Can I make improvements to a home I want to buy?
I think this is an important question because I think lots of people when their shopping for homes, finding homes that they like.they’re in the right area, close to the right schools whatever it might be..but they aren’t sure they quite like some of the things in the home, and they then may pass on that the home. Well the answer is that you can buy the home and then make those improvements that you want to make to make the home more comfortable for you. But there’s some very important things that you need to know.
The first option, and the one that most people use, is to hire a professional contractor to do those improvements for you. If you’re going to add it to the mortgage, that will be a stipulation.unless.you can prove that you have the necessary skills to perform the kind of renovations that you’re doing. If you happen to work in an office.and you want to do the plumbing in your home, likely not going to get approved. But if you’re in the construction business, it’s probably likely that you could be approved to do it yourself.
The other thing that you need to understand is, you’re going to have to get quotes from the contractors which means that those people are going to have to come into the home prior to your financing condition removal date. Which means that you need to add more time to your standard financing condition removal date. This is something that will often get missed, BUT imagine the scenario that you haven’t had time to get your contractor into the home for a 20 thousand dollar renovation, you remove financing conditions..and then the contractor comes in and for whatever reason the renovation is not approved. And now you’re stuck with the home and not being able to do the renovation. It’s really really important.
I think another thing of importance to note is that there’s a few extra fees and inspections and things that have to happen..so you need budget for those types of things.
Another option you might want to consider, particularly if it happens to be a smaller renovation, there are cash back mortgages available. And there is also the idea that instead of putting 10 or 15 percent down if that was your original plan, you could consider putting less money down, and taking some of your own cash and investing that into the renovation.
This is really important where you sit down with a mortgage professional to run all of those scenarios for you, so that you can see the one that makes the most financial sense.
Thanks for watching.
Other Related Information
What Is The Inflation Hedge Mortgage Strategy?
Monthly Commentary
Top Mortgage Broker Burnaby