If your mortgage term matures in the next 2 years, you should act now to find out what you should expect for your next term’s monthly payment amount. It is probably going to be much higher than you expect and you should begin preparing now. –  The future is coming. Part of me feels ridiculous writing that, but when I… Read More »

Is the mortgage approval process different now than it was ‘back in the day’? Yes, definitely yes. Here is a list of some of the key regulatory changes that have occurred in the Canadian mortgage industry since 2006. 2006 Introduction of the first set of guidelines for federally regulated financial institutions, known as the “Guideline B-20,” by the Office of… Read More »

The home-buying process is more complicated now than it ever has been, and unfortunatley that trend doesn’t look to be going away anytime soon. Every year, our industry regulators and the provincial and federal governments seem to add extra rules to mortgage qualification and the process of purchasing or selling property, and even experienced property buyers who have bought and… Read More »

New anti-house-flipping federal tax rules came into effect this year (Jan 1, 2023) aimed to reduce speculation and encourage long-term home ownership. These rules will now tax the profits from the sale of residential property as business income if the seller owned the property for fewer than 12 months. This means the sale of the property held for less than… Read More »

The next BOC meeting is next Wednesday, Sept 7th, 2022.  We anticipate that they will increase the Prime lending rate by something between 0.50% to 1.00%.  In terms of mortgages, this increase only impacts variable/adjustable-rate mortgage holders since the banks and mortgage lenders typically increase their consumer Prime rates in step with the central bank’s Prime rate. If you have a… Read More »

On June 1st the Bank of Canada (BoC) increased the Prime Rate 1% to 1.5%, an increase of 0.50% that was widely anticipated by the markets.  For consumer banks and mortgage lenders, this means they will be raising their consumer Prime rates from 3.2% up to 3.7% on all variable and adjustable rate mortgages as well as Lines of Credit.… Read More »