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First time home buying process: Step by step guide to buying a home - YouTube
Channel: Homebuyer's School
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In this video we'll look at the
step-by-step process of buying a house for
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the first time, and how long does it take?
That's starting right now.
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Welcome to Homebuyer's School,
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brought to you by Brookfield Residential.
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– Hi everyone I'm Karl,
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welcome to another Homebuyer's School
video, a channel where you get the latest
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strategy tactics and tips from home
buying experts, and remember if this is
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your first time on this channel and you
want to get a latest strategies from the
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experts, hit the subscription button
below, hit the little notification bell
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so you don't miss anything. So today I'm
joined by Kevin French, realtor with
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Re/max Realty, and the question we're
gonna answer today is, what is the first
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time home buying process in 2019?
So Kevin, today if I was a first-time
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homebuyer, what is the steps I would need
to take on the path to homeownership?
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– First step is going to be
meet with a lender and understand your
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affordability. So what range you're
shopping within. Then you're going
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to want to start looking at you—probably
already have an idea of the areas that
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you want to live in, and then it would be
good to understand those areas more
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through whether it's a brand new home
and you're looking at the new build
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options in the area or if you're meeting
with a real estate agent and then going
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to discuss you know, what your options
are and then what your needs are with
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them, and then they'll be able to narrow
things down from there.
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– So first of all we got obviously,
your financing, right—
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and again if you want to know more
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about mortgage approval process, check
out our playlist here in the description
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below—and the second thing in terms of
is area. So when you're looking at an
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area, what are some things that you want
to keep in mind?
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– It depends on the person
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and what their needs are but most
important is going to be amenities, or
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the amenities there or the amenities
coming, how far do you want to be away
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from them, how close do you want to be to
them. Schools, if that's important, if the
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homebuyer has children—and then
access to main roads—access to whatever
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routes they're going to take on a daily
basis—and then lake communities, having
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community with an HOA fee. A lot of the
more inner-city communities don't have
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HOA fees, that's because they weren't
really a thing back when they were
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developed, however now having a
homeowner's association and then having
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a yearly fee allows for your
community to have a lot
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of added green space that the
City of Calgary is not going to take
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care of, or added amenities such as a
recreation centre, maybe a pool. Some
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communities of course have a lake which
would be included in there. So those are
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yearly fees, they typically range from
one hundred and fifty to five hundred
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dollars which actually add a lot of value for
a once a year—for a one-time payment.
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– And if you want to know more about
HOA fees, check out our video above and
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in the description below. So once you've
actually selected an area, and then now
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you mentioned new versus previously
owned homes, is there a way to
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think about should you buy new versus
should you buy previously used?
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– I would say firstly depends on the person.
If you're a person who's nervous about
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unknown expenses or having to replace a
roof, replace a furnace, a hot water tank,
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those are things that are more common
obviously in a resale property.
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And then if you're purchasing
brand new you get the comfort of having
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everything new of course, and then having
the benefits of a new home warranty plus
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a builder warranty that's going to be
included with that. And then you're going
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to want to make sure that you're
purchasing with a reputable builder that
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stands by their warranty in their product.
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– Let's say you've actually selected a
home whether it's new or previously
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owned. What are the next steps after that?
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– Once you've—some people
are more comfortable having a
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property inspection on a new home as
well, but obviously on a resale I'd
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recommended having an home inspection
and then from there you go through the
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property. It's important to have a real
estate agent that has a critical eye and
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it's important for the buyer to be
critical themselves. It's easy to walk
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into a home and love the vaulted ceiling
or love that it has a big garage or love
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that it has a nice ensuite, but the
reality is is that once you get past all
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of the nice-to-haves
you should look at the negatives in the
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property as well, and kind of be more
critical so that you understand what
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you're getting yourself into.
For example, the renovations that were
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done professionally versus renovations
that we're done by the homeowner who is
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obviously not a contractor, not
qualified to do them, and then other
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things such as you know, do the exterior of
the property and how the land is sloped,
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and is the foundationg going to
have issues. Most of these
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items are covered with the home
inspector but it's important to know
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what you're getting yourself into so you
can feel sound in the purchase in the end.
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– And if you were to purchase a brand new
home, what are some of the things in
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terms of upgrades that you would be
thinking of - because I'm sure the home
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builders would probably want you to you
know, include a whole bunch of other
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things and whether you could afford it
or not right?
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– Yeah in 2009 when it was difficult to
sell homes, builders started to include a
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lot of the things that were then
considered luxuries because you would
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pay extra for you know, hard surface
floor, and you'd pay extra for granite or
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stone countertops, whether it be quartz,
granite or other, and tile flooring,
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things like that. In 2009 when it was
more difficult to sell homes, those
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things started to get thrown in as a
bonus to incentivize people to buy homes.
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Ever since then, in newer communities
it's almost become the standard.
