jempee

HI Everyone. For those who answered my question when i asked how long you have to be a PR to get a mortgage, thanks, and just wanted to update you!

We had already seen a house we loved but was unsure about mortgage etc while we were deciding what to do we decided to look at another property on the same road, smaller and more practical! Looked at it and loved it. weighed up the pro's/con's on both and put in an offer for the smaller one. Some counter attack but husband stuck to his guns and would not budge.......and they then said ok but they didnt want to move out before christmas on the date we asked for well had to let them have their own way about something

Just heard today we have got mortgage approval so it looks like its all systems ahead now.

Alberta_Rose

Congratulations!

Woodstock62

Congratulations!

I hope you will be very happy there.

jempee

cheers Morweena and woodstock. I hope we will be very happy their, feeling a little scared

sans

Good Luck Jempee hope it all runs smoothly . Are you staying around cobble hill?

pete66

Hi

sorry I haven't seen the past threads on mortgages. Did you have to wait a certain amount of time before you could apply...were they certain criterias you had to meet?

We are waiting for our work permits and have made initial enquiries....a lot of them are very negative and say we have to wait at least a year etc....we just don't want to pay our landlady's mortgage for another year.

I think it is going to be hard for somebody to give us a lift onto the property ladder.

Pete

Rob_999

Congrats Jempee !

I've just got mortgage pre-approval too - not a PR yet, just on a temp work permit. We weren't informed about any wait period, but have been here over a year.

Now just gotta find an affordable house in Vancouver :scared:

pete66

Hi Rob

Did you use a broker or a usual high street bank??

thanks

Pete

cov-canuck

We've been in Canada just over a month, and have mortgage pre-approval (put an offer in and was accepted on Tuesday, have the building inspection tomorrow). We had to provide proof of employment (OH just started his job on Wednesday, I start mine on Monday), but that was it. They even said that since our closing date is 2.5 months away, they will ignore the fact that OH has a three month probationary period. We just went with RBC...25% deposit, 5.5% fixed for 5 years.

Rob_999

We used a broker - he got us 5.1% fixed over 5 yrs with TD, but am thinking of going variable given the expected drop in interest rates next year.

pete66

Does the amount you put down have anything to do with it???

Pete

jempee

Sans: Thanks for reply. We are moving to Shawnigan Lake about 10 min drive from Cobble HIll. Do you know the area?

Pete66: We were told by another english couple that we would not even be looked at for a mortgage until we had been here for 3 months. Our realtor put us onto a mortgage broker who said this was not true and has found us a mortgage. We are putting 35% down which she said REALLY helps! Our only problem is the canadain mortgage company wanted a letter from our english bank to confirm we have been good payers as we have no canadian credit history. our bank, Barlays.... would like to rant and rave here but i have done that in a nice letter of complaint to them.......................
say this is not possible and they will only send it to a 3rd party and that will take 6 days if in England but hey you are in canada so could take maybe 2 weeks told them i only have till tuesday to show finances or we will lose mortgage. Have now left it in brokers hands to try and get it sorted. If we lose this house i will not be a happy bunny!!!!!
We went for a variable which is 1.5 below prime so we will be at 4.5% for a year, didnt want to get locked into a fixed rate as so many people have told us that interest rate is coming down. for 3 years after that we will be at .4% below prime. We can change to fixed after the 1st year if we want to. You dont have to pay penalties etc you just call the broker back. The mortgage is also portable...so if we sell up and move the mortgage can come with us. so if the rate has gone up in the mean time it will not matter as you will still have the mortgage at the rate originally set!
I think brokers may be able to get you a better discount, but i really dont know enough to have a valid opinion

Rob_999 I have seen some house prices in Vancouver and they are well high. Good Luck

sans

We have bobbed about between Deep Cove and Parksville like yoyo's, went and had alook at one of the lakes but not sure whether it was cowichen or shawnigan. Heads abit of a shed at mo ( everything going in, nothing coming out not in the right order any ways). My aunt use to live at Honeymoon Bay, i believe thats at Shawnigan Lake. We were told that if you put 35% down we would not have any probs getting a morgage even if we weren't employed and that was RBC in Calgary and a realtor in Nanaimo? Did you by any chance hang on to your last morgage statement? just a thought. Think i best hang on to mine just in case, took it all when we landed, just incase they asked for proof of funds( as i had been previously told we would have to prove funds, and not yet sold house) but they never asked us for proof, no mention of it at all.

traceyparker1

Just wanted to add my thoughts (and frustrations) to this post...my husband and I just moved to Vancouver from the US as permanent residents. We were originally interested in buying a property while still in the US where we both had stable jobs with high incomes. We figured we would do this, rent it out for a year or so, then move over with a place already to come to. The problem was, as non-residents (ie. we weren't living in BC at the time) the only mortgages we could get required a 35% downpayemt. We had been saving for a while, but 35% of an average place in Vancouver is a hell of a lot of money. We put that idea on hold and actually moved out here into a rented apartment in the downtown area. We are on a 12 month lease and figure that we will buy within a year. I already have a job and mu husband has just started the hunt. Now our problem is that we can't get a straight answer from any of the realtors we have been speaking with, regarding mortgages. Some say we need 2 years employment history if we don;t have 35% to put down, others say we can get a mortgage with 0% down, and the middle of the road guys say we need 25% and an averag of $80,000 combined salary. AAGGHH! It's so frustrating! Our monthly rent would more than cover mortgage payments on properties we have been looking at, we both have excellent credit histories, and we really just want our own place. This has been the hardest aspect in the whole process for us - in the US mortgages are practically thrown at you and we thought it would be just as easy here. I'm not sure if it's just BC or Canada as a whole, but it's kind of disheartening and makes us wonder how people manage to buy homes! Any advice/suggestions/ways around this???? Help, please!

Tracey

Griff

Hi Tracey
We are still in the UK, but have had a mortgage offer for a few months now.
My wife is going into healthcare, and has a confirmed job offer.