A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan. However, the word mortgage alone, in everyday usage, is most often used to mean mortgage loan.

A high-ratio mortgage is a loan that is above 75% and up to 95% of the purchase price or appraised value of the home, whichever is less. These mortgages must me insured against loss by either Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), a Federal Government Corporation, or GE Capital, a private insurer. The premiums can be added to the mortgage amount or paid at closing.

A Pre-Approved mortgage is a Free and No-Obligation deal that lets you know before you go looking for your home or signing an offer to purchase, how much you can afford to borrow based on your qualification and personal credit rating. Most morgage companies will arrange for you the most competitive rates with longest rate guarantee period that goes up to 120 days – if rates go higher, your rate will not be affected, and if rates go lower, you get the lower rate. This protection is solely responsible for savings thousands of dollars for many people who obtained a pre-approval and the rates increase afterwards.

Upon making a mortgage loan for the purchase of a property, lenders usually require that the borrower make a downpayment; that is, contribute a portion of the cost of the property. This downpayment may be expressed as a portion of the value of the property (see below for a definition of this term). The loan to value ratio (or LTV) is the size of the loan against the value of the property. Therefore, a mortgage loan in which the purchaser has made a downpayment of 20% has a loan to value ratio of 80%. For loans made against properties that the borrower already owns, the loan to value ratio will be imputed against the estimated value of the property.

An open mortgage allows you the flexibility to repay the mortgage at any time without penalty. Open mortgages are available in shorter terms, 6 months or 1 year only, and the interest rate is higher than closed mortgages as much as 1%, or more. They are normally chosen if you are thinking of selling your home, or if expecting to pay off the whole mortgage from the sale of a another property, or an inheritance.

Bridge financing refers to a special, short-term loan needed to cover the time gap when two properties, both firm sales, are involved and the closing dates don’t match. The property being purchased closes before the one that was sold. There is a small set-up fee charged by the lender to have the bridge loan arranged, plus the cost of the interest as now you are carrying both properties for a short time. The rate charged on the bridge loan is about 2-3% above the bank’s prime.

Buying a new home then use Barrie’s Best Home Inspector. Stop by Roger Frost’s site where you can find out all Barrie’s Premier Home Inspector and what he can do for you.

Helpful Articles

Tags: banks, finance, insurance, interest, loans, mortgage, payments, rates, types

This entry was posted on February 16, 2012 at 6:32 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in insurance by Roger Frost No Comments Yet