First Time Home Buyers
Making your first home purchase can be a scary venture – Welch & Co is here to make the process as smooth as possible for you and to keep you informed every step of the way!
Our first meeting will take approximately one hour and we will gather a lot of information about you. We will review and educate you on your credit history, assess your capacity to borrow, provide you with estimated closing costs and educate you on what needs to be done in order to move forward with your home purchase!
Required Info and Paperwork
- Date of birth
- Social Insurance Number
- Address for the last three years
- Employer and contact information for last three years (telephone, address & postal code)
- A list of your current assets – i.e. vehicle (year, make, model and approximate value), savings (bank and account numbers), investments (company and agent).
- Two most recent pay stubs
- A letter of employment stating position, income, tenure and must state status as “permanent full time,” must be signed, dated and have a contact phone number to verify verbally (you don’t need this necessarily for our first meeting however we will require eventually).
- If you are pensioned, part time, self-employed, commissioned, do contract work, or based on hourly wages: we will need to obtain a 2 year average of your income which will include two years T1 Generals (tax returns prepared and sent to the Canada Revenue Agency), 2 years T4’s and 2 years Canada Revenue Agency Notice of Assessments (what you receive back from Revenue Canada after you file your income taxes).
- 90 day history of existing bank statements or investment statements (if applicable)
- Gifted and borrowed down payments – yes these are possible!
Stages of Your Mortgage
- Meet with a member of our team at no cost
- Our team will obtain your pre-approval
- Meet with a realtor (there is no cost to a homebuyer)
- Realtor supplies offer to purchase to our team
- Our team will seek approval from lender of choice
- Our team will schedule a meeting with you to review your approval
- Our team will communicate on your behalf with both your realtor and your lawyer
- Your lawyer will contact you to schedule an appointment to finalize your purchase
- Moving day!
Closing Costs
We want no surprises when you receive a call from your lawyer. As such, we cover ALL your potential costs and give you a sound estimate of how much it will cost you on closing:
Downpayment, land transfer tax if applicable, high ratio insurance tax, legal fees, property taxes, appraisals, title insurance, inspections and any other fees pertaining to your specific situation (Tarion warranty fee, oil tank fills, inspections after closing on your purchase, etc).
Everything you've ever wanted to know about your home purchase
- What do lenders consider to qualify me?
- How are mortgage brokers compensated? (no cost to the client!)
- If I want to buy with 5% down, how do I do that?
- Why do so many people “think” they have a pre-approval, yet they don’t?
- What is CMHC (Genworth or Canada Guaranty) and how does this affect me as a homebuyer?
- How does the premium from these high ratios affect me?
- Who pays that premium and how?
- Can my down payment be gifted or borrowed?
- How do I find a realtor?
- How do I find a lawyer?
- Terminology in the world of buying: term, rate, amortization, gds/tds, variable versus fixed rates?
Misconceptions about brokering and working with Welch & Co.
- Yes we can work with the “big banks”
- Our consultations and advice is FREE
- We get paid by the lender
- There is no additional cost to you for a standard mortgage
- We always provide you with our best/lowest interest rate and product applicable to your circumstances
- We offer, at no cost to you, annual reviews of your mortgage
- We work with you to ensure that you meet your financial goals as they change and evolve throughout your life
- Our relationships with appraisers, lawyers, real estate agents, banks, insurers and lenders DO make a difference!