. A positive referral means the customer was satisfied with the services that were performed by the contractor. Designing and constructing your dream home is a wonderful experience, which is also very difficult.

It is important to stay open minded when looking for your dream home. By doing this, you’ll learn things you never realized. Your ideal of the perfect home will change and evolve over the years so it is best to try to have a better understanding of what you want by taking a close look at several houses in places like Coal Harbour, Yaletown and Point Grey. Many people will only look at a house if they like its appearance.

Typically, the house’s exterior can easily be changed and they may be so dramatic that you will not realize you are looking at the same house. You may also discard the idea of a particular home if you do not see the hidden potential. It is wise to see if rooms possibly serve another purpose, one you may have not originally seen upon first inspection. Some people spend years searching for the perfect home in Vancouver, BC. It is unlikely that you will find it as the perfect home is a fantasy. While home shopping you should be realistic and ask yourself what the features are that you must have and the features that you want to have.

Once you have been pre-approved for a mortgage loan it is time to actually start house hunting with a realtor like Amalia Liapis. Your mortgage lender will give you a letter stating you have been pre-approved for a mortgage and the amount you are authorized to borrow. You will need to present this letter to the real estate agent when you get started. It is important to get pre-approved for a mortgage loan before beginning your home search. Both the real estate agent and real estate company will be much more willing to work with you if they know you can afford the home you are looking at. Also, the seller will be more likely to take your offer more seriously if a pre-approval letter accompanies it from your mortgage lender.

Once you have found your dream home, it is time to make an offer on the property. If the seller accepts your first offer your negotiations are over and you’re ready to start preparing for your move into your dream home. It is more likely however that you’ll receive a counter offer from the seller. The negotiation process can either go on for short or long amount of time, depending on factors like the motivation of the seller. Once the sale has been completed you will be handed the keys for your Vancouver dream home.

Friday, October 12, 2007