Richards Mortgage Group Articles

In this blog, we are going to talk about how a client of mine was able to rearrange her finances such that she and her partner could mortgage qualify for a $400K target house in their neighborhood.

Yes, a Mortgage for a Resident Doctor is Possible! Perhaps you have just finished university, and are now starting your medical doctor internship at the University of Calgary Foothills. Perhaps you have finished your medical residency at University of Alberta in Edmonton and starting your practice. It doesn't matter where you are in Canada, as a new doctor you are likely burdened with heavy student loan debt, a barrier in most cases to qualifying for a mortgage hence homeownership. Yet at the same time, after years of hard work, many young doctors are tired of renting and eager to buy their first home. Good news for you is that there are a handful of mortgage lenders eager to extend credit to debt-burdened graduates coming out of medical school. Whether you call it a pre-practice mortgage, new doctor mortgage, a medical resident mortgage, or a resident doctor mortgage, these are special mortgages specifically designed to meet the needs of physicians just starting out.

Canada's banking regulator has once again updated its "B20" guidelines for residential mortgage underwriting, this time to include a financial stress test for buyers who don't need CMHC-mortgage insurance. OSFI (the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions) said today that the changes will come into force the first day of January 2018 and will "reinforce a strong and prudent regulatory regime for residential mortgage underwriting in Canada."

Or How to Become a Stay-at-Home Mom I had a client call the other day looking for information on a debt consolidation mortgage loan. They had a number of consumer debts the woman caller told me. She was pregnant and concerned about being able to afford all their payments on just her husband's income. She really wanted the option to be a stay-at-home mom without feeling compelled to return to work after the baby was born; could I help them reduce their monthly payments? To find out if I could help, I had some questions for her; Shawna was her name... The first question I asked Shawna was: do you already own a house (because a debt consolidation mortgage requires a house!) The second question I asked was: how much is the house worth? The third question I asked was: what do you currently owe on your mortgage? The final questions was: what consumer debts do you want to get rid of?

Buying your first house can seem very overwhelming and it's easy to not know where to start, or if you're doing the correct things to move the process along. If you remember a few simple rules, you'll be on the right track to owning your own home! Below are 5 golden rules to remember if you'll be applying for a mortgage:

(Last Updated: 2019) Money can't buy you happiness, but it sure can help you reach some of your life goals. But your money won't manage itself. Reaching your first goal as a first time home buyer takes planning, and sometimes guidance from an outside source, like a mortgage planner. Here are five basic steps for reaching your financial goals.