r/MortgagesCanada

Hi Everyone. Shared this earlier on TorontoRealEstate and it’s somewhat created a HIGE polarized conversation leaving me more confused than when I started. Was recommended to post here instead.

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Hi everyone,

My wife and I put a deposit on a new build in Pickering, ON. APS signed October 2025 - (closing projected for March 2027). Purchase price is $1.1M. We are both FTHB

So far:

$100k deposit paid

Planning another $150k–180k on closing

Combined income 200K

I’m debt-free, she’s got ~$10k student loans

Both have good credit

We’re also looking to use the GST/HST rebate,to finish the basement for rental income. (It seems I don’t understand this rebate fully)

(not toward the mortgage unless absolutely needed). Worst case, we’ve got ~$50k in gold we could liquidate.

Here’s the issue: a colleague told me flat out there’s no way we qualify. Said income is too low and we’d need way more down. Claims he’s seen people in better positions get denied.

Now I’m lowkey spiraling wondering if we messed up big time.

Are we actually that far off here, or is he being overly pessimistic?

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Thanks everyone for your replies:

Adding some context since a lot of people are saying “go talk to a bank/expert” —

My wife and I are first-time home buyers and signed our APS in October 2025.

We’ve already spoken to banks and professionals, and the consistent answer has been: “it’s possible, but it depends on how things look closer to closing given the market.”

We fully understand this isn’t guaranteed, and we have backup options (like family support) if needed — but that’s something we’d prefer to avoid unless necessary.

I’m not here looking for someone to tell me it’s guaranteed. I’m trying to understand whether this is truly a “no chance” situation or not.

And yes, I could keep calling banks, but with how quickly things change, I’m not going to call every week. The point of posting here is to hear real-world experiences alongside professional input not replace it.

Hey everyone,

I’m trying to understand how builder incentives interact with CMHC qualification and wanted to see if anyone here has dealt with this before.

Scenario:

* Pre-construction purchase price is around $500K

* I have an incentive in the APS for a 24 month no condo fees. I would still have to pay condo fees during that duration but it will be applied as purchase price adjustment at final closing ( total value will be around 10k so purchase price would be reduced by that in Final SOA)

My question is about how this is treated at closing / underwriting :

If the Statement of Adjustments (SOA) reflects a lower effective purchase price due to incentives, does the lender / CMHC actually use that lower amount for final ratios (GDS/TDS)? Or Do they still qualify you based on the original purchase price in the APS, regardless of incentives?

I’m getting mixed answers, so trying to sanity check with people who’ve actually gone through this.

Appreciate any insight

My wife and I have been riding variable for 5 yrs. The majority of it being crushed by COVID, that said we had great discount rat. currently 3.2. RBC is offering 5 year variable at 3.5 or fixed at 3.84. Should we lock in? If so would it only be beneficial to do so early for the fixed? Or recommend riding it out at lower rat. for future 3-4 months.

Posting for a friend -

They have ~25k in student debt remaining however all of that 25k is 0 percent interest. They obviously have a minimum payment monthly which is great but I assume this would impact debt services when calculating GDS/TDS? Assume this is the only debt and still 800+ CS and their spouse has 0 debt and great CS as well? (assume +20% dp on property - no insured mortg if that changes calculations)

Any "benefit" the loan is 0 percent?

Option is to pay the whole loan off but would lower down payment (since that $ would go here)

From a high level, what is typically advised?

Hi,

Looking for advice, I have a want and not sure if it's at all feasible to do.

Looking at a parcel of land that is a dream, price $125k

Looking at building a custom style home on property but being the GC and DIY a lot of the work.

Total estimated cost will be under $500k

How do I get a mortgage for the pervertible "what If" scenario above?

There will be no "builder" and I will sib out the needed things but don't want to pay a GC for the costs savings.

Thoughts on how to do this?

Not a first time home buyer, but a First time home buyer alone.

This is my dream house, dream build, dream property.

Affordability is there, Easily.

Quick update and major thank you to everyone!

After moving back to Canada after a decade, and 2 years of determination and struggle, we ended up buying a home!

Thanks again for all the help on the last post, and for all the clarification on the confusion, it helped me to ask the right questions!

I'm a Physician and I moved from GTA to near Belleville and decided to rent until I could find a house I want to buy. I found a developer building about 40 houses about 50km east GTA. The price is just under 2 million, and I have 20 percent for a down payment.

But apparently the rules change when your out side the GTA, you can put down 20 percent on the first 1 mil, but 50 percent of the rest of the purchase price.

I was not prepared for this. Saving another 400k is not in my realm. Anyone have any ideas of my options?

Hello,

I would like to know if I made a mistake taking a 6 month contract months before my mortgage renewal. The renewal is on September 1st.

We would like to refinance to do important renovations on my house. Not esthetic renovations but things that are essential. Our basement is just cement so we need flooring. We have a non-functional balcony, some non-functional windows and a problem with the roof that's leaking.. So we just want the house to be full function.

We don't want to take a huge amount probably max 35k.

We had 5 years fixed at 2 percent interest and the balance will be about 300k at renewal.

My husband makes 75k annually. In my situation I was on 2 back to back maternity leaves that is permitted in Quebec and I had to leave my job in between because I couldn't find a daycare for my first child. So I left in March 2025 right after my first mat leave ended and started my second one in April 2025 and I haven't worked since. This job was a 2 year contract that was going to end May 2025. So I was going to be out of work regardless.

My second mat leave just ended and I needed to find a job as soon as possible to not go into debt. The thing I found was a 6 month contract for a sick leave replacement that I started last week. It's 70k annually. I would have ideally like to find a permanent role that logistically works with daycare but waiting to get a job could have taken months in this market and I needed something now. But now I'm very worried it'll affect our possibility to refinance.

