Mortgages Made Easy Blog

Buying a home can be expensive but fret not! That’s where Canada’s First-Time Home Buyer Incentive comes in. 

This incentive helps qualified first-time homebuyers purchase their first home without increasing the amount they must save for a down payment. 

Starting September 2nd, eligible first-time buyers who have the minimum down payment for an insured mortgage with CMHC, Genworth or Canada Guaranty, can apply to finance a portion of their home purchase through a form of shared equity mortgage with the Government of Canada. 

This means that, for the purchase of an existing home, an incentive amount of 5 percent may be available. For the purchase of a newly constructed home, an incentive amount of 5 percent or 10 percent may be available!

With no required on-going repayments, the incentive isn’t interest bearing, and the borrower can repay the incentive at any time without a prepayment penalty. That being said, the buyer must repay the incentive after 25 years. If the property is sold, the government shares in the upside and downside of the change in the property value.

The incentive will be available to first-time homebuyers with qualified annual household incomes up to $120,000. At the same time, a participant’s insured mortgage and the incentive amount cannot be greater than four times the participant’s qualified annual household income.

Sound interesting? Visit www.placetocallhome.ca or book a free consultation with us for more details. We’d be more than happy to guide you through your whole home-buying process.

Every mortgage shopper wants the lowest mortgage rate possible, but be careful; sometimes a low rate comes with unrealistic terms and conditions, or potential future penalties and fees that could nullify your initial savings.

I recently read in the news about a Toronto man who had to shell out $13,000 in fees for breaking his mortgage contract early. Nadim Kara didn’t know homeowners with a fixed term longer than five years can only be charged a penalty of three months’ interest if they break their mortgage after the fifth year. If Nadim had waited 60 more days to break his contract, he would have paid $3000 in fees rather than $13,000. This pertinent information was not in his contract, or explained to him until after the fact.

This story is an example of why having an experienced mortgage broker on your side is so important. Brokers take a forensic approach to examining the details of your mortgage contract to ensure you are protected, and that includes checking that the contract isn’t missing any information. Mortgage contracts must disclose all information on penalties for ending a mortgage early and how they will be calculated. Our brokers have been around the block a few times and won’t let mistakes fall through the cracks.

Many homebuyers can be overwhelmed by the technical language in mortgage contracts and may not pay close enough attention to the details before signing the dotted line. Our brokers are here to answer your questions and explain the fine print, so you don’t have to worry about overpaying on your mortgage, or being taken advantage of later.

We’ve been helping our clients navigate the mortgage industry since 1989. Give us a call at 613-563-3447 and let us take the confusion out of planning your mortgage.