Latest news with #firsttimehomebuyer
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
How long does it take to buy a house?
You may have been waiting a long time to buy a house. Your income is solid; you've gotten your credit in shape and saved for the down payment. All the hard stuff, right? Now that you're ready to jump in, how long does it take to buy a house? Yahoo Finance estimates that buying a house can take anywhere from four months to nearly seven months. That's a pretty big range. But check out the timeline below, make adjustments for what you've already taken care of, and you'll have a good idea of where you are and how much longer it might take. Questo contenuto incorporato non è disponibile nella tua area geografica. Read more: First-time home buyer in 2025 — What you need to know You'll want to talk to lenders before you start house hunting. Shopping for a mortgage lender is one of the most significant steps in buying a house. The goal is to find the best mortgage lender with the lowest fees and most favorable interest rate. It is really a two-step process, beginning with a mortgage preapproval. Ask for a Loan Estimate from each lender. It details expected loan terms, including the monthly payment and closing costs. It is not an official loan approval but can be a shopping tool to help you decide on the best lender. It's a good idea to limit all your lender shopping to 45 days or less so that any multiple credit inquiries made by the lenders will have less impact on your credit score. Once you narrow down your contenders to your favorite two or three, get a written preapproval from one of them — then start your home search. The second stage of your lender competition will come after you have a buy-sell agreement in hand. That's when you'll get your lender finalists to fine-tune their offers and choose the provider with the best terms before submitting an official loan application. Read more: How to get the lowest mortgage rates You may think all you have to do is contact the real estate agent on the for-sale sign of the house you're interested in. However, that agent represents the seller, not you. Instead, you'll want to interview and select a good buyer's agent to guide you through the search-and-offer process. Talk to two or three and find a knowledgeable, responsive agent who stands out as a savvy negotiator. Have questions about buying, owning, or selling a house? Submit your question to Yahoo's panel of Realtors using this Google form. According to 2023 National Association of Realtors research, before making an offer, home buyers looked at more than a half-dozen homes, plus researched houses online, during an average 10-week period. If you've been thinking about buying a house, it's likely that you have already dedicated a big chunk of time to this. Making an offer on a house can be quick and simple — or protracted and complicated. A lot depends on the supply and demand of your local housing market. You may have to submit an offer to the seller and negotiate a couple of counteroffers until you get a final agreement. Deftly handling these negotiations is when your real estate agent can really earn their commission. Now that you have a signed purchase agreement, it's time to revisit your lending finalists and see which is willing to improve their loan offer. Your final choice may or may not be the lender who gave you the preapproval. Learn more: 6 steps to choosing a mortgage lender After choosing the lender you want, you'll submit an application, and the underwriting process will begin. The lender will likely ask for additional documentation and have questions regarding your submitted paperwork. The loan decision can take three or four weeks, with another week or so until closing. In the meantime, you'll be busy setting up and getting the results of a home inspection, preparing to move, nailing down homeowners insurance, and getting the results of the home value appraisal. Three days before signing the paperwork, you'll receive a Closing Disclosure with a final tally of all the mortgage numbers. Before closing day, you'll conduct a final walk-through of the home to be sure any requested repairs or upgrades have been completed — or to ensure the home's condition hasn't changed. Closing on the house will be an hour or two in a closing agent's office or a virtual signing session. The fastest you can close on a house is usually 30 days. You might close even sooner if you're buying in all cash or waiving common contingencies that could eat up time. The closing process will likely take 30 to 45 days. But the house-buying process is more than just closing — from getting preapproved to shopping for houses to getting the keys to your new place, it could take several months. Once your offer is accepted, closing on a house typically takes 30 to 45 days (though this process can take less or more time depending on various factors). After your offer comes the home appraisal, inspection, and underwriting process. It could also take longer if you need to negotiate with the seller about closing contingencies or seller credits.
CBS News
10 hours ago
- Business
- CBS News
Chicago company manufactures new homes, makes home ownership more affordable
Affordable housing is a topic about which politicians talk a lot, but now, a Chicago architect is actually putting hammer to nail to make home ownership possible for more people. Tim Swanson, founder of Inherent Homes, has found a way to keep costs down for both his company and families. An excited Dominque Ward recently documented a moving day like no other into her new residence. The first-time homebuyer's house was assembled right before her eyes in just hours. "Once you put it down on the foundation, like everything's in it," Ward said. "All the appliances came with it." The mom of two has joined a growing group of first-time homebuyers able to purchase new construction in Chicago. Such a thing does not come cheap anywhere in the city. "I never wanted to leave the West Side," Ward said. "I knew property was getting really expensive over here." New homes near Ward's West Side neighborhood could cost half a million or more. Ward paid closer to $275,000. "For people like myself — single parent just trying to raise your kid and survive the world — it's a great opportunity," Ward said. It was an opportunity that opened up thanks to Inherent Homes. The Chicago-based company's mission is to make home ownership less of a sky-high goal by lowering the cost of building. The first step is finding cheap land. Inherent Homes are planted on vacant city lots, and purchased for as little as $1. "Finding ways to keep our costs down can meet more families where they're at," Swanson said as CBS News Chicago visited him at the Inherent Homes warehouse in Lawndale. He said keeping the process of manufacturing the homes indoors removes weather delays from the equation. "We have six homes here that are not getting wet, which means they're not drying, which means we're not wasting a week to get back into the home," said Swanson, "so that's an important part of it." He said they can go from raw material to framed interior ready for a rough inspection in two and a half to three weeks. Add another month and change tiling, paint, and other homey finishes. "So, from there to there is eight weeks total," Swanson said, "and we joke all the time, we wish it were faster." Trimming the time cuts labor costs and keeps interest at bay. Swanson said buying materials in bulk helps the budget too. When the homes are ready, they're squeezed out the door of the manufacturing facility. "It costs us just about $350,000, $370,000 to build a home, and then we sell them, unsubsidized, for $395,000," Swanson said. Purchase price on paper is usually lower thanks to various financial incentives. One example is the city's Building Neighborhoods and Affordable Homes Program, which doles out forgivable loans to homebuyers that transform trash-collecting lots and bring them back on Chicago's tax roll. Inherent Homes intentionally picks vacant land so customers can qualify. Because Ward's lot used to be a weedy empty space, she was able to save $100,000 off her mortgage. "Once I found out about these types of programs is when is when I went ahead and pulled the trigger," said Ward. "I was able to show my girls that anything is possible. It's an amazing feeling." CBS News Chicago asked Swanson why more people and companies aren't doing what Inherent Homes is. "It takes a level of insanity to work through the machinations," he said. Swanson said he would happily share his secret sauce with other builders to create more moments like the one Ward celebrated as she saw her finished new home.
