Purchasing your first home is exciting, but can also seem stressful or even a little scary. There's good reason to think this too – the home is said to be the biggest purchase that you can make in your lifetime. Moreover, in many cases, the cost of a mortgage with interest can be even greater than the cost of your home! So it's important to seriously consider what your best mortgage solution is. This can be done by consulting with an unbiased, impartial mortgage expert that wants to understand what you are looking for in a mortgage and what your expectations are.

Once your thoughts and goals are known, I draw from a vast resource of information and experience to ensure your needs are met. Generally this will involve providing a good education of the mortgage market, the best mortgage options and strategies available to you and of how the process works. The result is a trusting, confident and efficient mortgage process, because you know what's going on and you see your goals falling into place exactly the way you wanted.

Taking the stress out of the mortgage process while leaving the excitement of your home purchase is the bottom line. Feel free to contact me any time or apply now.

The Importance of Getting Pre-Approved

It's important to have a good idea of how much mortgage you can qualify for before searching for your perfect home. Pre-qualifying will help you house hunt with confidence, and will allow you to act quickly and decisively should the right opportunity arise.

Thankfully, the pre qualification process for your lowest cost mortgage is fast, free and there is no obligation.

Typically it should take under 10 minutes to fill out the secure online application form (link) – and your rate will be reserved for up to 120 days. Please make sure to provide as much information as possible, and to be completely honest with the application form. Of course, if you ever have any questions, feel free to send me an email or a phone call any time. After the application has been filled out, I will personally contact you within 24 hours to collect any more necessary details and to discuss your goals and options.

That's it! Now you can shop with confidence knowing that you're pre approved and that you have a mortgage partner that you can contact for questions or advice any time.

Want to learn more about the mortgage process and what lenders look for in an application? Visit the Education Center.

Saving you EVEN MORE... The Advantages of a Mortgage Plan and How it can Protect You

As a leading provider of mortgages in Ontario, I see it as a responsibility to give clients advice on how to almost effortlessly repay their mortgage faster, save on interest, and be protected for when interest rates go up some day. This is why I wrote the book ‘Your Mortgage, Your Life’ and developed the concept of a Mortgage Plan.

Put very simply, a Mortgage Plan will help you optimize your cash flow and give you an enhanced ability to repay your mortgage faster. See the difference that $100 extra per month can make to our above example in the chart below.

This chart shows us that with an additional $100 per month in pre-payments, you are able to save $18,915 in interest and repay your mortgage 45 months or almost 4 years sooner! My book ‘Your Mortgage, Your Life’ makes this idea very easy to set up and manage.

Beyond saving money on your mortgage and reducing the pay off time, the extra $100 per month can serve as a protective cash buffer in case interest rates go up. Home ownership and a mortgage are very long term endeavours, so it is important to consider what the future holds. In the likely ase that interest rates are higher some day, that extra $100 per month you are paying can go towards that additional interest payment. So you will be more protected and will not feel the effect of any interest rate increase!

Own your own $275,000 home for $1600 per month ALL INCLUSIVE and reasonably achieve $64,500 in profit over 5 years!

Example Expense Report

Example Profit Statement (5 Years)

How to Save the Most When Purchasing Your First Home

Major Government Incentive #1:
Government of Canada First Time Buyers Program

This is a onetime offer to First Time buyers through the government of Canada. I am always happy to advise on its most optimal set up. It generally works as follows:

1. Save for your down payment using a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) account.
2. By purchasing RRSPs, this will result in a large income tax rebate for you because there is an effect of reducing the amount of your taxable income. It will be like you’ve paid too much taxes over the year. This rebate could easily be in the thousands of dollars and is received at tax time.
3. When you purchase your home, you use the funds in your RRSP account.
4. Usually, when you cash in or sell your RRSP to spend on something, you must pay taxes on that money. In other words the amount of the cashed in RRSP is treated as additional taxable income (because it had the effect of reducing your income when you first bought it). But for the First Time Home Buyer, the government lets you off the hook and does not charge you anything extra when using your RRSP to purchase your home.
5. See my article for more details or contact me today for a more personal explanation.

Major Government Incentive #2:
First Time Buyer Land Transfer Tax Credit

When purchasing a property, the government always charges a ‘land transfer tax’ to the new owner. It is often the largest of ‘closing costs’. However, for First Time Buyers the Government of Ontario will rebate you up to $2000 before your home closes. So in many cases, First Time Buyers will not have to pay any of this tax.

See the government’s site for more detailed information.