There are various allowable sources of down payment that you can use for your purchase.  Most lenders will use in some form each of them however some are on a case by case basis. Saved funds – must show 3 months worth of bank statements to prove the accumulation and if there are large deposits you must prove the source of those as well Investment/RRSP  – must prove the funds have been in the investment for at least 3 months and also show the withdrawal of the funds into your bank account Gifted Funds – must be from an immediate family member being a Mum, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa,…

When house shopping home buyers can usually come up with at least one thing they would change or renovate in a home. Many home buyers will buy a home and plan to do the renovations down the road. But what if they had the option to borrow the money with their mortgage and do the renovations right after they move in! This is actually an option. It is called the purchase plus improvements program. How it works is the lender will lend the mortgage amount based on the Improved value that the home would be worth AFTER the renovations are completed. For example if a family buys a…

Spring has Sprung and along with it is a Great Rate Price War! Which Lenders are doing it, how are they doing it, what are they doing, and Most Important how low are they. Not all lenders are the same and neither necessarily are their rates, products or promotions!!!  Now is the time to be using a Mortgage Broker who has access to every type of product and rate there is available.  And a caution, use a Personal Broker and Not the Online Rate Hubs that only offer a No Frills Basic Service!!!  May Be a great Rate, but????? Call Brenda and Jessica at Advance Mortgage for the…

There are many reasons why a person may be interested in buying a second home. Whether its for family to live in or vacation we have you covered. It is possible to buy a second home with as little as 5% down. The requirements to qualify are virtually the same as when buying your first home. An example of how buying a second home could work to your advantage is a family with college aged kids. A young adult goes off to college but needs reasonably priced accommodation while they attend school. As parents of this child and potentially the one paying for these accommodation a second home…

ALWAYS explore all your options prior to mortgage renewal. What is most important? When it comes to your mortgage renewal do not just believe that your current lender is offering you the most competitive rates. Many people want to keep it simple. Just get that off the list of things to do as quickly as possible. Rushing into your mortgage renewal could end up costing you thousands of dollars. Let us to do the research that saves you money. Homeowners should always check with a broker to find out what the current most competitive rates are prior to mortgage renewal. Our clients are amazed at the difference between…

The Federal Finance Minister Released in his March 19th Budget a New CMHC Program to assist New Home Buyers with their mortgage payments.  All of the detail have not been released yet however will be over the next few weeks.  This program is aimed at new home buyers to reduce their mortgage and therefore their monthly payments. How the  program is set to work is a home buyer will potentially receive 5%-10% of their purchase price in a “loan” applied to their mortgage at the onset of the purchase that reduces that mortgage amount.  Although it looks somewhat great it is limited to new home buyers, the 10%…

Introductory rate offers are not new, banks have offered them in the past however it has been quite some time since that type of special rate term was made available. The way it usually works is the lender will offer a low interest rate for your mortgage that will be lower than the best rate offered for a full five year term.  An example is usually for 6-9 months and then the rate will go up for the remainder of the term which is almost always based on 5 year mortgage term.  That interest rate for the remainder of the mortgage term is  higher than the best discount…

Qualifying for a mortgage has been tougher over the last few years for self employed people.  Over the years there has been an increase in the number of people deciding to go self employed for many reasons.  Maybe you feel more in control of your financial situation if you are looking after your own income your own way. Maybe it has to do with flexibility of hours, income type of work, whatever it is more are making that change.  The down side has been it is tougher to get a mortgage for buying your principal residence, revenue property, commercial property, second homes or for whatever real estate you…

Around 15% of the Canadian workforce is Self employed. Self employed borrowers have seen their fair share of struggles when it comes to trying to get a mortgage. What we are seeing now is CMHC , a Canadian Mortgage Insurance company, is changing up their self employed program to hopefully make things easier for this population of Borrowers. Some of these changes will include allowing for alternative options of verifying stability of the business and continuity of income for self employed borrowers with less than 24 months of business operation. Additionally they have made allowances to the different types of documentation required to prove self employed income. This…

As we all have learned Credit Scores are huge in determining if you can get a loan or mortgage.  Lenders have used this system for many years and the #1 agency used is Equifax.  There are a few others out there you can get access to to give you can idea of where you are at when the time comes to get a mortgage, financial loan, secured lines of credit and so on.  However the score you get when you pull your own bureau many times is much different that what we as mortgage brokers and the lenders get. So, why is that?  The inquiry you are doing…