While buying a house can be stressful for anyone, the process can be particularly demanding if you're a parent. Not only do you want your investment to appreciate, but you want a home where your children can thrive, in a neighbourhood where they can flourish. This is especially true if you live in a city with a catchment system, where your children can usually only attend schools assigned to their neighbourhood.
Get Help with Your Research
Because you're buying a home for your family, you want it to be in a great neighbourhood near great catchment schools. But this can be tricky. After countless hours of research online, you may either find a good school in a less desirable neighbourhood or vice versa. Even if you find the ideal school for your children in a great neighbourhood, you may struggle to find a reliable local real estate agent who knows the area inside out.
To save yourself the hassle of pouring over hundreds of hours of information, consider using SchoolQ to quickly find your dream home in your dream neighbourhood. Built by leading experts, this resource provides hyperlocal content for hundreds of cities and thousands of neighbourhoods across Canada. It offers easy-to-understand Interactive Neighbourhood Reports, Address Reports, and Interactive School reports.
Moreover, you can use the platform to connect with a friendly Neighbourhood Expert who can help you buy a home in the area of your dreams.
Get Your Financing in Order
Determine what you can afford and get your financing in order. Save enough cash for your down payment to the mortgage lender and costs such as the mortgage application fee, credit check fee, home inspection fee, appraisal fee, and closing costs.
Once you've bought a home, you may quickly need funds for insurance, taxes, mortgage fees, repairs, maintenance, utilities, moving costs, furniture and more. By being financially proactive, you can avoid headaches related to such expenses.
Consider getting pre-approved for a mortgage loan to make the home buying process easier. This will be based on an inspection of your income and your credit. The advantage of getting pre-approved is that you can avoid unpleasant surprises when you're ready to bid for a house.
If your credit is poor, then consider taking steps to improve it before going house hunting.
- Pay off your loans to reduce your outstanding debts
- Avoid applying for further loans to minimize inquiries on your credit
- Make payments consistently on time for at least a year
- Have the right number of credit cards to optimize your score
Not only can a favourable credit report improve your chances of getting approved for a loan, but it may help you qualify for lower interest rates.
Stay Flexible
Sometimes you need to make compromises when buying your first home, especially in a seller's market. If the home doesn't satisfy every part of your detailed checklist but is in a great location, then ask yourself if you can live without certain features. For example, living with a smaller yard may be worthwhile if the home is in your dream neighbourhood near your ideal school.