Cabin Fever? Mortgaging for Recreation Properties

All across Canada we’re seeing the recreational property market continue to go through the cedarshingled roof. Industry experts predict another year in which buyers seeking a property may outnumber the recreational properties available. The boomers are in their peak income years and have benefited from an unprecedented climb in the valuations on their primary homes. [...]

Taking the Guesswork Out of Adjustable Rate Mortgages

Next to critiquing the decorating taste of your home’s previous owner, playing the “adjustable mortgage game” may rank as one of the most popular (and least pleasant) pastimes of Canadian homebuyers. Here’s how it works. As you’re exploring your mortgage options, you review the long and steady slide of mortgage rates in Canada over the [...]

What Lenders Look For: Good Credit Improves your Mortgage Negotiations

Contrary to what you may think, you don’t manage your credit applications and payments in a vacuum. Your credit behavior (as some have learned the hard way) is tracked by credit bureaus such as Equifax Canada and TransUnion of Canada. This information is tabulated, and then you are assigned a credit rating. It’s important for [...]

Homeowners are Taking Out Mortgages – not to Purchase a Home – But to Boost Their Purchasing Power

Real estate has been an outstanding investment in most parts of Canada in the past few years. Home valuations are continuing to rise and have broken through the peak of their 1989 “bubble” in many areas of the country. That’s good news for Canada’s 7.5 million home owners, who are enjoying an average increase of [...]

The Real Cost of your Cash-back Mortgage Option

If you look at the most stressful events in a person’s life, buying a home is on the top ten list. After all, it’s a big decision – both emotionally and financially. Many home buyers go through an anxious period after they’ve arranged for their mortgage and get ready to move into their new home. [...]

How to Use a Mortgage to Manage your Debt and Improve your Credit

What if there was such a thing as a magic card that you could carry with you, which had the power to open doors for you all over the world? You show someone your magic card and ‘voila’, you can have what you wish for. You would want to protect that card very carefully, wouldn’t [...]

If Mortgage Rates Can Fall Through the “floor” of the Prime Rate…what Else is Under the Floor?

“Lower than prime,” you heard someone say. Like most Canadians, you were probably first skeptical and then confused. We tend to think of the prime lending rate as the invisible “floor” of lending rates. The very best customers can get very close to that floor. It is theoretically possible, we reason, to actually be ON [...]

Make a Mortgage Broker Part of your Financial Plan

For most Canadians, buying a home is the largest financial decision they will make in their lifetime. Yet, consumers across the country are more likely to painstakingly review dozens of investment possibilities for their portfolios than to scrutinize their mortgage choices. The mortgage world – like the investment world – can sometimes be confusing. There [...]

Fixed or Variable-rate Mortgage?

“Wow!” you say to your spouse as you hit the brakes on the car. “Did you see the mortgage rate those guys are advertising?” Your worries are over, you’re thinking. Just lock in a rate like that for the next ten years, and you’ve got it made. Not so fast. That rate may not be [...]

7 Reasons to Use a Mortgage Broker

For many people, mortgage payments are their single largest expense. Yet, when financing a home, most Canadians don’t comparison shop to ensure they’re getting the best mortgage rate and terms available. This mistake can cost homeowners tens of thousands of dollars over the course of their mortgage. Here are seven ways mortgage brokers can help:Access [...]