A mortgage is a loan, based on the value of property, to help you achieve your goals Mortgages are useful when you:

• Are looking to buy a first home
• Want to renew an existing mortgage at maturity or earlier
• Want to take equity out of your home to:
• invest
• consolidate your debts
• do renovations

The following is a list of different Mortgage Terms:

• High Ratio
• Conventional
• Open
• Closed
• Fixed term
• Variable
• Adjustable
• Combinations of the above

Combinations of all of those variations makes your choice more complicated. Banks can only offer you their product line while Brokers can offer you different products from all the different lenders, including the banks. Sometimes the lowest interest rate is NOT the best deal.

Some interest rates are compounded monthly or some semi-annually. There are a variety of payment options such as:

• Monthly
• Semimonthly
• Weekly
• Bi weekly

Some reasons that the best interest rate is not the always the best deal are:

• Better pre-payment options
• Smaller penalties if you wish to pay off the mortgage early
• Fees or admin fees from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)