Q: How can I avoid paying too much for my home?

A: This is a great question and I wouldn't recommend you enter into any Real Estate transaction unless you're satisfied that you're paying fair market value for the property. The answer to how you can avoid paying too much comes down to ensuring you have professional representation as a home buyer.

Buying Real Estate is a learning process, whether it's your first home or not. One of the services I provide my clients is ensuring they are up to speed on the current market conditions and trends. My philosophy is that if I have any information or knowledge that will be important to you in a transaction I make sure this information is available for you to benefit from.

One specific way in which you can ensure you don't over-pay for a property is to ask your agent to complete a comparative market analysis of the home you're considering making an offer on - this is a service I provide to all of my buyer clients. This should include records of recent sales of similar homes (in the same neighborhood with similar features and characteristics). By analyzing what other buyer's were willing to pay and other seller's were willing to accept you can be confident that you're paying a fair price for your home. Sellers control the prices in the marketplace but the market value of a home is not established until a seller agrees to accept a price and a buyer agrees to pay it.

Remember, you'll be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars - usually involving some borrowed money. Having accurate market knowledge and information is crucial under any market conditions, and another important reason to ensure that you are represented by an agent who is working for you as a home buyer. Under Alberta Real Estate law, you have the right to be informed about who an agent is representing in a transaction. Make sure you understand, and are comfortable with the level of representation you have.