Found 6 blog entries tagged as mortgage.

Knowing your home’s value is crucial—whether you’re thinking about selling, refinancing, or just curious. In a market like Vancouver, where prices shift with demand, interest rates, and seasonal trends, you don’t want to guess. You want real, useful data.

Good news? There are several easy ways to find out what your property is worth without needing to be a real estate expert. Let’s break it down—method by method.

1. Use Online Home Value Estimator Tools

Let’s start with the quickest method: online estimators. These tools use recent sales, market trends, and public data to give you a fast, no-cost estimate of your home’s current worth.

You simply type in your address, confirm some details, and in seconds, you get a rough valuation. These…

2326 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Buying a home in British Columbia can be challenging for first-time buyers, given the high property prices in the province. Saving enough for a down payment, closing costs, and securing a mortgage can feel overwhelming. Fortunately, there are many programs and incentives in B.C. – as well as federal initiatives across Canada – to help make home ownership more affordable. This guide provides a clear overview of these opportunities, explaining the basics of specific tax breaks, grants, and loans, along with practical details on how they work and how to apply.

If you’re new to Canada or just new to homeownership, it’s crucial to focus on programs relevant to British Columbia (for example, U.S. resources like hudhomesusa.org won’t apply here). In B.C.,…

4254 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Purchasing a home is a significant milestone, but it doesn't have to break the bank. With strategic planning and informed decisions, buyers can save substantial amounts during the home buying process. Here are five effective tactics to help you retain more of your hard-earned money.

1. Enhance Your Credit Score Before Applying for a Mortgage

Your credit score plays a pivotal role in determining the interest rate on your mortgage. A higher score can lead to lower interest rates, translating to significant savings over the life of your loan. For instance, improving your score from 650 to 750 could reduce your interest rate by up to 1%, potentially saving you thousands.

Action Steps:

  • Review your credit report for inaccuracies and dispute…

166 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Buying a home is one of the biggest steps a person can take. But before you start scrolling through listings or booking showings, there's one crucial step every serious buyer should complete: getting a mortgage pre-approval. It’s not just a formality—it’s the foundation of knowing what you can actually afford. In this guide, we’ll walk through what pre-approval means, how it works, and why it matters so much in today’s real estate market.

What Is Mortgage Pre-Approval?

A mortgage pre-approval is a process where a lender looks at your credit score, income, debt, and financial documents to decide how much money they’re willing to lend you for a home. The lender will give you a pre-approval letter, which shows sellers…

161 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Buying a condo in Vancouver can be both exciting and daunting. Whether you’re a first-time home buyer or a seasoned investor, the stakes are high in one of Canada’s priciest real estate markets – even a condo (typically more affordable than a house) is a major purchase. To avoid costly surprises, it’s essential to do thorough due diligence. Here are 5 crucial things you should check before buying a Vancouver condo. Following this checklist will help you protect your interests and ensure the property is the right fit for your needs and budget.

1. Vancouver Real Estate Market Conditions and Pricing

Before you start condo hunting, get a clear picture of the current housing market. Vancouver’s real estate landscape in 2025 is notably different from the…

1174 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Canadian prices, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose 2.3 per cent on a year-over-year basis in March, down from a 2.6 per cent increase in February. Month-over-month, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI was unchanged in March.

The overall slowdown in headline CPI is largely driven by lower gasoline prices, with the CPI excluding gasoline rising by 2.5 per cent in March.

Shelter price growth continues to cool, as mortgage interest costs were up 7.9 per cent, marking the nineteenth consecutive month of deceleration. Similarly, rent was up 5.1 per cent year-over-year in March, down from 5.8 per cent in February.

In British Columbia, consumer prices rose 2.6 per cent year-over-year, down from 3.0 per cent in February.

The Bank…

941 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post