Mortgage Money Blog

With all the recent mortgage changes, your credit score is more important now than ever.  Most Lenders rely on the “Equifax” score.  Equifax calculates a credit “risk” score out of a maximum score of 900. A score of 700 or higher is considered an excellent score and...

We have had a few occasions already this summer where clients have been unaware of Identification requirements for a home purchase, switch of a mortgage up for renewal, or a refinance of an existing home. There is nothing worse than finding out on your closing day...

I thought I would share a link to the old PC Financial, now called "Simplii Financial", which is ran/owned by CIBC. I have done the majority of my everyday banking with them for over 15 years, and if you are looking for "no fee banking" and great interests...

See below an update on new B-20 Lending Guidelines As expected the updated "Stress test" will be applied to all mortgage borrowers(borrowing from any lender beginning January 1st of 2018). It has been clarified that the stress test rate will NOT apply for a mortgage...

As January has seemed to fly by, I thought I would pass along a few ideas on saving money and paying less interest. Awareness is the key. You would be shocked how many people I speak with who don’t know what is owing on their mortgage and more importantly what is...

Who Governs Mortgage Brokers in Ontario? I would love to assume that in a perfect world, and in all lines of work, you would have customers who use services from professionals, and always have extremely satisfying experiences. You would think that having a satisfied...

I thought I would remind everyone about the cost of penalties when breaking a mortgage during term. A lot of people think that one lender is the same as the other, but you can be terribly wrong with that mindset. The Globe and Mail published an article called "The...

This is a great Globe and Mail article taking us back a little in the history of mortgage rates...https://bit.ly/1e5PGSv Yes rates will go up, but the debt we have is what we have. Simply be aware and start to manage it responsibly. If you have it now, minimize future...

I often hear the question, can I use bridge financing if my house doesn’t sell? There is a common misunderstanding about what is, and when “bridge financing” is used, so I thought I would help in clearing this up. To clarify, bridge financing is used when you have...

When you’ve been in the business as long as I have been, it’s a constant struggle to remind yourself that some of the most basic understanding of how mortgage brokers work is not known by the public. Once in a while someone will ask the question, and I’ll say, Oh Ya,...

I was asked the following question from a client and thought others may find this helpful... Hi Dan, I have a question I am hoping you can help me with. If you go with a variable rate mortgage and you have the option to lock in, when can I lock in, and is it at the...

A client (we’ll call him John Smith) came in to see me. He owns a home worth $375,000. He told me he has $25,000 outstanding on his mortgage. He also told me he has a $250,000 secured line of credit on his home that is fully advanced. Total owing is $275,000. This is...