First Time Home Buyers
Buying your first home can be a confusing time—at Shimona & Associates, we make it easy. We’re here to get you the best rates and help navigate you through this brand new experience, all while educating you along the way.
When you make the decision to buy your first home, you need to have a solid understanding of your mortgage financing options before you start looking at properties. There are different mortgage projects and programs that can help you get into the market—and more are being introduced all the time.
You need to ask yourself how much you can reasonably afford and take the step to get pre- approved. At Shimona & Associates, we handle all the details. Once you are pre-approved, you will know your price range for properties, as well as what interest rate you can secure for a set period, usually 90 to 120 days (“mortgage rate-hold” period).
A key hurdle for most first-time homebuyers is saving up for a down payment, normally at least 5% of the value of the property. If your down payment is below 20% of the purchase price of the property, “high ratio” mortgage insurance fees are added on top of the mortgage amount.