Hi, I'm Jacquelyn and I believe in Home.
Home is more than just a physical space. It's where you've created countless memories, shared moments with loved ones, and where you feel most comfortable.
When it comes time to buy a new home and begin a new chapter, the process can oftentimes feel overwhelming. Buying a home can be an emotional journey, and it's understandable to feel apprehensive.
Rest assured that together, we can help you navigate the process with ease. We'll outline the process and create a plan together, so you don't have to do any of the heavy lifting.
From what to expect, to staging your home, to finding the right buyers, negotiating the best terms for you & creating a smooth close, this booklet will be your guide.
ABOUT ME
I'm a real estate agent in the Calgary and Cochrane and Bearspaw areas. I've teamed up with the McCallum Group to ensure my clients get the best marketing available in Canada.
With social media being the way majority of canadians are receiving information and entertainment, we absorb it on your behalf. We do this by making sure any home wth an online campaign, which meets your criteria, is being looked out for by me.
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When it comes to buying or selling a property, having a real estate team on your side is a game-changer. Not only will we always be available to take calls and show your property, but we also bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the table.
When it comes time to take your largest asset to market, it's vital to have a variety of perspectives to build your specific marketing plan. As a team we build a plan just for your home and each listing is vetted through the team, which ensures we don't have any holes in our marketing.
Our job is to get you the best deal and often times that is through leveraging our combined skillsets...and NETWORKS. When you work with me- you have my whole team advertising your property. We have hired one of the best industry videographers, Levente, to capture your home in the best way possible. The cherry on top- is Brad McCallum- our marketing guru and creator. He has built our brand into one of the highest sales teams in the industry with our award-winning marketing. With Brad’s touch, there will not be a single buyer out there, who won’t see your home-more importantly, there won’t be a buyer out there that WE can’t tell directly what makes your home unique.
We are all great at something, combining all our skills into one, gives you the best there is.
I know that buying a new Home can be stressful...
But it doesn't have to be. Instead it can be the glorious start to a new chapter. The anticipation of creating new memories in a home that better serves your needs. We're here to help you determine your budget, find the perfect neighborhood & hear "OFFER ACCEPTED!"
Moving to a new home is EXCITING and we can't wait to help you every step of the way.
I know...the dreaded B word, but if you’re crystal clear on what your budget is, this process will be SO MUCH EASIER. You’ll want to meet with a lender to determine final numbers, but take some time to determine what monthly payment feels comfortable for you and your family at this time. As a rule of thumb it is recommended that your mortgage not exceed more than 1/3 of your take home pay.
Before you lock yourself into that, I will tell you that there are exceptions depending on your season of life.
Are you at the front end of your earning potential? If so, you might want to push on your budget a bit. This would be for young professionals like attorneys that just graduated law school. Their entry level pay has a lot of room to increase over the coming years, so it might make sense to over extend just a bit, knowing you can grow into the monthly payment.
Are you at the end of your earning potential? If so, you might not want to push on your monthly budget. This would be for anyone on the back end of their career OR with a fairly fixed income.
Buying a new home is so much fun and this is the part where you day dream about all the possibilities. I like to remove all constraints of budget and location and write down ALL the things I’d love to have inside my home. Not gonna lie, my list is fairly epic, but it makes me happy to think about all the possibilities. After I’ve filled my mind with all the possibilities, I start sorting them and ranking them in order of importance, narrowing it down to 3-5 must haves.
It’s important to do this BEFORE you start looking at houses so you don’t get distracted by something that might seem like what you want, but really isn’t. We’ll refer to this list when we’re out looking at homes. If a pool is on your MUST HAVE list, then we’re only going to walk homes that have pools OR are priced in a way that allow you to immediately put one in. This ends up saving everyone so much time AND ensures you get what you really want.
Determine what your down payment is. While some put 20% down on their home, you can often qualify with much less. It’s important to be clear on this number as it will impact your monthly payment. You’ll also need to have your Deposit money hand as well. Part of your offer will be putting down a deposit to be held in trust, and needs to be done within 3 business days. I’ll break down your deposit money in just a bit, but know that your deposit will be added to your down payment on closing day.
Now that you have a clear idea on what you want and the numbers you’d like to hit, it’s time to talk to a lender. Every buyer must have a pre-approval before seeing any homes. Depending on your price point (usually luxury listings), Listing Agents will require proof of funds prior to showings. This ensures sellers aren’t prepping their home for showings for buyers that aren’t in a position to buy. Your pre-approval will be submitted with any offer so the sellers know you can secure a loan for their property. Once you have your pre-approval, revisit your ‘must have’ list to be sure those items can realistically be secured at your price point.
