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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…

The BoC recently released a document detailing what it believes to be a positive report on the Canadian Mortgage Market, but this article clearly shows how out of touch our government is. The BoC is applauding their statistics… yet, these numbers show that the government appears to be measuring affordability as a multiple of one’s income – and not by the proven, standard method of debt servicing ratios. This is very odd and, quite frankly, I find it absurd. So, the BoC is saying consumers who borrower above 450% of their annual salary are more prone to default or financial hardship should interest rates rise. They use 250%…

We believe everyone who has a mortgage that will be renewing in the next year or so should absolutely be asking this question. Yes early renewal can mean a penalty but waiting can mean higher interest rates. So what do you do? Seek our assistance and we can go over your specific situation to find out if it makes sense for you to break your term and take advantage of today’s interest rates. Below are examples of both fixed and variable rate terms that can help you see the benefit to early renewal. Remember that these are just estimates however our clients that have opted to pay a…

With all the doom and gloom out there these days i think it is time to re look at things and see there really are some positives as well.  Mortgage rates are low, first time home buyers can still purchase with 5% down payment and in fact all can as long as it is your principal residence.  We can find lenders to fund on construction mortgages, bare land loans, privates lenders, B lenders, acreage financing, renewals for when you mortgage is up for renewal or even earlier, second home purchases and much more.  yes the lenders have gotten tougher due to the stricter lending rules however we are…

We have all heard about the GDP however do we know what is or for that matter what it stands for?  GDP stand for Gross Domestic Product and is used to gauge the health of a specific region.  It is the total dollar value of the regions goods and services. GDP is calculated by adding up what everyone earned during a specific and time and what they spent.  These two should add up to about the same for that time frame.  It is the total dollar value of everything produced as well.  It is very important to know what the GDP is for the time frame in question…

With interest rates consistently climbing there is a lot of talk about the cost of borrowing. Although interest rates have gone up and seem to be continuing in that direction rates are still quite good! It is still a great time to buy. As an example back in January of this year you would have been able to get a 5 year closed term at 2.99% currently you are looking at around 3.44% for the same term. On a $300000 mortgage back in January your monthly payment would have been approximately $1410. At today’s rate the same mortgage comes with a payment of $1474 per month. So really…

There are many ads out there right now that are telling people to get Instantly Pre-Approved anytime, any day!!!  BEWARE, those ads are very misleading and can be very frustrating as well when you do to buy a house and find out the pre approval you have was just a pre qualification based on no information supplied to back up your application. A real pre-approval, or at least as best as you can really get if you have not placed an offer yet, is based on supplying the income documentation that will back-up your income type and also a credit check is done.  From that a Mortgage Broker…