Last week, I gave you some tips on mortgage calculators to use to determine how much money you could save if you break your mortgage and try to get one with a lower interest rate. This week, to continue the discussion, I’ll provide you with some online calculators that can help you find the best rate possible.
Image: Horia Varlan / Flickr
After all, if you are shopping around for a better mortgage rate, it can be difficult to decide which one is truly better than all of the rest.
To help you figure this out, you can use the calculators on the CanadaMortgage.com site. This will give you the ability to compare two rates, such as the one you are currently paying and the one you would like to get. It can give you an idea of whether it is worth switching to the new rate.
These tools can also be useful to determine how much you can afford if you are just starting on your home buying search. Go to the calculator at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp (CanadaMortgage.ca) and you can determine what the maximum mortgage you can afford.
Another calculator that is helpful is one that determines how much you will need to pay in mortgage insurance. Most first-time home buyers will not be able to afford 20% for their down payment, and so they’ll need to buy mortgage insurance. You can go to Canada Mortgage Information’s website to discover how much you will likely have to pay in insurance payments.
There is one last calculator to look into. Canadian-Mortgages.com has a calculator that can help you determine if it makes more sense to rent or buy. In some cases, particularly if your debt burden is very high, it might more sense to pay down some debt and continue renting before you jump into the real estate market.
I hope that these calculators have been helpful. As I’ve said before, these calculators are only for rough calculations and to get a general idea of what you should do. You shouldn’t base any decisions on what they say until you’ve spoken to your financial advisor and done the actual calculations with them. There may be many things you are missing, and you wouldn’t want to make such a big decision without consulting with an expert.
Heleen Jacobsen
Broker of Record with InfoMarket Group GMAC Real Estate
www.infomarketgroup.com
