The downpayment on a home can start as low as 5% of the purchase price.  Less than 20% downpayment must be insured which is an additional cost to the borrower.  Regardless of the downpayment amount, those funds are under the scrutiny of anti-money laundering laws. That could mean a lot of paper work for borrowers seeking a mortgage. Funds can be gifted or partially borrowed on credit, but that's a specific program that has its own process and requirements.  Most lenders do... [read more]

When you purchase a home, a down payment is typically applied to the purchase price, and the balance is to be paid off over your term of the mortgage. The loan you receive from a lender in order to pay for the house is called a mortgage.  Simply put, a mortgage is a legal and binding agreement between a lender and a borrower for a specific amount of money that must be paid back within a predefined amount of time. The mortgage is a secured loan in that the house you are buying is... [read more]

Weekly Steve Kornbluth (Agent with TMG Safebridge Mortgage Solutions) touches on "big news" and what it means for the mortgage market moving forward. Have a look at his thoughts for the week of March 13, 2023. The BoC didn’t increase its policy rate (but did reiterate its hawkish bias). Canadian variable-rate borrowers rejoiced last Wednesday after the BoC announced that it would hold its policy rate steady (for the first time in nine meetings, going back to... [read more]

Happy December :) I am here with the gift of good news as we roll into the holiday season yay! As we all know, last week, BoC held its interest rate for the third consecutive time. In them doing this, Bank of Canada officials acknowledged that higher interest rates are 'clearly' restraining household spending and that the economy is no longer overheated. But in that same breath, they continue to mention that they will increase interest rates if inflationary pressures... [read more]