CTV News
11-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Ottawa's GST rebate on new homes would save typical 1st-time buyer $27K: PBO
Houses for sale in a new subdivision in Airdrie, Alta., on Friday, Jan. 28, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh OTTAWA — The parliamentary budget officer says Ottawa's plan to slash the sales tax on housing would save an eligible first-time homebuyer an average of roughly $27,000 off the price of a newly built home. The federal government's fiscal watchdog predicts in a new analysis that a little over 71,000 new builds will quality for GST relief over the lifetime of the program. The proposal would see the federal portion of the sales tax eliminated on a new home worth up to $1 million if it's bought by a qualifying first-time homebuyer. The GST rebate would be phased down as the price of the home approaches $1.5 million. The PBO forecasts the program will cost $1.9 billion over six years, while the federal government has pegged the price tag closer to $3.9 billion. The GST rebate, which is not yet law, was included in the Liberals' spring election platform as a way to help Canadians break into the housing market. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025. Craig Lord, The Canadian Press
CTV News
11-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Ottawa's GST rebate on new homes would save typical 1st-time buyer $27K: PBO
Houses for sale in a new subdivision in Airdrie, Alta., on Friday, Jan. 28, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh OTTAWA — The parliamentary budget officer says Ottawa's plan to slash the sales tax on housing would save an eligible first-time homebuyer an average of roughly $27,000 off the price of a newly built home. The federal government's fiscal watchdog predicts in a new analysis that a little over 71,000 new builds will quality for GST relief over the lifetime of the program. The proposal would see the federal portion of the sales tax eliminated on a new home worth up to $1 million if it's bought by a qualifying first-time homebuyer. The GST rebate would be phased down as the price of the home approaches $1.5 million. The PBO forecasts the program will cost $1.9 billion over six years, while the federal government has pegged the price tag closer to $3.9 billion. The GST rebate, which is not yet law, was included in the Liberals' spring election platform as a way to help Canadians break into the housing market. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025. Craig Lord, The Canadian Press
National Post
11-06-2025
- Business
- National Post
The federal government's GST/HST legislation must meet the needs of the GTA housing market
A few weeks ago, the federal government tabled its proposed GST/HST reduction measures on new homes. Unfortunately, like many federal housing policies, the proposal to exempt first-time new home buyers from the GST for homes under $1 million and provide a declining exemption to homes for $1.5 million does not recognize the realities of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and will have little impact on housing supply and affordability in this region. Article content Article content The fact that the government is proposing even this limited measure is a tacit acknowledgement that the tax, along with the other myriad of government fees and taxes heaped onto new homes, is now one of the barriers to affordability. This is compounded by the failure to keep structural mechanisms, such as the GST/HST new housing rebate program current to market property values. That said, the current federal proposal is lacking in many ways. Article content Article content First, is the comparatively small number of new home buyers who are first-time buyers in the GTA. While the number may be higher in other jurisdictions, in the GTA, estimates of first-time buyers as buyers of new homes are between five and 10 per cent. Recognizing that resale homes do not attach GST/HST means that the total number of people who would benefit in the GTA ranges between 1,500 and 3,000 in an average year, and a paltry 500 to 1,000 people based on 2024 annual sales. In a metropolitan area that represents 20 per cent of the Canadian population — and is one of the fastest growing regions in North American — this is a symbolic drop in the bucket. Article content Second, the dollar figures used are geographically biased. While $1 million will buy a very well-heeled detached single-family home in almost every other part of Canada, except the GTA and the lower mainland of B.C., the average price for a new condominium in the GTA in April was $1,019,120 and $1,530,126 for a single-family home (including townhomes, semis and detached). So, while a purchaser in Ottawa can buy a fully detached single-family home in the mid-$800,000s and pay no GST, a comparable product in the GTA would cost in excess of $1.5 million and attract nearly $70,000 in GST. And before you say, 'but salaries in the GTA are higher,' the average annual household income in Ottawa is $125,700 and in the GTHA it is $129,000. By selecting dollar thresholds that are not reflective of high-property value jurisdictions, the federal government is basically ignoring the regions where the need is the greatest. Article content Last, when the GST was introduced, it had a corresponding rebate program that applied to 95 per cent of purchasers so that it would 'not pose a barrier to the affordability of new housing in Canada (page 21).' Now, with properly values effectively excluding anyone in the GTA from a GST rebate, and such a narrow federal proposal, effectively 90 to 95 per cent of homes are subject to the GST and receive zero rebate. This means less incentive to move up in new housing as families grow and expand, or down in new housing as seniors age and look to downsize, limiting mobility within existing housing stock and impeding the addition of appropriately sized new supply.
