With mortgage rates continuing to rise, it’s becoming harder for people to purchase real estate, first time homebuyers especially. There was a time when qualification was based on the actual mortgage payment, however that changed toward the end of 2016 with the introduction of the mortgage stress test. The stress test significantly limits how much [...]

When purchasing a new property, you can generally count in it to close on time. Sure, there are some rare exceptions, but they are indeed rare.   Purchasing is one thing, but what about closing a new mortgage when transferring to another lender at time of renewal? While the majority of mortgage transfers will close [...]

There are many decisions to make when arranging a new mortgage. Whether to go with a fixed or variable, amortization period, payment frequency, and term length. Prior to mortgage rule changes that came into effect on November 30, 2016, short term mortgages usually came with lower rates than the 5 year options. The shorter the [...]

One of the most common questions I get is whether it’s better to go with a fixed or a variable rate mortgage. History has shown variable to win out over fixed more than 80% of the time, but considering that prime rate has already increased by 3.00% with more increases planned, is variable rate now [...]

On September 7th, the Bank of Canada increased their rate by another 0.75% which was not surprising. Two of the big six banks (CIBC and National Bank) were not anticipating any further increases in 2022, while the other four (RBC, Scotia, TD and BMO) had forecasted another 0.25% increase in the fourth quarter.  Where they [...]

The Bank of Canada announced this morning that they will be increasing their overnight rate by another 0.75%. This means that prime rate will rise from 4.70% to 5.45%, which is the highest it has been since 2008. This means that the Bank of Canada has now increased their rate by 3.00% in just six [...]

If you are in a true variable rate mortgage, your payment will remain unchanged for the term. This can give peace of mind to many as it guarantees a predictable cash flow each month. When the rate increases, then a larger portion of that payment will be applied to interest with a  smaller portion going [...]

The Bank of Canada has increased their overnight rate by 2.25% since March, and they are not finished yet. Their next scheduled rate announcement is on September 7th where they are expected to increase by another 0.50% to 0.75%. This would mean that prime will increase to 5.20% to 5.45%, which will be the highest [...]

While starting or growing a family can be an exciting time, it represents a big change in your life. It can also bring on new challenges such as additional expenses and reduced income. As income is one of the main components of mortgage qualification, many wonder if going on maternity leave will affect their ability [...]

Contrary to popular belief, lenders are not making hundreds of thousands of dollars off your mortgage. You might think that they are laughing all the way to the bank when they increase their rates, but this is not the case. This is because mortgage lenders don’t make their money on the rate itself. In fact, [...]