Mortgage rules are undergoing some changes due to the current situation with Covid-19. The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) announced changes to the eligibility rules for mortgage insurance, in the agency’s latest response to the COVID-19 pandemic. What are the new rules? The new rules...
With the growing challenges couples face to buy property, in part due to houses becoming more and more expensive, more and more people are considering a joint mortgage. What is a Joint Mortgage? As the name indicates, it is a mortgage that you take out with another...
Our last post was about consumer proposals as an option to avoid bankruptcy. We all work really hard to avoid going bankrupt, but, in some instances, it might be the only possible way to deal with debt. Just like with anything else, the most important...
When introduced, the stress test was in itself a cause of great stress for many prospect home buyers. Suddenly, many people were faced with the reality that they could not buy the home of their dreams due to the restrictions put in place to qualify...
Most Canadian graduates finish their post-secondary education with an average of close to $17,000 in debt, according to the Canadian Federation of Students. They are ready to begin their careers. Many start to also think about starting a family and buying a property. The...
You probably know by know the Purchase Plus Improvements Program allows qualified purchasers to borrow up to 20% of the post-renovation value of a home, even with as little as 5% down. However, some planning still needs to be done before you venture into this...
We’ve said it many times: owning a house is almost everyone’s dream. We feel accomplished, it gives us a sense of responsibility, we feel like we have our own space. So, it’s only normal that we make a list to plan the house of our...
So here we stand, at the beginning of the century's third decade, and for us at The Costa Group, things have never looked more optimistic. The shift in the latter part of 2019 to be independently owned means we are now in a better position...
When you ask for a mortgage, you are really telling the lender you will make every payment on time and in full at each billing period, whether it is a monthly, semi-monthly, accelerated bi-weekly or weekly payment. If you don’t make these payments, there are...
Many people do not seem to understand or even know what a prepayment penalty is, whether because it was not well explained or it was not even brought up. If you are not well informed about this aspect, it can be very costly to you...