In this post I share with you our journey to being First Time Home Buyers with steps you can take towards buying your own. Also, resources, tips and how to's.
This will be a unique and individual process for everyone. I will be honest, this is not an easy process but it is a very rewarding one. Times are changing and things are very different now a days compared to just five short years ago. The buying market was much lower, there was more available and flipping was a huge trend. We had a small budget and the goal to do most of the work ourselves. We were living in a condo and we were bored! We wanted projects and a home of our own.
Photo: View of our property from the road.
We started with the idea of looking at a FIXER UPPER.
Whether you are buying on your own or with a partner the #1 thing to do is write down and answer the following questions...
TOP 6 Question Guide
1. Find out what you can afford
2. Are you willing to renovate
3. Have a budget if you are going to renovate
4. Do not go into debt.
5. Separate "wants" from "needs."
6. Will you be in the home long term
CHECK IT OUT - ratehub.ca to find how what you can afford, incentives for first time home buyers and programs available.
NEXT:
After we went over the above questions we looked for a local realstate agent.
We chose to go with remax.ca through word of mouth. We knew they would be a good reliable agency that we could trust to have our best interest in mind, especially being first time home buyers.
From there we started to look on realtor.ca for options in our area of choice and driving around on weekends looking at home with for sale signs! This part was exciting!
We knew we wanted to be close to the beach, we did NOT want a new build. We wanted something with character and we wanted to stay in the town we were in. We figured this home would be on the longer term side 5-7 years.
We chose our top picks and had our realstate agent take us to see the homes. However, every place we looked at we wanted to CHANGE SOMETHING! Whether it was the counter, rip out carpet, paint, etc...and it wasn't that the homes were in terrible condition, they were definitely things you can live with. We just didn't prefer to and with the prices it wasn't fesible for us to tear things out and replace them just because we didn't like the colours or material.
Then we found a GEM! I mean the home checked all our boxes. It was close to the beach, it was a large lot (200x75), private fenced backyard (for our pug, Lyla), good size to grow into, and in our price range.
1550 Sq ft Bungalow one block to the beaches of Great Lake Huron and was built in 1972. It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, sunroom, mudroom, dining room, fireplace, and laundry.
PLUS: Location, Location, Location!
The home needed a new roof and a complete renovation in order to make it livable. It unfortunately had been smoked in for years and there was alot of smoke residue on the walls, ceilings and windows. But the huge plus for us was that we could make it all our own in our own time. The home has incredible character: Pine tongue and groove wood ceilings throughout, original vintage doors and lighting, and wood archway beams which all sold us right away.
Photo: Livingroom with kitchen behind. Door to guest bath on the right.
HOME INSPECTION
ALWAYS GET A HOME INSPECTION!
Even if you know who you are buying from!
Photo: Guest Bathroom
Photo: Mudroom with door to backyard.
The MOST IMPORTANT aspects of the home for us were:
1. Good condition windows.
2. Updated plumbing and wiring.
3. The furnace was only a year old
4. No water damage
5. Good foundation
6. We love the wood accents and saw the potential to keep the vintage retro vibe
*It did need a new roof which was added to our mortgage.
Photo: Jack and Jill Ensuite
Photo: Kitchen with french doors to mudroom. Dining room to the right.
Unfortunately, when buying a fixer upper you are ALWAYS going to run into issues you did expect and you need to know that prior! You just can't see through walls or under flooring. Lucky for us we had ALL those pop up for us.
Every single room had at least THREE layers of flooring. Some just carpet, others linoleum, glued down carpet, plywood and more carpet. This was an absolute NIGHTMARE for us. We did not hire help but enlisted some friends to help out which made it alot more fun!
Photo: Master Bedroom closets and entry to the far right. Entry to ensuite in the middle.
All the major home essentials were up todate! This is VERY important especially if there are a number of renovations that you want to do esthetically. The largest cost factors will be if you need to replace plumbing, wiring, roof, windows and doors before you can even think about the fun esthetics and decor. SORRY! If you can live with the old for a while you can then update as you can afford to.
Happy House Hunting!
If you have any questions feel free to ask!
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