Hi ************,

Thank you for this exceptionally thorough reply as it really gives me a sense of where you are at. I hope that I can offer to you some insignts that will assist with your journey!

To address the small upfront costs...first off..there is no charge for my service. I hope you understand that I rely on the goodwill of my clients to continue to stay in business and by the service provided that you will be able to without question, share with your friends and family the benefit of being in the relationship with myself the mortgage broker. We aim to provide what you need to get things done and assist you along the way like a specialist would, but without additional costs. As we discussed, my role is yes to provide you with best rate and best product for you, but it is also a relationship that continues for years down the road and therefore access to me by phone, email or in person is not limited to the purchase of your home. Strategy conversations, like the one we had can continue to occur going forward.

So for a budget figure for all costs associated with the purchase of a home, CMHC suggest you budget 1.5% and we have to prove that you have that budgetary figure in your account prior to closing date. I usually suggest that this show in your account 30 days prior to closing as it makes for a smooth closing. Some people will wait longer but as there are many hands working together it helps the lawyer receive his documents on time and have extra hours to prepare what he/she needs to do at their end as well. Who you choose to work with should be people who are specializing in the real estate industry as it has become very sophisticated over these last few years for many reason.

Things tend to fall in place once you find the home you are really interested in and your realtor will assist you with some of the timing of what comes first. I might suggest that you keep me in the loop as you go forward as it can be somewhat of a roller coaster ride. The realtor is there to guide you to what is the correct order. My own thoughts are that the inspection is as crucial as the mortgage approval so simultaneously completing these requirements usually occur. The mortgage approval includes the appraisal and this can sometimes take longer than expected in a hot market that we are in so hours ( which a few years ago was possible) is more like days to a week to get an answer back, depending on the property itself.

On a mortgage of $170000 and if we are able to qualify at the interest rate of 3.89% is approx $740 for Principal and Interest ( property tax and utilities not included) If there are condominium fees that is extra

So hopefully that is helpful?
Best regards,
Kathleen Caught, Mortgage Broker

****** and I have decided not to use my RRSP's to bring down his current debt. We kind of discussed it and decided that it would take a lot longer to re-save up than we want. And we can't buy a house without it!

July 6th isn't that far away. It's not so much the major expense of buying a house that freaking us out, it's all the small upfront costs! So, inspections, lawyers, land transfers, insurance, and the list goes on. Except for the insurance part, I don't even know what order to start in! By the way, what are your fees for putting everything together for us? (probably a good question to ask from the start!), we're (I'm) trying to calculate everything out and make sure we're not missing anything. I like numbers! I like goals! I like plans! As well, Would you happen to know what the going rate for a lawyer is? I was speaking to a friend who just recently bought a home and she said she paid about $1500. That seems a little pricey to me!

So we're kind of looking at a few houses, we were going to actually start hard core looking at houses at the end of April. We gave ourselves a time line for everything! As your book suggests that we do a time line, we made a big and a small. Currently on the big time line, there's buy a house, get married and have kids! haha The more immediate timeline is really just this year and what we want to accomplish as a couple. SO obviously buy a house is on there, but also things like fitness goals that we are doing together, I pulled out a lot of my art supplies that were in storage and want to be in full force by Christmas (That's how I plan to save on Christmas gifts - make them instead!), little things like that. The houses that we're looking at our out along the 417 areas. The few that we're kind of using as a price guide for area and type put us in the $140000 - $170000 range. We have the 5% down for that range already, it's the other costs that have our head in a whirl right now! The major thing that we're worried about is the monthly's on that. What do you think we'd be looking at for that range on a monthly scale?

Wow the closer we get to all this, the more stressed I get! I really just don't want to miss anything and then you know we're stuck with a house that we can't afford and blah blah, you're probably use to this! haha

Anyways, that's where we're at!