A series about a young family’s search for that first resale home.
Lessons learned about home hunting: that’s how we’re now viewing our adventure.
After another month of searching — our second of looking seriously — Craig, I and our young daughter, Tilly, are still not owners. We have been to see roughly 10 homes and put in offers on two, only to be outbid in both cases.
Here’s what we have learned from our experience so far.
The rating game
How to decide whether a house is one you want to buy? Our real estate agent has a clever trick. He asks us whether a house is “a 9 or a 10” for us. If it’s neither, we leave and forget about it. If it is, then we start talking about how much we would be willing to spend on it.
Taking the blinders off
When you’re deciding whether a house is, in fact, a 9 or 10, you have to truly consider all factors. We bid on one house even though, while we really liked the house itself, we were uncertain about the neighbourhood. When our offer wasn’t accepted, we were relieved instead of disappointed.
Lesson: Don’t talk yourself into a home if there’s a nagging issue that you are trying to overlook.
Read more in this series
The process & lessons learned about home hunting
We’ve learned what the process of bidding and putting in an offer involves. And that it can be stress-inducing.
When you find a house you like, your real estate agent should be able to tell you whether the asking price is reasonable based on comparables like the selling prices of other houses in the neighbourhood. You then must decide on a price you want to offer and complete an offer of purchase contract.
Our offers of purchase have involved the standard conditions: inspection, securing of financing, and the passing on of warranties for various appliances included with the home as well as any recent work done, such as roof replacement.
You also must decide on a closing date – the date when you assume ownership. Finally, you have to have a deposit of roughly $5,000 ready to hand over, though the deposit amount obviously varies slightly based on the cost of the home. It’s a lot of things to pull together in a short time.
Being flexible
Right now, it is decidedly a seller’s market. Inventory is very low, which means that most decent houses are the object of bidding wars. And that means if you find a house that is “the one,” you must be willing to go quite a bit higher than the asking price if you want to get it. One house we bid on went for roughly $18,000 over asking, the other for $13,000 over asking.
Being patient
That said, we’ve learned not to panic as one of our lessons learned about home hunting. As spring approaches, the market seems to be picking up, so there are always other houses we want to go see, other houses that might also be a good fit for us. So it’s a matter of not going over your budget because another one will be along shortly.
And the right house, for the right price, is well worth waiting for.
