When you are selling your current home and buying a new one many mortgages are “portable” which means you can take the mortgage to the new house. Here are 5 things people don’t always know about porting your mortgage: The rate stays the same So if interest rates have gone down you actually might chose to break your mortgage instead of port it because you can save more money. I like to remind people just because you CAN port your mortgage it doesn’t always mean you should. Y

As the name implies, a cashback mortgage is similar to a standard mortgage, except that you receive a lump sum of cash upon closing. This lump sum will either be a fixed amount of money or a percentage of the mortgage amount, usually between 1-7%, depending on the mortgage term selected. How you use the cash is entirely up to you. Some of the most common reasons to secure a cashback mortgage are to: Cover closing costs. Buy new furniture. Renovate your property. Supplement

A no-frills service or product is where non-essential features have been removed from the product or service to keep the price as low as possible. And while keeping costs low at the expense of non-essential features might be okay when choosing something like which grocery store to shop at, which economy car to purchase, or which budget hotel to spend the night, it’s not a good idea when considering which lender to secure mortgage financing. Here’s why. When securing mortgag

Do you know how secure email is? Well the truth is once that data leaves your outbox it could be going anywhere before it lands in mine. And my concern is that what you are sending me is valuable. Your birthday, address and social insurance number are worth a lot of money on the black market. I am told that text messaging and what’s app type messages are even more insecure. I mean do you take the time to encrypt documents before sending them when they are important? Or

Do you know how many times I hear this in a month? “thank you for not judging me” or “I am so embarrassed about….” Too many times to count. In a world where so many people spend time looking at what others have and thinking or feeling like they are less it is scary to speak to someone about your finances. And it shouldn’t be. Honestly, we are all doing the best we can, with the resources we have and until someone teaches you something you may just not know. And it is not

A vast majority of parents are currently supporting their children (ages 18-35 years) financially, spending an average of $5,623 per year! This is an extensive additional cost that most parents cannot afford. In fact, over 30% of parents are seeing delayed retirement in order to help kids with post-secondary costs and are facing an inability or delayed timeframe in paying off their own debts. As much as parents want to help their kids, it should not be done at the jeopardy of

When it comes to finding your perfect home, there are so many more options for potential homeowners! From a single-family dwelling to a townhouse to a modular home, the choices are seemingly endless. But, before you start widening your search, let’s take a look at what makes these home types different - and which one is perfect for you! Single-Family Detached: This is a stand-alone house that sits on its own lot and is the most common type of home. As these are detached dwell

When buying a home, there is nothing worse than having your mortgage broker or lawyer call and say “there is a problem”. If you have found your dream home and negotiated a fair price, and you have supplied all the documentation to your broker, you probably assume everything is fine. The reality is that your financing approval is based on the information the lender was provided at the time of the application. If there have been any changes to your financial situation, the le

My lovely first time buyers were working with their bank and got pre-approved….because their parents told them that is who they should work with. FYI, a long time ago brokers were only for people who did not qualify at the bank & depending on your age you still might wrongly think this. Well, they found a great condo in Toronto and their realtor got it for them for an awesome price. And then their mortgage request got declined….. so their realtor sent them to us. We found o

As expected the Bank of Canada has held its benchmark, overnight interest rate at 0.25%, and it remains committed to holding the line on that rate until the second half of next year. But Governor Tiff Macklem is signalling that change is coming. The Bank has been sorting through a mixed bag of economic data: disappointing 2nd quarter GDP performance, better than expected August employment growth and an American recovery that has yet to truly take hold. The Bank is also being