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Vancouver First Time Home Buyers

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Mortgage and Lending with The Mortgage Group - Vancouver/Richmond

If you are a Metro Vancouver first time home buyer, you need to consider the following issues:

1). How much mortgage? You need to find out how much mortgage financing you required. In addition to your down payment, you have to budget for expenditures on home furnishing, repairs, replacement of appliances, renovation, etc.

2). How much down payment do you have? The more down payment you can provide, the less you need to borrow for your mortgage. You may use your RRSP savings as down payment for your home. As a first time buyer your can withdraw up to $20,000 (or $40,000 per couple) tax free from your RRSP account.

3). High ratio mortgages. If you qualified can buy a home with as little as 5% or 0% down payment. If your down payment is less than 20% of the purchase price, you are required to buy a mortgage insurance. Click here for CMHC’s website on buying a home.

4). Pre-approval. When you are pre-approved, you know exactly what your price range, how much to borrow, the interest rate and your monthly payment. Pre-approval also helps in guaranteeing your mortgage rate for 90 days or 120 days depending on which bank.

The Government of Canada has 2 home purchase programs that help a first time buyer purchasing a home. You should find out if you are eligible to take advantage of these 2 programs, namely:

a) Property Transfer Tax Exemption
b) Home Buyer’s Plan - using your RRSP for down payment

For more information on home financing, kindly contact me at 604-721-4817 or email me.