Buying a home is typically the single most important investment you will ever make, so it’s no wonder that becoming a first-time home buyer can be a time of both excitement and confusion-fueled stress. For most first-time buyers, the process of purchasing a home comes with many steps, questions, and uncertainties revolving around the mortgage process. However, there isn’t just light at the end of the tunnel, there is light the whole way through.
The CMHC, also known as the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation have come together to give home-buyers a little bit of a hand in understanding the mortgage process by publishing The Home Buying Step By Step guide. As the title suggests, the guide is designed to help break down each step in the mortgage process from defining any unknown financial jargon, to breaking down costs, calculations, and more. By giving homebuyers a study guide to their mortgage application, it can not only alleviate a lot of stress, but it can also help save you time and money throughout the process.
The guide begins by identifying each step of the process, giving tips, tricks, and helpful hints to get you through them. With constant changes like evolving markets and mortgage rules, the key to a smooth mortgage application and home buying process is confidence in knowledge and understanding, as well as proper preparation. The CMHC guide is also designed to help you have all your necessary paperwork ready prior to your first appointment with your financial lender or mortgage broker, as well as some hypothetical calculations. With a better understanding of how your mortgage loan is calculated, it can help you to have a clear idea of what you will be granted and able to afford, which can prevent disappoint down the line.
It goes without saying that when it comes to a mortgage application, the more questions you ask, the better. The Home Buying Step By Step guide can help you to not only understand the material you’re dealing with during the home buying process, but it can also help you to ask the right questions in regards to your mortgage application. For example, questions about a broker’s experience, Lender’s Mortgage Insurance, closing costs and even possible changes to your fixed rates down the line, are all topics you should be well-versed in, in order to get a full understanding of your financial options and obligations surrounding your mortgage loan.
While the guide is a great reference as you take on each step of your mortgage process, it also comes with a hands-on workbook and checklist. This accompanying take-along to-do list can prevent missed steps, miscalculations and unexpected hiccups that may arise.
As Claude Gautreau, a knowledge consultant for the CMHC says, “Choosing to buy a home can be exciting, but also requires careful planning. CMHC’s Home Buying Step By Step guide gives Canadians the tools and information they need to make informative decisions they can feel good about”. If you have any questions about the guide or about applying for a mortgage, don’t hesitate to give me a call at 705-315-0516. I am always happy to help you have a better understanding of the mortgage process and to help you make confident, financial decisions for you and your family.