Don’t Use Your Mortgage to Top Up RRSPs

The RRSP deadline is on Monday, and so you are probably thinking about the best way to top up your contributions. With the recession ravaging finances, and the debt hangover from the holidays likely still dogging you, you might be tempted to borrow money for your RRSPs. Some people take out a line of credit [...]

CAAMP study shows Canadians are witty with their mortgages!!!

The Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals, better known as CAAMP, has released new data on a recent research outlining that Canadian home owners and lenders are both very cautious with mortgages.
The new research data released January 14, 2010 gathered information throughout 2009 on approximately 40,000 mortgages. The data represents about 1/6th residential mortgages signed [...]

Understanding Your Credit Score

The primary factor in determining your eligibility for a mortgage is, of course, your credit history. Lenders score your credit history with a program that generates a result called a FICO Score. Your FICO Score is determined by a point system based on your payment history: whether your payments have been made on [...]

Make Some Real Estate Resolutions in 2010

Image: graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

With the first week of the New Year wrapping up, you might be carefully substituting the burger joint for the salad bar and making those three weekly trips to the gym. But while many of our thoughts turn to sprucing ourselves up in the New Year, it can also [...]

Holiday Shopping Tips

Regardless of the lack of snow in the GTA, the holiday season is in full swing, and our hearts may be open, our wallets are closed shut.
Many Canadians are still uncertain about the ‘recovering economy’ and are therefore trying to pinch every penny, with good reason. Businesses are taking notice, and therefore trying to keep [...]

Four Reasons Why A Mortgage Professional is Better than the Bank

You finally want to own a place for yourself, something to call yours. You’ve worked hard to save up enough money to have a sufficient down payment, and you’ve kept your credit score at a reasonable number to look attractive to potential lenders. That’s usually the first step, and a great one! Now what do [...]

Five Things to Avoid When You Have a Mortgage Pre-Approval

Lenders look at a huge amount of information regarding your financial history when making a commitment to offer you a mortgage. Follow these five steps to ensure that your lender doesn’t revoke their mortgage approval, leaving you without your dream home.
1.  Do not make frequent bank transfers
When lenders start seeing that large sums of money [...]