Why Chasing the Lowest Mortgage Rate Isn’t Always the Best Strategy When most people think about getting a mortgage, their first instinct is to chase the lowest interest rate they can find. It is understandable. Rates are highlighted in ads, shared in headlines, and easy to compare at a glance. But here is the truth […]
Blog
Potential Penalty Differences – Bank/Non Bank
IRD penalties at banks can cost you thousands! Non all mortgages are created equal and this is one massive example to this. This example has all the same information inputted on all their online calculators, which are on the internet. I started out with a mortgage amount of $450k and exactly 3 years in to […]
Trigger rates and trigger points
“trigger rates” and “trigger points”….something you will be hearing of with more changes in the Bank of Canada rate. Let’s start with a few definitions: NOW, WHICH MORTGAGES WILL BE AFFECTED FIRST?Quick answer, VRMs from March 2020 to March 2022. During the month of March 2020, the prime rate dropped three times in quick succession from […]
Bona-Fide Sales Only Clauses
Imagine spending hours of your life to: I’ve seen this happen on more than one occasion and it’s not pretty. His lawyer found out he had a “bona-fide sale” clause in his mortgage contract. A bona-fide sale clause is a fancy way of saying that you can’t leave your lender until the term is up, […]
But They Said It Was Portable
The question most often asked: ‘Is my mortgage portable?’ The answer most often given: ‘Yes.’ This answer is increasingly wrong. In reality you qualify to move ~80% of the balance… maybe. If you are thinking of: … you would be well served to keep reading. The above question is incomplete. To be fair, you would […]
Top 5 Questions To Ask Your Mortgage Lender
1. How the penalties are calculated if I break my mortgage early? Specifically, ask what rate they use to calculate the “interest rate differential”. Typically, if the lender has “posted rates” they use these to calculate the penalty. If this is the case, the penalty can be 3, 4 or even 5 times higher than […]
Mortgage Market Update: Stability Continues as the Bank of Canada Holds Course
The Canadian mortgage market has settled into a much more stable environment compared to the roller coaster of the past few years. Following several months of holding its overnight lending rate at 2.25%, the Bank of Canada appears comfortable waiting for more economic data before making its next move. At this point, the broad consensus […]
Canada’s Housing Market is Showing Signs of Life
After a slow start to 2026, Canada’s housing market appears to be gaining momentum heading into the summer months. National home sales increased significantly in May, marking the strongest monthly improvement of the year. Lower borrowing costs, improved affordability, and greater certainty around pricing are encouraging buyers to re-enter the market. More Balance Between Buyers […]
GST Calculator
Goods and Services Tax – B.C. Real Estate Lawyers Our good friends at https://bcrealestatelawyers.com/ have developed a simple GST calculator on their website. This is a great tool to be used as the rules recently changed and there are specific dates and so forth to watch out for such as when you’re a First Time […]
Canada Unemployment Numbers Revealed
Canadian Job Growth Slows Markedly in December as the Unemployment Rate Rises to 6.8% Today’s Canadian Labour Force Survey for December was weaker than expected. Employment was little changed (+8200; 0.0%), and the employment rate held steady at 6.9%. This followed three consecutive monthly increases. The jobless rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 6.8%, as […]