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1. Income Qualifications and Supporting Documentation required; when you are obtaining a mortgage for the first time, you will need to provide specific documentation in regards to your employment situation. For salaried individuals, typically an employment letter, recent pay stub, and 2 years notice of assessments are usually enough. If you are self-employed, the lender will require 2 years notice of assessments, 2 years T1 GENERALS (tax returns), and company financial statements for the last 2 years if incorporated. Typically some documents are asked for such as: 2 years statements of business account, articles of incorporation, and business license.
2. Appraisal; An appraisal is performed by an appraiser who is a licensed, regulated professional who will come and evaluate the price of your new home. Most lenders that you go with will request this as they want to confirm the purchase offer price is in line with what the property is actually worth. This is not a cost that is covered by your lender and it must come out of pocket. The typical appraisal ranges from $300-$500 dollars, depending on the size of the property and what is being assessed. We [the mortgage brokers] contact the appraisal company on your behalf to schedule a time. Typically from there, the appraiser will contact the real estate agent who is the listing agent for that property to schedule a time to appraise the property.

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The Bank of Montreal is reporting that the average first time home buyers budget in Canada is in the realm of $316,000.00 dollars. This is up 6% from last year, indicating that real estate prices have risen and people have to adjust to this ever changing market. The average price for first time home buyers last year was around $300,000.00 dollars, as we all know this price will get you a starter home or a small condo in a city like Toronto. Furthermore, the sample study Bank of Montreal had conducted was hand selected from first time home buyers in Vancouver, Toronto, and Calgary in particular and found budgets for these 3 cities were even higher!
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Reports are increasingly showing that parents are helping their children purchase their first home in the GTA. This phenomenon of parents helping their children purchase their first home is not a new trend by any means, but the numbers they are willing to fork out are. This is becoming a common trend due to the increase of the cost of living (rent), debt amount (student loans), and saving money in general becomes harder and harder.
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