How 1st Choice Can Help You Buy Your Dream Home

The first step to homeownership is to book an appointment with one of our advisors, which can be done online or by phone. The goal of this first appointment is for your advisor to learn more about your home-buying goals and personal finances. It’s also a great time for you to ask any questions or voice any concerns you have about the home buying and financing process.

Once you arrive for your appointment, your advisor will take you to their private office to start the meeting. You’ll discuss your mortgage goals and needs with your advisor, and they will review the necessary steps to prepare you for the home-buying process.

Using our Mortgage Calculator and other tools, your advisor will input your information to compare different mortgage scenarios. These scenarios highlight factors such as the total cost of the home, amount of down payment you are planning to use, the amortization period of the mortgage, type of mortgage, and interest rate. Different variables will affect your monthly mortgage payments and the amount you can qualify for in a mortgage.

Evaluating different scenarios helps your advisor find the right mortgage solution that will meet your personal needs. Your advisor wants to aid you in becoming financially better off through customized strategies for you. Your first meeting is also a great time to talk to your advisor about other costs involved with buying a home, such as lawyer fees, insurance, and other hidden expenses.

After comparing mortgage scenarios, your advisor will fill out a Financial Picture with you. By looking at your total financial picture, your advisor can look at different strategies to help you reduce your total borrowing costs. Your advisor will look at your total income, down payment amount, assets, debt, and credit score. This will determine how likely you are to be pre-approved for a mortgage, which will help with house hunting by giving you a maximum price range to stay in.

After this meeting, your advisor will have a clearer idea of what documents you will need to provide for the pre-approval to be finalized. Getting pre-approved is an important step in your homeownership journey. It provides you with peace of mind while you shop for your new home and gives you the security of a 90-day rate hold. Check out our Pre-Approval Mortgage Checklist to better understand what information you need to provide for pre-approval.

After you provide the documents needed to your advisor, they will begin the pre-approval process. You will receive a call from your advisor within a few days to let you know if you have been successfully pre-approved. At this point, if you have a realtor or lawyer in mind, now would be the time to start assembling your homebuying team.

A realtor will help you find a home within your pre-approval amount. Eventually, you’ll find a home that you would like to submit an offer for with the help of your realtor. Once you have placed an offer and it has been accepted, you’ll inform your advisor and your lawyer. In Alberta, a lawyer is mandatory when buying a home. It’s your lawyer’s job to make sure the offer is completed and the transfer of land from the seller to the buyer is legally enforceable and binding.

Prior to the offer being finalized, your advisor may request that the property be appraised, in which case you’ll need to have a home inspection completed before you can continue to the next step in your home-buying journey.

Your advisor will work with you and your team as you navigate each of these steps during your home purchasing and mortgage process. They are with you at every stage and will inform you of the next steps as you progress on your journey.

Once all of your closing documents have been finalized by your lawyer, your advisor will set up an appointment to sign the finalized mortgage papers. When you arrive for your appointment, your advisor will review the terms of your mortgage to make sure you understand your repayment period, interest rate, payment frequency and amount, and other important things like paying your mortgage off early or what happens if you miss payments. Your advisor will also talk to you about home insurance and property taxes and give you advice on how you can effectively budget for these big annual expenses. Afterward, you will receive a final approval call from your advisor.

Now the ‘owning your home’ part begins.

Once your mortgage approval is finalized your home purchase is almost complete! You will finalize the land transfer and transfer of funds at the lawyer's office and then you would take possession on the agreed-upon date with the seller, at which point your mortgage takes effect.

Congratulations, now you are a homeowner!

Your advisor will follow up with you near the anniversary of your purchase date to see if your mortgage and home are still working for you as they understand life can change and will want to ensure you still feel comfortable with your home purchase.