Other debts are our car loans that both total to about 60k and 2k on a credit card.

We have great credit scores and never missed any payments in 5 years.

How possible is a refinance ? Should I do my best to keep looking for work ? Are there any other options ?

Obvious throwaway as including real numbers. I understand (based on search) that qualifying using corporate income is not unusual. Looking for insights specific to my situation (e.g. is it simple, complex, potential approach etc.):

1. Assets - 1 M house (aprox.) 400k remaining. ie. 550 - 600K equity. plan to retain this for renting
2. Other assets (mostly registered accounts) 1 M (approx.)
3. Pvt. Corporate assets (retained earning): 1.2 M liquid
4. Typical Annual revenue 400k to 500K. Salary drawn 220k for the past few years
5. No major liabilities. maybe new car in the near future

Goal : New primary home around 2M. 20 percent liquid downpayment saved in addition to assets above

Main Question(s): Can I obtain mortgage for the rest of 1.6M? Do I need a bigger downpayment? Would this fall within regular lending envelope or do I need to explore alternate channels?

P.S: I was pursuing this with my current broker, but I had to terminate that avenue as he was not on the ball / responsive (which is very atypical of him) : which is now making me wonder if my situation is very hard (to qualify for).

P.P.S: the current mortgage renews next year. it has a clause to inform the lender if I am renting, so maybe it may need to be renewed at different terms, idk. Don't know if that makes a difference to the overall situation

Appreciate any inputs / insights

I’m at a bit of a crossroads in my career and would really value some honest input from people who’ve actually been in the trenches.

I’m currently working as a truck driver (with some supervisory experience), making about $5K/month after tax. I’m looking to transition into a sales-focused career where I can match or exceed my current income with long-term growth potential.

The three paths I’m seriously considering are:

- Mortgages (mortgage agent/broker)

- Real estate (agent)

- Car sales (dealership sales)

For those of you who’ve worked in any of these:

- What does the day-to-day actually look like?

- How long did it take you to make consistent money?

- What are the biggest pros/cons that people don’t talk about?

- Which one would you choose if you were starting fresh today?

I’m not afraid of hard work or commission-based income but I do want something realistic and sustainable, not just hype.

Appreciate any real-world advice or experiences 🙏

Do they have 40 year mortgages in Canada?

I made the mistake of putting a family member on my property title/mortgage years ago. They have a very small ownership stake, but I make all the payments on the property. We stopped talking a year ago due to some family drama.. I don’t even know where they live anymore.

Our renewal is coming up. Our mortgage is with TD. I heard some banks don’t require signatures from both owners for renewal. What is renewal process with TD if I stick with them?

I am planning to get this situation fixed, but would be helpful knowing my options this time around.

I am coming up on the 10yr renewal - I am with Scotia bank and cannot change lenders atm - their offer is 4.14 (fixed) - does anyone have any tips for negotiating a better offer?

I'm in the process of a renewal with a 470k mortgage and was quoted an accelerated bi-weekly payment $50 more than what we calculated on the FCAC's website and another bank's mortgage calculator. Is our lender trying to pull a fast one, or is there another reason for this?

Edit: Should add that the mortgage calculators I use are based on the exact same payment scenario, same mortgage and same rate, etc

I’m thinking of changing to another lender but I was wondering if the new lender would pay for all fee related to the switch minus penalty e.g discharge fee? I was offered 4.04 for 3 years fixed and prime -0.96 for 5 years variable but I think there are better ones being offered by other lenders. Thank you everyone!

When doing the final paperwork for mortgage, do they ask if you have kids and does that affect borrowing power in Canada? Single dad of 2 kids, no child support going either way.

Hi all, I bought a house in Feb 2023 for 1.25million, with 390k down at 5.44 for 30 years on a 4-year fixed term. Total mortgaged amount was 860k. We've been trying to pay down pretty aggressively and now owe about 750k on the house and I'm starting to think about renewal options.

I'm now about 10 months from renewal with RBC and want to figure out my options. Will the bank reach out to me closer to the renewal date with a "standard" offer? Is it worthwhile shopping around now and potentially pay the IRD, or am I too far out? Our HHI has increased since the purchase so I'm not concerned about any verifications they want to do.

Hi friends, my mortgage is renewing in July and I’m currently shopping around. I’m doing my own research because my mortgage broker has not found good offers.

For CIBC I was able to find a responsive mortgage advisor but RBC has been so bad. I signed up for a specific advisor (you have to choose on their website) to contact me last week Monday and they said someone will get in touch in 24 hrs but he didn’t call so on Thursday I called him and he sounded annoyed and told me someone else will call back. A girl called me an hour later and said the guy was actually on vacation… she will send me a list of documents required on Monday this week. After a few back and forth, I sent all of it by Tuesday afternoon.

What is a normal turnaround time for mortgage approvals? I don’t want to keep pestering advisors but would love some insight.

Thanks!

Hi there, I was all set to renew my mortgage with TD by switching to a FlexLine mortgage, but only recently became aware that I would lose my CMHC insurance in the process. How much could this cost me in the future? We will still have 15 years remaining after this term is up. Our mortgage guy did not mention we’d lose our insurance so I thought the HELOC was a perk with no downside and we even already agreed to pay for the appraisal to facilitate the switch. Mortgage isn’t up for renewal until Aug 1 so I do have some time if I decide to walk away (though guessing I’ll have to eat the appraisal cost). Thanks in advance!

Just started 1 month and invested time to go open houses and actively reach out to realtors. However, they don’t reply emails and follow ups. I have some clients to work on but my bank incentives are not strong. I could not use social media based on my bank policy. Any advice?