Improving Your Credit Score
Along with employment stability, and downpayment/equity, your credit score and how you manage your credit is a huge factor in qualifying for a mortgage. If you want the best interest rates available on the market, the higher your credit score the better. However, if...
Should I Get A Mortgage Pre-Approval?
Should I get a Mortgage Pre Approval? Going through the pre-approval process is important. However, the actual term ‘pre-approval’ is often misunderstood. It’s not magic, and it’s certainly not binding. Let’s be clear, a pre-approval isn’t for the lender; it’s for...
4 Ways Alternative Lending Beats Traditional Bank Financing
Alternative lending refers to lending practices that fall outside the normal banking channels. These are lenders that think outside the box and offer lending solutions to Canadians who wouldn’t otherwise qualify for traditional bank products. Although we all like to...
Can’t Find the Perfect Property In Your Price Range?
You're pre-approved for a mortgage, you've been shopping with location in mind, but unfortunately the perfect property isn't jumping out at you. There is no doubt about it, finding the perfect property (within your price range) is a difficult task, especially for...
Mortgage Post Bankruptcy
This should come as no surprise, but sometimes life throws you a financial curveball. Bankruptcy and consumer proposals happen. It doesn't mean your life is over, and it doesn't mean you won't ever qualify for a mortgage again. The key here is to get a plan in place...
How to Not Qualify for a Mortgage
If you have no desire at all to qualify for a mortgage, here are some great ways to make sure you don't accidentally end up buying a house and taking out a mortgage to do so. One of the best ways to ensure you won't qualify for a mortgage is to be unemployed. Yep,...
What You Should Know About the Government’s New FTHB Incentive
Launched on September 2nd 2019, the first time home buyer’s incentive is designed to help qualified first time home buyers reduce their monthly expenses. The goal is to make housing more affordable. The government of Canada has set aside $241M for the program and has...
Bank of Canada Rate Announcement Sept 4th, 2019
The Bank of Canada today maintained its target for the overnight rate at 1 ¾ percent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 2 percent and the deposit rate is 1 ½ percent. As the US-China trade conflict has escalated, world trade has contracted and business investment has...
A Conversation About Mortgage Pre-approvals
Thinking of buying a property, but don't know where to start? Well... that's where a mortgage pre-approval comes in. Start here. Just like you wouldn't go into a restaurant without having enough money to buy your meal, so you shouldn't start shopping for a home...
Costs Associated with Buying a Property
So you want to buy a property, that’s great! Make sure you have your wallet ready to bring to the table. In addition to the downpayment, there are many other costs associated with purchasing a home; typically, these are called closing costs. Your closing costs...
Protecting Your Credit Through a Divorce
No secret here, divorces are challenging, there are a lot of things to think about in a short amount of time. Although finances are often at the forefront of the discussions as it relates to the separation of assets, managing and maintaining personal credit can be...
Planning Ahead, A Guide to Mortgage Documentation
It doesn’t matter if you are looking to purchase your first home, your next home, or your twentieth home; typically the mortgage documentation required to secure financing will be the same. The earlier on in the process you can collect these documents, and provide...
Why The Property Matters
When looking to qualify for a mortgage, typically a lender will want to review four main areas of your mortgage application. Income, credit, downpayment/equity and the property itself. Assuming you have a great job, excellent credit, and sufficient money in the bank...
Are Lenders Obligated to Renew Mortgages?
It's a common held belief that if you've made your mortgage payments on time throughout the entirety of your mortgage term, that your lender is somehow obligated to renew your mortgage. This is simply not the case. The truth is, a lender is never under any obligation...
The Interest-Only Mortgage
Relatively self-explanatory, an interest-only mortgage is one where your entire mortgage payment goes to interest and does not pay down the principal mortgage amount at all. So at the end of your term, you will owe the same amount as when you got your mortgage. So you...
Minimum Required Credit Profile
Credit. The ability of a customer to obtain goods or services before payment, based on the trust that payment will be made in the future. When you borrow money to buy a house, you will be required to prove that you have a good history of managing your credit. But what...
Bank of Canada Rate Announcement July 10th, 2019
The Bank of Canada today maintained its target for the overnight rate at 1 ¾ percent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 2 percent and the deposit rate is 1 ½ percent. Evidence has been accumulating that ongoing trade tensions are having a material effect on the global...