Are you having problems finding the right home? Maybe you have found a great home but the kitchen was outdated. You can stop overlooking these properties. There are mortgage programs available that can help you move into a home with a new kitchen or beautiful hardwood flooring.

The question you should ask yourself is: can you afford a second home? Financial institutions offer several methods to pay for the cottage, such as increasing the mortgage on your city home or creating a second mortgage, but you have to have the income to make the payments.

You’ll want to have a team of professionals at your service when buying your first home. Here’s a guide to who they are and what they do. You decide exactly who is on your team, but there are a few professionals without whom buying a home is nearly impossible.

Understanding the process involved in obtaining financing for your home is important. As Mortgage Professionals, we handle everything from your pre-approval to securing the best mortgage rate that works for you.

So you’ve found the condo or house of your dreams and you want to make an offer. The Agreement of Purchase and Sale is the official document that includes the terms and conditions of your offer. Do you need a financing condition?

When you need a mortgage that is more than 80% of the purchase price of your home, mortgage loan insurance is required. In Canada, mortgage insurance is provided by either CMHC, a crown corporation, Genworth Financial, or Canada Guaranty, Mortgage insurance protects the lender and, by law, most Canadian lending institutions require it.

Your home will likely be the single largest purchase you make and will be a part of your life for the next 25+ years. Decisions you make now could affect you for years to come, which is why it is imperative that you know what to look for in a mortgage associate and understand the process that goes through with applying for a mortgage.

Three months have passed and still not getting any offers? Are you thinking of another price reduction? Wait! Go over this list and find out if you are scaring your buyers away!

If you’re not already a homeowner, maybe this will be the year that you make the change over from renter to owner for your own good. Owning your own home gives you more freedom of choice and also sets you on the path to financial security.

One thing that many Realtors® have learned is the importance of having a team of professionals to facilitate a smooth transaction for their sellers. Having a Mortgage Associate on the team can make available the following services to you as a home seller and all for FREE:

Moving during the holidays is not the most convenient time, but moving disrupts routines any time of the year. If you’re scheduled to move over the holidays, celebrating will definitely be different than other years.

Did you know, more than 17 percent of the energy consumed in Canada is used to run our homes? Buying an energy-efficient home or making energy-saving renovations can offer big savings.

If you’ve been wondering how to paint an open-concept home, or are looking for kitchen cabinets that inspire, you might want to check out Sarah Richardson’s (of HGTV fame) webisode series.

Just 60 short months ago, mortgage rates were double what they are now. That means payments on a 25-year mortgage of equal size were 36 percent higher than today.

The shorter the amortization the larger the monthly payments. Under the right circumstances, a five-year fixed can be an excellent product that brings very favorable interest rates with it.

Strangely enough, the root word mortgage comes from the French word “mort”, which means “dead”, and “gage” from Old English, which means “pledge”.

Before you start house hunting, be sure you are comfortable with the obvious and less obvious costs of home ownership.

If you are planning to get a mortgage in the near future, it is best to be prepared. Being prepared and having the right documents and information ready to present to your Mortgage Associate when you first meet can save tons of time, speed up the process and make things go smoothly.

The term “secondary suite” is generally used to describe a self-contained dwelling unit with its own kitchen and bathroom, which is separate from the principal dwelling in a house. It can be located either within the principal dwelling or in an accessory building on the same lot as the principal dwelling.

You want to take advantage of these record low rates that have been around for the past 12 months….. after all, if you had stayed in a Variable rate, (like 80% of my clients did), you would have enjoyed rates as low as 1.35% during that time…