Ask a broker. Start with your situation.

Your path: first-time buyer

Work through these in order, starting with the two numbers that decide almost everything else.

1. First Time Home Buyers

   Start here for the ground rules before you shop for a home.

2. What Credit Score Do You Need for a Mortgage?

   Know the number lenders check before you fall for a listing.

3. What Is the Mortgage Stress Test?

   This is why you qualify for less than the rate suggests.

4. How Much Mortgage Can I Afford?

   Turn your income and debts into a real purchase price range.

5. All nine mortgage calculatorsIndex

   Run your own numbers before you talk to anyone.

6. Today’s rates and pre-approvalTool

   Compare live rates and get a pre-approval certificate in about a minute.

7. What Documents Do I Need for a Mortgage?

   Gather this now so your approval does not stall later.

8. How Long Does a Mortgage Pre-Approval Last?

   Know your clock once you are pre-approved and shopping.

9. Mortgage Affordability CalculatorCalculator

   See the maximum purchase price the GDS and TDS stress test math actually allows.

10. Closing Cost CalculatorCalculator

    Land transfer tax, legal fees and the cash you need on closing day.

11. Co-signer and Gifted Down Payment CalculatorCalculator

    What a gift or a co-signer actually changes about your qualifying.

Your path: renewing

Start with what happens if you do nothing, then work toward the decision point.

1. Mortgage Renewal

   The starting point for anyone whose term is coming due.

2. What Happens If You Do Nothing at Your Mortgage Renewal?

   Know the default outcome before you decide to act.

3. How to Negotiate Your Mortgage Renewal Rate

   Learn what actually moves your lender’s renewal offer.

4. Does a Collateral Charge Mortgage Cost More to Leave?

   Check this before assuming switching lenders is simple.

5. Can You Renew Your Mortgage if Your Credit or Income Got Worse?

   Read this if your situation changed since you last qualified.

6. Your Bank Refused to Renew Your Mortgage. What Now?

   The decision point if your own bank says no.

7. Renewal Payment Shock CalculatorCalculator

   See what the new rate does to your payment before you sign the offer.

8. Extra Payment Savings CalculatorCalculator

   What paying a little more each period takes off your interest and your timeline.

Your path: refinancing

Confirm the cost of leaving your current mortgage before you plan the new one.

1. Should I Refinance to Consolidate Debt?

   Confirm refinancing actually solves the problem you have.

2. How Mortgage Penalty Calculations Work at Renewal in Canada

   Know what breaking your mortgage early could cost first.

3. Why Is Your Payout Statement Higher Than Your Balance?

   Understand the number your current lender will actually demand.

4. Does a Collateral Charge Mortgage Cost More to Leave?

   Check this before assuming you can move your mortgage freely.

5. Financing a Property With a Certificate of Pending Litigation

   Check this if a legal claim is registered against your title.

6. What Does CMHC Mortgage Insurance Cost?

   Relevant if your refinance changes your loan-to-value position.

7. Today’s rates and pre-approvalTool

   See what rate you would actually be offered before you break anything.

8. All nine mortgage calculatorsIndex

   Estimate your new payment before you commit to a number.

9. Prepayment Penalty CalculatorCalculator

   Estimate the payout penalty before you break the term.

10. Mortgage Payment CalculatorCalculator

    Compare the payment on the new amount against what you pay now.

Your path: self-employed

Lenders read self-employed income differently than a pay stub. Start there.

1. Self-Employed in Canada? Learn How to Secure a Low-Doc Mortgage and Achieve Your Homeownership Goals

   Start with how lenders actually view self-employed income.

2. Can You Get a Mortgage in Your First Year of Self-Employment?

   Read this if you have not filed two years of returns yet.

3. Salary or Dividends: Which Helps You Qualify for a Bigger Mortgage?

   This decision, made months ago, affects what you qualify for now.

4. How to Get a Mortgage When You’re Self-Employed and Write Off Most of Your Income

   The write-offs that helped your tax bill can hurt your approval.

5. What Documents Do I Need for a Mortgage?

   See exactly what a lender asks a self-employed borrower for.

6. Can You Get a Private Mortgage When You’re Self-Employed?

   The fallback if your file does not fit a bank’s standard box.

7. Borrowing Privately Through a Corporation or Holding Company

   Read this if you operate through a corporation rather than personally.

8. Mortgage Affordability CalculatorCalculator

   Run your qualifying income through the same ratios a lender applies.

Your path: bad credit or bankruptcy

Know where you actually stand before you assume the door is closed.

1. What Credit Score Do You Need for a Mortgage?

   Know exactly where your score sits against the lending tiers.

2. How to Raise Your Credit Score Before a Mortgage

   Practical steps if you have time before you need to apply.

3. Can I Get a Mortgage With Bad Credit?

   The direct answer for scores below the standard bank threshold.

4. Ask a Broker: How Long After Bankruptcy or a Consumer Proposal Can You Get a Mortgage?

   Read this if a discharge or proposal is part of your file.

5. Turned Down by a B Lender. Can You Still Go Private?

   The decision point once a second lender has already said no.

6. Can You Get a Private Mortgage on Disability or a Fixed Income?

   Read this if disability or fixed income is the main hurdle now.

7. What Documents Do You Need for a Private Mortgage?

   See what a private lender needs instead of a bank’s usual list.

8. What to Fix During a Private Term to Qualify for a Bank

   Use this to plan your way back to a standard mortgage.

