A service
Buy a house with someone who checks the furnace first
I work with a small number of buyers at a time in Vaughan, Brampton and Richmond Hill. We start with the bank, not the listings, and I walk every house before I let you fall for it.
The first meeting is about money, not houses. You bring your pre-approval or we talk about how to get one, and I walk you through the closing costs people forget: land transfer tax, legal fees, title insurance, adjustments. Then we set the search. I would rather you see eight houses that fit than forty that do not.
At showings, you look at the layout and the light. I look at what I spent eight years looking at on job sites: the furnace label, the panel, the attic hatch, the grading, the window seals, the basement floor. I will tell you what I see on the sidewalk afterwards, in plain words, and I will tell you when I think a house is not worth an offer. Some of the most useful work I do for buyers is talking them out of a house.
When we offer, we offer with the conditions you need: financing, inspection, and a status certificate review for a condo. There are houses where a clean offer wins, and we will talk about that honestly, but I will not let you waive an inspection on a house I have not walked myself. Once the offer is accepted the deposit is due within 24 hours, conditions are cleared, and your lawyer takes it to closing.
How it goes, step by step.
Pre-approval
Before we book a single showing, you have a pre-approval in hand or a mortgage broker on the phone. It sets the search and it makes your offer real.
The search
We set the MLS search together the day we meet. I add my notes to every listing that comes through so you do not drive to houses that will not work.
Showings
Usually three or four in an afternoon, close together. You take the rooms. I take the mechanicals, the basement and the outside, and we compare notes on the sidewalk.
The offer
Drafted with you at the table, with financing and inspection conditions unless we have a written reason not to. I pull the comparable sales so the number is yours, not the seller's.
Conditions
The inspector you choose, the lender's appraisal, the status certificate review if it is a condo. Deposit within 24 hours of acceptance.
Closing
Your lawyer handles title, funds and keys. Closing is usually 30 to 90 days after the firm deal. I do a final walk with you before the keys change hands.
What is included
- A first meeting on budget, pre-approval and real closing costs
- An MLS search with my notes on every listing
- Showings where I inspect while you look
- Comparable sales for every offer we write
- Offers with the conditions you need, drafted with you
- Recommended inspector and lawyer, both optional
What it costs
In most GTA sales the buyer's side of the commission, commonly about 2 to 2.5 percent of the sale price plus 13 percent HST, is paid from the seller's proceeds; it is negotiable, and I put what I am paid in writing in the buyer representation agreement before we see a house.
Adrian Marchetti, Sales Representative | Brightmere Realty Inc., Brokerage
Straight answers
Do I pay you as a buyer?
In most sales my fee is paid out of the seller's proceeds at closing. How much, and what happens if a listing offers less, is set out in writing in the buyer representation agreement before we start. Ask me anything about it on the first call.
Will you tell me to waive the inspection to win?
No. If you want to go in without an inspection condition on a house I have walked myself and feel good about, we can talk about it. On a house I have not walked, I will not do it.
How many houses will we see?
Fewer than you expect. With a proper search and my notes, most buyers see six to twelve houses before they offer. If we are past twenty, the search is wrong and we fix the search.
Do you work with first-time buyers?
Yes, and I spend more time on the first meeting with them. Land transfer tax, the deposit, what a status certificate is, what a condition actually does. Nobody should learn those at the offer table.
Start with a 20 minute call
Tell me the street and what you are thinking. I will tell you what the comparable sales say, even if it is not what you hoped. No obligation, and I will not call you again unless you ask me to.