On Dec 15, 2016 the BC Government announced the launch of their ‘Homeowner Mortgage and Equity Partnership Program’ to assist first time home buyers who are residents of BC (as well as either citizens or permanent residents of Canada for at least five years). While many are heralding this as a good news story, others […]
Why It's Important to Talk to A Mortgage Broker
Market Averages, Government Intervention and Reality
In the Vancouver market, we often hear about the benchmark price, the average price, and the median home price. Usually that of a specific neighbourhood or municipality. However, what buyers rarely hear is the average price of the bottom 80% of listings of the Greater Vancouver Area. Y’know, the properties that the overwhelming majority of […]
Three Big Mortgage Complaints
I read this article and it’s bang on with a few main concerns I’ve noticed and seen in my lengthy career as an independent mortgage broker. I’ll touch on two up front.Penalties: The banks have penalties anywhere from 3-5 times higher than the non banks we use. Here’s the best illustration. Pre-approvals: Since pre-approvals are […]
Mortgage penalty differences
There is, among many other things, one major reason why using an independent mortgage broker and a non-bank mortgage product, is far superior; how they calculate mortgage penalties when paying out your mortgage early. I took some time this week to create a small graph below to illustrate it as easy as I could. Now of […]
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 […]