Mortgages in Canada can be a murky subject – one that we hope to shed some light on with a series of highly informational articles.
Latest News
Making it all work + MORE Dec 30th
(Photograph by Jennifer Roberts)
We invited our readers in January to take an active role by writing to us and explaining in a few sentences why they needed a personalized money makeover with a MoneySense Approved Financial Advisor. We got close to 400 letters and, in the end, chose two couples and .... More »
U.S. banks snatch up MBS that notched best returns since 2002 + MORE Jan 8th
Flush with deposits, U.S. banks are buying up mortgage bonds and betting that the asset class will get a further boost in 2026 from relaxed capital rules..... More »
The Broker Channel Gets Another Prime Lender: Strive Capital + MORE Sep 23rd
Strive is live. It’s Canada’s latest prime lender in the mortgage broker market..... More »
New Year, New Mortgage Rules: Why You’ll Soon Have a Harder Time Qualifying for a Mortgage + MORE Dec 21st
Come January 2018, new Ontario mortgage applicants likely won’t be able to afford the same home they’ve set their eyes on this year, as they will be subject to new and stricter mortgage rules, posed by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada (OSFI) and published in the.... More »
Death, Taxes, and Interest Payments: Part 2 + MORE Jul 1st
There are some things in life you can’t avoid, but only two things you can’t avoid paying for: taxes and interest payments. In Part 1 of this series, we looked at owning a rental property as a great way to build your net worth while reducing your taxes. Now, in Part 2, we’ll be turning to inte.... More »
Mortgage Career: intelliMortgage
– canadianmortgagetrends.com
Company: intelliMortgage Position: Mortgage Fulfillment Specialist Location: Mississauga, ON Send resume to: info@intellimortgage.com Mortgage Fulfillment Specialist This is your opportunity to join one of Canada’s most exciting mortgage teams. intelliMortgage is revolutionizing mortgages by empowering mortgage shoppers to choose their own mortgage and save thousands. We are hiring one full-time Mortgage Fulfillment Specialist in Mississauga, ON. Your responsibilities include: Reviewing client documents to ensure they meet lender policies Discussing mortgage document requirements with clients by phone or email Assessing documents against intelliMortgage’s anti-fraud guidelines Inputting client application data online Updating and monitoring client statuses in our online administration system READ MORE
Lower your IRD mortgage penalty
– moneysense.ca
(Getty Images / Oxford)
Sam Taylor loved helping people which is why she started her career as a social worker. But after almost three decades, Sam was burnt out and needed out. After a great deal of soul-searching she decided to start her own home staging business. “Over the years more and more people have asked for my help,” she explains. “I have a flare for it.” To start and grow her own business, however, she needs capital. To get capital she needs to sell her home—and that means breaking her fixed-rate mortgage.
What Sam found out shocked her. She was on the hook for almost $18,000 in fees, as a penalty for breaking her mortgage early. Turns out, breaking up (with your mortgage) really is hard to do. And Sam was lucky. According to the Financial Post, Tyler Bollhorn, a personal finance author who decided to move from Kelowna, B.C. to Hawaii, was shocked when he learned he’d have to pay more than $150,000 to break his mortgage. “I got stuck with a pretty good penalty because I never read the fine print,” he says…
Co-op Housing: How it compares to Home and Condo Ownership
– ratesupermarket.ca
With many first-time homebuyers finding themselves priced out of the market for home or condo ownership, some people might want to consider looking into a third alternative to renting: buying into a co-op housing – also known as a co-operative housing project.
Here are some key things to know about co-ops.
The difference between condos and co-ops
Condos and co-ops are both multi-unit residences – usually townhouses or mid-size highrises – and both are run by an elected board of directors. The key difference between condos and co-ops is how the ownership is structured.
With a condo, you own your individual unit – paid for outright, or with a conventional mortgage – while the rest of the complex, from the lobby and parking garage to the gym, rooftop patio and any other amenities are common elements that are shared.
With a co-op, you buy a share in the corporation that owns the property, and get exclusive use of the unit you’ll call home. According to the Co-operative Housing Federation of B…
OTTAWA — Canada’s banking regulator is requiring banks to conduct stress tests to determine how they would deal with a 50 per cent downturn in Vancouver real estate prices and a 40 per cent cut in Toronto home prices.
The key changes announced Tuesday by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada come on the heels of a letter it sent earlier this month to all federally-regulated financial institutions reminding them to exercise prudence when underwriting home mortgages.
Condo properties under construction in Toronto. (Photo: CP)
The regulator identified several areas that it said it will be watching closely, including the verification of a borrower’s income, debt service ratios and the reliability of property appraisals.
Last month, the Bank of Canada raised concerns about the housing market and noted that vulnerabilities due to the continued rise of household debt and greater imbalances in regional housing markets were higher than they were six months ago…
BFG and RMA Join Forces
– canadianmortgagetrends.com
Broker Financial Group (BFG) and Real Mortgage Associates Inc. (RMA) announced today that they plan to unite. The two brokerage companies say they’ll enter a joint share purchase agreement and take ownership in the other. The reported benefits of the deal are sharing of technology, administrative resources, payroll, compliance and corporate relationships. Of course, with mortgage revenue being volume-based, the combination should also help the two garner slightly better compensation from certain lenders. “The industry pays on volume,” says BFG CEO Joe Rosati. Both firms are relatively small as far as broker networks go. The companies haven’t disclosed their volume READ MORE