Are you renting? Do you need to sell your current home? Closings typically take 30-60 days, so line up your dates to be sure they work for you. If you need to sell your current home in order to buy your new home, it’s important to have it cleaned, staged and photographed PRIOR to looking at homes. This allows for me to best negotiate a Buyer Condition, meaning that your new home purchase is contingent on your current home selling. As an agent, I need to be able to show the sellers we’re ready to go to market ‘overnight’ so we don’t delay the closing process.
If you’re renting, know that your first mortgage payment isn’t usually due for 30 days AFTER close, which helps you not double up on rent and mortgage payments.
Now it's time to start shopping for your new home! We'll automate this by setting up a custom home search for you with all of the criteria you listed above. This means anytime a new home hits the market that meets your criteria, you'll get an email notification. If you like what you see, reach out and I'll set an appointment to walk the home.
A few ground rules to make this process as enjoyable as possible:
Once we have an accepted contract, I send all the documebts to your lender. You must choose a home inspector, and we schedule it with the sellers. If you have. sale of buyer’s home condition, we typicay have 3 days to have your home on the market.
DEPOSIT: Your deposit is typically due within 3 days of the accepted offer. This is fully refundable within your condition period, should we not be able to waive conditions. This will makeup part of your purchase amount.
INSPECTION: This is your time to do all of your due diligence on the property. A certified home inspector will get into every nook and cranny and give you a full report on the condition of the home.
FINANCING: Your purchase is conditional to you securing financing. Your mortgage specialist will give us the go ahead to lift this condition. They may have some hoops for you to jump through, so please stay in constant contact with them.
This is your time to do all of your due diligence on the property. It is HIGHLY recommended that you hire a professional inspector to do a full inspection of the home. You can google some options or I’m happy to share a few companies I’ve worked with in the past, but who you use as your inspector is your decision. The inspector will climb into the attic, check the a/c, run all the faucets, check all the electrical and look for anything that is out of order.
They’ll then provide you with a full report that is often dozens of pages long — you want them to be thorough! They’ll point out everything that is in working order and everything that is not. Once the inspection is done, you’ll have an opportunity to ask the seller to repair or replace anything that isn’t working properly. Let it be noted, you cannot ask for things that are working properly to be repaired or replaced. If buyer and seller cannot come to an agreement during this due-diligence period, buyer has the opportunity to cancel the contract and receive a full refund of their deposit.
Once the inspection is complete the next condition to remove is the financing condition. Your lender will comb over your finances. They will calculate your debt to income and offer you a mortgage rate that could vary depending on your personal financial situation. You can either get your financing through a bank or you can visit a mortgage broker who will shop around to find the best rate for you.
It is important that you do not incur any extra debt during your home purchasing journey. No new furniture for the home, no new car for the driveway- save these purchases for AFTER you close on the home and move in! Some situations will require you to pay down some debt prior to being lent the money. Your mortgage specialist will walk you through all the intricate details of receiving a mortgage.
If you’re selling your current home in order to buy your new home, you’ll have this condition as well that needs to be fulfilled before your sale goes firm. We’ll go over all of these dates so you know exactly what is expected of you and the sell of your home.
When purchasing a Condominium, it is imperative that we review the Condo’s Documents. We want to ensure the condomium is in good standing, meaning there are no special levy’s or monies being owed by owners, and that the reserve fund is well stocked.
This occurs the day prior to close and is your chance to walk the home one last time to ensure that all of the repair requests have been completed and that the house is in the same condition as when you viewed it. It’s normal to see boxes stacked in the garage because sellers are moving too! If everything looks good, we wait for key release the next day. If an issue has arisen we speak to your lawyer and he can request a hold back to cover the costs of replacing or fixing that.
Possession Day’s process is a song and dance between your lawyer and the seller’s lawyer.
Your lawyer will draw funds from the mortgage lender first thing in the morning, send it to the seller's lawyer, and after that, they will go to register the title to you. The seller’s lawyer then contacts the seller’s agent, who calls me to ‘release keys’ to you. At this time, the property has officially transferred over and I will contact you to arrange a time to meet with the keys!
This final step has once happened as early as 9:30 a.m. but late afternoon would still be in the realm of ‘normal’. It is most common for it to be around noon. We always hope the music stops and the song is over earlier than later, but please be prepared it may go on late into the afternoon, and in very rare cases into the next day.
Our role in this process is to release keys to you only when the seller’s agent calls me. There is very little we can do but wait for that call. If you want updates throughout the day- please contact your lawyers office- they are the only ones with information on this progress.
I know this is about more than selling high and buying low and I can promise you that while there will be some bumps in the process, I'll be doing my best to help you avoid any delays or roadblocks. You can expect weekly phone calls with my trademark tell it like it is honesty & creative problem solving to get you where you want to go.
Ready to explore Alberta’s finest properties or looking to sell with unparalleled expertise? Contact Jacquelyn to arrange a private consultation and discover the strategic advantage she brings to high-end real estate.
