Could anyone please tell me if this is right i spoke to a mortgage broker who told me that with an income of £35,000 and 35% down payment i would not be qualify for a CanadianMortgage because my expenses has to be 30% of my income and since my mortgage alone in the uUKis £650 .

Depends if they are taking the UK mortgage into account. Shop around, but with that level of income, even with a downpayment (35% of what btw?) things might be tight with the debt service ratio.

Not true, we have just got a mortgage with no Canadian income. There is a mortgage scheme available for new immigrants who have lump sums to invest in property. On our pre-approval form it is listed as 'Welcome to Canada'. Our broker said it is backed by the Canadian Government although he is not sure exactly how.

To get this you have to put down at least 35% of the value of the house you are buying. You have to provide a full credit report and credit score from a well known credit reference agency in the UK eg Experian, submit bank statements from the UK showing that you pay your bills, bank statements from Canada showing that you pay your bills here too, copy of PR card and SIN card, scan of passport and COPR document, a reference for each applicant from your bank in the UK or your last employer in the UK. This sounds like a lot of paperwork to collect, but it is all things that we brought with us.

Our broker applied to Scotiabank and we had a pre-approval within 3 hours.

I wish we had known about it as soon as we landed, it could have saved us a fortune in rent.

No one questioned how much we were paying out in the UK, just that we paid our bills on time.

Thank you colsgirl is this mortgage only available to people who have got thier PR as we are still in the process.

I'm not sure, you'd have to check with them. We have some friends who are hear on a work permit and they managed to get a mortgage without any problem. So, I think that it might be that you have to be here rather than 'in process'.

Hi Cosgirl,
This is really interesting.
We have been looking at renting when we do the final leap in June this year (Already have PR and have landed, still waiting for the bloomin house to sell).
However it would be better if we could get a Mortgage and buy a place straight away so we don't have to move about (problems wih kids schools and catchment areas......).
You said that you were able to get this without having any Canadian Income which is what situation we will be in (no job until after we come for good).

How did you stumble on this scheme (I didn't see it in any of the landing papers)
Can all the brokers and banks offer it?.
Is there a penalty to do this (higher intest rates etc).

Looking forward to your reply,
SS

am interested in this also, found this on a search

http://www.thebestrates.ca/immigrants.html

I've contacted these people, and they seem very helpful. Here's some information I got...helpfully it helps some of you.

If you are planning on taking equity out of your home to purchase a home in Canada I would recommend doing it three months prior so that you can show the money in your bank account for three months. The banks here will not like to see that you still own a home in the US as they will want that to be included in your debts.

When you arrive in Canada will you be here on a work permit or will you have your landed immigrant status? That is what is meant by establishing residence. You do not need to have a place to live until you arrive and that could be a rental if need be.

For the Welcome to Canada program, as long as you have 35% for a down payment they are not concerned about employment. You will have to show where the money is coming from. They are very strict on that due to money laundering. If you have saved the money in a bank account they will want to see 3 months worth of bank statements. If it is from proceeds from a sale of your home they will like to see the closing documents from the lawyer. Either way the money will have to be deposited into a Canadian bank account.

What the process typically is, is as follows:

Obtain Landed Immigrant status

Apply for Social Insurance Number (you will need this before the bank will release mortgage funds to you and it usually takes 2 – 3 weeks, but, you can purchase a house before that as long as you don’t take possession before you get the number)

Place an offer on a property – conditional of finance for 5 business days

Submit mortgage application (usually takes 2 days if you have all your paperwork)

Waive the condition

Go to lawyers to sign paperwork

Move in



Usually it takes about 30 days from start to finish, especially when you have to wait for your social insurance number

Just a follow up...she made it seem like you need to be living there, but said that a hotel would be okay. So presumably, you could be there on a landing vacation and use a friend / relatives address.

We found out quite by accident. I asked our realtor for some information and she gave us the phone number of a mortgage broker. He was the one who told us about it. He said that provided you had all the required documentation, it was really east to sort out. As he put it - as a Canadian, next time you need to get a mortgage it wont be as easy!

I don't know if all the banks do it Scotiabank definitely do. Any mortgage broker worth their salt, should know about it.

The interest rate is exactly the same as a Canadian walking in off the street would pay. We got a good deal that is 5 years fixed rate - so we know exactly what we are paying.

I wish we'd known about it before we landed. If we had, we'd have probably bought somewhere last year.

I have just been told that it is much easy to assume a mortgage what is the implication of this would it be easy to sell.