9. Mortgage Payment CalculatorCalculator

   See the payment at the rate you are realistically offered today.

Your path: newcomer

No Canadian credit history yet does not mean no options.

1. Can You Get a Mortgage in Canada as a Permanent Resident with Foreign Income?

   Start here if your income comes from outside Canada.

2. What Credit Score Do You Need for a Mortgage?

   See the score a Canadian file needs, even with none built yet.

3. Private Mortgages for Newcomers With No Canadian Credit

   The route available before you have a Canadian credit history.

4. Can a Non-Resident Get a Private Mortgage in Canada?

   Not living in Canada yet, rather than newly arrived? This path fits you instead.

5. Borrowing From a Family Member: How to Document It

   Do this properly if family abroad is helping with your down payment.

6. What Documents Do I Need for a Mortgage?

   Prepare the paperwork a lender asks a newcomer for.

7. Mortgage Affordability CalculatorCalculator

   Turn your Canadian income and debts into a real purchase price.

8. Closing Cost CalculatorCalculator

   Budget the cash you need beyond the down payment.

Your path: separating or divorce

Sort out the mortgage mechanics first, then requalify on your own numbers.

1. Ask a Broker: Spousal Buyout Mortgage vs Refinance, What’s the Real Difference?

   Understand your two basic options before you talk to a lawyer.

2. How to Remove an Ex From Your Mortgage After Separation

   The mechanics of taking a name off an existing mortgage.

3. Can You Borrow Privately When You Are Separated and Still on Title?

   See this option if a standard lender will not work with your file yet.

4. How Much Mortgage Can I Afford?

   Requalify on your income alone before you sign anything final.

5. What Credit Score Do You Need for a Mortgage?

   Check where a joint account history leaves your own score.

6. What Documents Do I Need for a Mortgage?

   Know what a lender needs to qualify you as a single applicant.

7. Spousal Buyout CalculatorCalculator

   Work out the equity split and the mortgage needed to buy the other party out.

Your path: investor or rental

The down payment rules and the tax angle differ from a home you live in.

1. Down Payment for a Rental Property

   Start here, the minimum down payment differs from a primary home.

2. Financing a Purchase at a Tax Sale or Power of Sale

   Financing works differently when you are buying at a discounted sale.

3. Second Home and Vacation Property Mortgages

   Read this if the property is not a straight rental.

4. Does Breaking Your Mortgage to Buy a Rental Make the Interest Tax-Deductible?

   Understand the tax angle before you break an existing mortgage.

5. Co-Ownership Mortgage Canada: What Lenders Won’t Tell You

   Relevant if you are buying the property with a partner.

6. Can a Private Lender Take Two Properties as Security?

   An option once you are financing more than one property at once.

7. Can You Lend or Borrow Through an RRSP Mortgage?

   An alternative way to fund or hold a mortgage using registered savings.

8. What Is a Syndicated Mortgage, and Should You Be Careful?

   Understand this higher-risk structure before you invest or borrow through one.

9. Rental Income and Debt Service CalculatorCalculator

   See how much of the rent a lender counts and whether the ratios pass.

Your path: private lending

Start with why the option exists, then get to comparing real offers.

1. Why Did Your Bank Never Mention Private Lending?

   Understand why this option rarely comes up at a branch.

2. Warning Signs of a Predatory Private Mortgage

   Know the red flags to watch for before you go any further.

3. Why Are Private Mortgage Rates So High?

   Know what you are actually paying for before you commit.

4. What Documents Do You Need for a Private Mortgage?

   See how much lighter the paperwork is than a bank file.

5. How Do You Compare Two Private Mortgage Offers?

   Use this before you sign whichever offer arrives first.

6. Is a Commitment or Standby Fee Refundable if the Deal Dies?

   Know this before you pay a fee to hold your rate.

7. Do You Have to Get Independent Legal Advice for a Private Mortgage?

   Expect this step before a lender lets you sign.

8. Is There a Penalty for Paying Out a Private Mortgage Early?

   Check this if you plan to exit before the term ends.

9. What Happens if Your Private Lender Dies or Sells Your Mortgage?

   Know what changes for you if this happens mid-term.

10. What to Fix During a Private Term to Qualify for a Bank

    Turn this short-term loan into a plan to get back to a bank.

11. Prepayment Penalty CalculatorCalculator

    Estimate what an early payout costs before you commit to the term.

Your path: behind on payments

Start with what to do today, then work through the process in the order it actually happens.

1. What Happens if You Miss a Payment on a Private Mortgage?

   Learn what happens next and what you can do about it today.

2. Power of Sale Versus Foreclosure: Why Your Province Changes Everything

   Find out which process applies where you live, and how it works.

3. Can a Second Mortgage Lender Force the Sale of Your Home?

   Read this if a second mortgage, not your first, is enforcing.

4. What Happens to Your Second Mortgage if the First Lender Forecloses?

   See what happens to your second mortgage and its debt here.

5. Can a Private Lender Sue You for the Shortfall After Selling Your Home?

   Learn whether you can still be pursued after your home sells.

6. What if the Lender Will Not Discharge the Mortgage After You Pay?

   Know how to get the charge off title once you have paid.

7. Prepayment Penalty CalculatorCalculator

   Know the payout cost before you refinance or sell to clear arrears.

8. Mortgage Payment CalculatorCalculator

   Test what a different amount or amortization does to the monthly payment.

Behind on payments right now? Talk to a licensed broker today