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So having hard surfaced flooring in the
main areas, whether it's laminate, luxury
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vinyl plank or hardwood, having tile in
the entryways and in the bathrooms, and
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then having stone at least in the
kitchen at the bare minimum and then
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throughout the rest of the home is key.
From there I would be careful with what
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you spend your money upgrading if you
wanted to do knock down ceiling versus
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popcorn, it's not going to get you more
money in the end when you go to sell
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your property. Those are nice-to-haves.
Hot water on demand, paying to have the
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landscaping above and beyond just sod
depends on of course the price point of
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the property, but typically there's a lot
of things that you can spend money on.
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You should know going into it that
you're spending it for your own use and
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not for a resale return when you
ultimately sell the property.
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– So once you've actually selected a home,
done the property inspection or inspected
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it yourself, gone through the positive,
negatives, and you want to make let's say
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the offer on the house,
what are the steps after that?
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– So you would typically be
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working with an agent. The agent will go
through the—should go through the
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comparable sales with you so you have a
better understanding of what
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properties in the area that are
comparable are selling for don't so that
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you can understand that this is a
reasonable price to offer. They would
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typically advise you on what to offer
and then you'd have a few conditions.
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Typically financing and property
inspection there might be special
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conditions if you're purchasing a condo
that the pet is approved,
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or multiple pets, or if you're
purchasing, and then any condo typically
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you would have a condo document review
as well—and newer homes that's a pretty
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straightforward because they're
typically in many documents to review
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except for the bylaws, but if you're
purchasing a resale one you're certainly
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going to want to know that, understand the
financial health of the building to make
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sure that there's no upcoming special
assessments or surprises—and then to
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make sure that you know what's planned
for the building – are there windows being
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replaced, is deciding getting repainted,
things like that they're going to impact
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how you live in the building.
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– And then so, what is this
step to actually once
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you've made your, I guess your offer, what
are the steps after that?
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– Once the offer is made, hopefully
accepted, then you'd have a conditional
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period which is typically about 10 days. In
that time if you're purchasing a condo,
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the seller would provide you with the
condo documents typically. Unless it's
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foreclosure and then they would you
would get the condo documents reviewed
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by a professional reviewer, unless you're
comfortable reviewing it yourself, and
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then we'd have the financing condition.
So as soon as the offer's accepted, that
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would be sent to the lender and then
they would get working on the file, and
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then during that ten day period you
would also do your home inspection.
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You'd get a report from the inspector and
then if you're comfortable with that and the
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document review, and you do have
financial approval, then you're good to
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waive conditions and it's your home.
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– Is there a place in there for any legal—
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like, do you have to hire a lawyer
when you buy a house?
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– You can hire a
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lawyer and have a lawyer review the
purchase agreement in the documents.
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Typically if you're purchasing a
single-family home or bare land condo,
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it would come with a real property
report. You can get that, you can ask for
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that or request that ahead of time
during that conditional period to have
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your lawyer review it and make sure that
the land is exactly what you're
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purchasing, but a lot of people often
not go that route understanding that
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it's a relatively straightforward
process and the contracts do protect them.
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– Okay, and then from there—so we went
pretty much through the entire process
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of buying a home. How how long does it
normally take to do that?
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– That depends on the buyer.
Some buyers understand and know exactly
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what they want and they purchase pretty
quickly after they start the shopping
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experience. I would say on average it's
anywhere from two to four months. Some
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buyers take a couple years or even
longer than that, making sure that they get
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exactly what they want. Or they're
looking for a specific property that
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doesn't come on the market often, but
if you are purchasing and within that
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two to four month time frame, I think
it's important to look at more options
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than less because when you move into the
property and you ultimately take
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possession, you want to make sure that
you're comfortable with in the end. You
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never want to have buyer's remorse and
feel that you didn't see another option
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that may have worked better for you, and
the more that you see the more that you
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become an expert yourself in the market,
and the more you understand that it is
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the right purchase when you ultimately
do make it.
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– All right. Do you have anything else to
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add in terms of the actual
first time home buying process?
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– Iwould encourage people to understand
lifestyle is probably the most important
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thing to them and not give up
anything—sorry, give up other things
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such as a nicer home or a home that's
slightly larger to get exactly what they
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want. If commuting to work and having
people over and entertaining is key, then
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find a place that has a shorter commute
to work and it has a nice entertainment
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area—but perhaps maybe the
basement is unfinished or maybe it's a
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smaller home overall. Ultimately I think
you should choose what fits your
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lifestyle. Not what not what fits the
larger home or the nice finishes.
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– Great. So the question of the day I have
for you is – what part of the home buying
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process, whether you heard it today or
your experience, did you find most
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challenging and why? Let us know in the
comment section below.
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And if you want know more first-time
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homebuyer tips, watch this video here as
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well as other home buying videos
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right here. And don't forget to hit the
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subscribe button to learn more from the
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experts. Thank you for watching and
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we'll catch you at our next video.
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