The Best Rate Blog

How a professional mortgage broker can help

You have plenty of mortgage questions, how does a professional mortgage broker help?

The biggest challenge with first time home-buyers is that they have a multitude of questions and at the start a lot of those questions have to do with mortgage financing. As an Edmonton professional mortgage broker, we can can help. Among the first questions a first time home-buyer has are:

1. What size of mortgage do I qualify for? Try our maximum mortgage calculator.
2. How much will my monthly payments be? Try our mortgage calculator with down payments.
3. How much of a down payment will I need?
4. What are the other costs are part of buying a home? See Buying a Home in Canada.

Realtors and Mortgage Brokers Work Together

Many Realtors partner with a professional mortgage broker when they are dealing with a first time home buyers. They find it very effective to start the process off with the first time home buyer working with the Mortgage Broker who educates the client on what is involved in the financial side of buying a home and has completed the following steps with the client:

1. Review the client’s financial situation to determine how much of a mortgage the client qualifies for.
2. If the client has any credit challenges the broker works with the client to address these challenges, including a credit rebuilding program if necessary, so that the client can meet the lenders credit requirements.
3. Discuss with the client the many options for down payment ranging from zero down/flex down to gifted down payments and the Federal Government Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP) which allows first time home-buyers to access their RRSP savings for the down payment.
4. Discuss with the client the First Time Home-Buyer Tax Credit which can be used to offset some the costs associated with purchasing a home, such as legal fees, disbursements and land transfer taxes.
5. Have the client pre-approved with a lender so that when the client starts looking for homes with the Realtor they can make an offer confidently along with having a lower rate locked in if rates move up while they are looking.
6. Manage the mortgage file all the way to funding so that there are no hiccups or surprises that can interfere with the purchase closing on time.

Both the First Time Home-Buyers and the Realtors who use this process of partnering with a Mortgage Broker find that this a very beneficial process. If you are looking for a professional Mortgage Broker who not only has an established first time buyer program but who is also available to partner with you to do first time buyer seminars, please call or email us at Best Rate Mortgage Group.

Compare what a Mortgage Broker can offer to what your Bank offers

It is wise when in the market for a mortgage to compare what is being offered by your Bank with what is available through a Mortgage Broker. The Government of Canada, on their web site https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/services/mortgages/reduce-prepayment-penalties.html  states that it is best to check with a Mortgage Broker with regards to what they can offer.

The four areas you should compare are:

1) Rate:  Once you have the rate your Bank will offer you, contact us to see if we can offer a better rate from one of our over 40 lenders.

  1. Payout Penalties: No one plans to break their mortgage before the term is up but life happens so confirm with your Bank how they calculate the IRD penalty, then call us. The difference could cost you thousands of dollars.

3) Service: Compare the service you receive from your Bank vs a Mortgage Broker. The bank employee works for the Bank and its shareholders, a Mortgage Broker works for you.

4) Expertise:  Buying a home and getting a Mortgage is the biggest investment you will make.  You want to have someone with many years of experience working for you. At the Best Rate Mortgage Team we have over 20 years of experience.

You shop around and compare when you are buying anything online which saves you money and ensures you are making the right buying decision, so it makes sense to do the same when you are in the market for a mortgage.

Contact us anytime with any mortgage questions you may have

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