Master the fundamentals. Sign with confidence.

Down payments

How much you really need down.

A conventional mortgage means at least 20% down. You avoid mortgage default insurance entirely, and more amortization options open up.

An insured (high-ratio) mortgage lets you buy with as little as 5% down on the first $500,000 of the price and 10% on the portion above that. The trade: a one-time default-insurance premium, paid at closing or rolled into the mortgage. We'll show you the exact number before you decide.

Where does the money come from? Savings, a gift from immediate family (very common, perfectly acceptable to lenders), your FHSA, or the RRSP Home Buyers' Plan — up to $60,000 per person, tax-free, repaid over 15 years. A well-timed RRSP contribution before you withdraw can even generate a tax refund you put toward closing costs.

Open, closed & convertible

The lock on the door, and what it buys you.

A closed mortgage commits you for the term in exchange for a lower rate. Pay it off early or renegotiate beyond your allowed limits and a prepayment penalty applies. For most people staying put, closed is the cheaper, sensible default.

An open mortgage can be repaid in part or in full at any time without penalty — freedom you pay for with a noticeably higher rate. It earns its keep when a sale, inheritance or big bonus is genuinely on the horizon.

A convertible closed mortgage splits the difference: closed-mortgage pricing with the right to convert into a longer closed term at any time, without prepayment charges.

Fixed & variable rates

Certainty, or the odds. Both are legitimate.

A fixed rate locks your interest rate for the whole term: the same payment, month after month, no matter what the Bank of Canada does. You pay a little extra for that certainty.

A variable rate moves with your lender's prime rate. With many variable products the payment itself stays level — when rates fall, more of each payment attacks the principal; when rates rise, more goes to interest. Historically variable has often won on total cost.

Both come in open and closed varieties, and switching between them mid-stream is often possible — locking a variable into a fixed, for instance. There's no universal right answer: it comes down to your budget, your timeline, and how you sleep at night. We'll run it with your numbers, not a rule of thumb.

Amortization

The dial that sets your payment, and your interest bill.

Your amortization is the number of years it takes to pay the mortgage off entirely — classically 25 in Canada. It's the biggest lever on your monthly payment, and it pulls in both directions.

Shorter amortization: higher payments, dramatically less interest over the life of the loan, equity built faster, mortgage-free sooner.

Longer amortization: lower, easier payments — genuinely useful for first budgets — at the cost of more total interest and slower equity. Insured mortgages top out at 25 years (30 for eligible first-time buyers and new builds); with 20% or more down, longer amortizations become available.

Amortization isn't permanent: prepayment privileges (below) let you shorten it year after year, without renegotiating anything.

Prepayment privileges

The fine print that pays you back.

A prepayment privilege is your right to pay extra against the principal, before it's due, without penalty. Every extra dollar skips the interest queue entirely, which is why lenders limit it: your prepayment is their lost interest.

Most closed mortgages allow a set percentage each year — commonly 10–20% of the original principal — plus the right to increase your regular payment. On a $400,000 mortgage with a 15% privilege, that's up to $60,000 a year you could pay down penalty-free.

Exceed the privilege and the penalty is typically three months' interest or the interest rate differential. If paying down fast matters to you — bonuses, tax refunds, a rising income — tell us up front and we'll prioritize lenders with generous prepayment room. If it doesn't, that flexibility is a bargaining chip we can sometimes trade for a sharper rate.