Don’t be caught in the ‘portability trap’.  Short Version: The most important question a home-seller must ask their Broker or their banker this Spring: ‘Do I QUALIFY to port my mortgage?’ You must re-qualify to port your mortgage to a new property, and you must re-qualify under stringent new rules. How stringent? Long Version: Let’s […]

Educate yourself before purchasing a unique home. Recently one of the former members of the boy band New Kids on the Block expressed an interest in buying this lighthouse off the coast of Virginia in the U.S. Unique homes can be a lot of fun to own and to live in. However, there are some […]

Take advantage of the equity in your home with a HELOC! A HELOC, or, Home Equity Line of Credit, can be one of the greatest gifts you give yourself. Borrowing money against your home as you accumulate equity through a shrinking mortgage or an increasing property value- something almost many people in the Vancouver and Toronto markets […]

Be sure to choose your realtor wisely after all purchasing a home is one of the largest purchases you will make in your lifetime. Finding the best realtor for you involves doing some leg work. It can be overwhelming, kind of like choosing which ice cream you want to try! You go to the ice […]

Please read this important article if you own properties that you are not the primary resident of (not living there for more than 6 months of the year) or properties that are not being occupied by a tenant when the property owner is not there. On Monday, the provincial government announced it is making some […]

Here is a great article if you are looking to refinance!  We sprung forward last earlier this month by changing our clocks one hour ahead. For some, their microwave and oven clocks are once again displaying the correct time since the last time we needed to adjust our clocks (in the Fall). Patience is a […]

HISTORY OF MORTGAGE CHANGES The mortgage industry seems to be ever-changing. What was applicable one day seems to no longer apply to the next and at times, it can be confusing to navigate through what all of these changes mean–and how they impact you directly. As Mortgage Brokers, we firmly do believe that although the industry […]

3 Mortgage Terms You Need to Know Prepayment, Portability and Assumability Prepayments One of the most common questions we get is about mortgage prepayments. The conditions vary from lender to lender but the nice thing about prepayments is that you can pay a little more every year if you want to pay off your mortage […]

Is it time to lock in a variable rate mortgage? Approximately 32 per cent of Canadians are in a variable rate mortgage, which with rates effectively declining steadily for the better part of the last ten years has worked well. Recent increases triggers questions and concerns, and these questions and concerns are best expressed verbally […]

New Mortgage Rules Coming Jan 1 Boost November Home Sales So here we are in the lead-up to the January 1 implementation of the new OSFI B-20 regulations requiring that uninsured borrowers be stress-tested at a mortgage rate 200 basis points above the contract rate at federally regulated financial institutions. It is no surprise that […]