- Using your mortgage to lower your debt:
“Where the heck does it all go?” You’re looking at your T4 slip from last year…
or maybe your most recent pay stub. Sure, many people that those numbers after
the dollar sign were a little higher, but it’s the vanishing act that alarms you
most.
- Mortgage Pain Talk - Difference between
'term' & 'amortization':
There are many stresses associated with home buying – both financial and
emotional. And frankly speaking, it doesn’t help that the process comes with its
very own foreign language. While your mortgage broker can help de-mystify these
terms, it helps to have a bit of a primer on what some of these terms mean.
After all, it’s your money and your home we’re talking about; as a
Mortgagor, you have a right to understand what you’re reading. (You didn’t
know you were a mortgagor? Read on…)
- Fixed or Variable rate mortgage:
“Wow!” you say to your spouse as you hit the brakes on the car. “Did you see the mortgage rate those guys are advertising?” Your worries are over, you’re thinking. Just lock in a rate like that for the next ten years, and you’ve got it made.
Not so fast. That rate may not be the one for you. Typically, the lowest available rate – and the one that makes the rate sign look great from the street – will be for a variable or adjustable-rate mortgage.
- RRSP Contribution
:
Right now, your house is the best piggy bank you’ll ever own. If you’ve got some money in that piggy bank, you may want to take some out for your RRSP. The RSP season is upon us, and Canadians are going through their annual head-scratching – how to maximize contribution room and even catch up on mounds of unused room.
- Packing Pointers:
Canadians are on the move. Home equity has been rising for the last several years, and many homeowners are taking the opportunity to move up. Others, with children now grown and house prices so strong, have decided to capitalize on the boom: taking their real estate gains and downsizing into a more manageable property.
- Taking the plunge to home-ownership:
New home owners will tell you that you can’t beat the feeling of having a place to call your own: the kitchen you’ve always wanted, a garage to putter in, the flower garden that reminds you of your grandmother, or a cozy window seat that looks out on your own view.
There is a small group of Canadians who, for various reasons, prefer to rent. But a majority of Canadians dream of owning their own home