Pre-Approvals: Do They Replace A Financing Condition?

With Buyers more sophisticated than ever, most of my new clients have already had discussions with their lender or mortgage specialist before they contact me. However, I am still surprised at how many are under the assumption that a pre-approval takes the place of a financing condition in any offers they make. This is usually when I trot out the war stories about the Buyers who waived their financing because the price they were offering was well below the limit placed on them by their lender – only to find out that same lender appraised the property at an amount lower than what the Buyer had actually paid. This leaves a funding gap that can be either enormously inconvenient or financially ruinous. The issue hinges on the appraised value of the property – which is almost always a condition of financing. In other words, you may have been pre-approved, but the property was not. So make sure you don’t make any assumptions that can leave you short changed once your offer has been accepted by the Seller. This is especially critical if you’ve charged ahead in a bidding war thinking you still had wiggle room on price – only to find out your lender thinks you overpaid for the house and is only willing to finance 95% of what you paid for it.

No Easy Answer: Buy or Sell First?

First time Buyers often have the luxury of maximum flexibility – mainly due to the fact they do not have a property to unload in conjunction with their purchase. For existing home owners, however, the initial stress of moving usually stems from one critical question: Should we Buy or Sell first?? As the following interview reveals, there are no easy answers. Check out the introduction to see if it might be helpful to you or someone you know: Different Strokes

How Do You Choose Your Agent?

With over 30,000 licensed registrants in the Toronto Real Estate Board, the choices can be daunting. However, with such an array of possible candidates, there is really no excuse for making the wrong choice. Since you may be spending several months choosing a property, selecting a trusted ally to assist with all the details and counselling, surely warrants a little consideration. The following tip video is less than a minute long, but introduces a few of the basics to keep in mind:  Finding Your Match

Tales From The Trenches: The Breezy Bedside
I love my job and, as my clients can attest, we sometimes see the darn-dest things when touring properties. I was recalling one house recently that was occupied by a young family. The baby’s room was adorned with the usual tools of the trade as well as an enviable collection of stuffed toys and visual distractions. One item really caught us off guard though. Duct taped to the wall and pointed at the spot where the baby’s head would normally be, was a slightly dated hair dryer. This quickly prompted some discussion, of course. We couldn’t determine whether this was a do it yourself attempt at installing an auxiliary heat source for those brisk winter nights or whether it was meant to be some kind of game. Now, I know most dogs hate it when you blow on their face, yet they will breeze along the highway with their head sticking out the window facing right into the wind. So perhaps this baby simply likes to fall asleep with a breeze blowing on him. Ironically, I can’t recall much else about that house – because this was one distraction that left us all pretty stumped.

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