Paying off your mortgage faster can pay huge dividends

Paying down your mortgage faster. It’s one of those boilerplate suggestions that financial advisers love to make to their clients. After all, throwing extra money at the biggest debt most Canadians have can result in big interest savings and being mortgage-free years sooner. So why isn’t everyone doing that? According to a spring analysis by […]

Average Canadian house price up 5% to $401,585, CREA says

With Toronto, Vancouver out of equation, average home worth $327,988 The average price of a Canadian home was $401,585 in July, a five per cent rise compared to last year. The Canadian Real Estate Association repeated its claim that booming sales in the large, pricey markets of Vancouver and Toronto are skewing the national average higher. If […]

5 reasons why a fixed-rate mortgage could be your best bet

It’s a decision that millions of Canadian homeowners struggle with repeatedly during their time as homeowners: Do they choose the security of a fixed-rate mortgage, or opt for the flexibility (and usually lower cost) of a variable rate and hope that rates don’t spike higher? But right now, conditions in the mortgage market mean homeowners […]

IRD Penalty Comparison Rates

The much-unlovedInterest rate differential (IRD) penalty is a mystery to most of the natural born population. People loathe it, largely because they don’t understand it. We continually come across folks who read their entire mortgage contract and are still confused by the IRD calculation. Fortunately, federal disclosure guidelines are on their way later this year. […]