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If you want to buy your first house, renew your existing mortgage or refinance to use home equity, you have to shop around to get the best possible interest rate. Even a 0.1% difference in a mortgage rate can save you thousands of dollars over the life of mortgage.
There is a famous saying that “you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate”. This is exactly how you can get the best mortgage rate, by shopping around and negotiating.
The very first thing you have to do is visit a few mortgage rate comparison websites that compare Canadian mortgage rates. Based on your mortgage balance, mortgage term (such as Fixed or Variable rate), amortization, credit history and income, find out what type of interest you are most likely going to get. This will give you an idea of what interest rate you can get. Once you have an idea of the market, you can confidently talk to your bank or mortgage broker to get the same or better rate.
After knowing the market rate, the next step is to find the right mortgage specialist. The specialist could be from a bank or a broker from a local mortgage brokerage. Finding the right mortgage specialist is extremely important because they can talk to the lenders on your behalf, complete your application and make sure everything is in order. Most importantly, a right mortgage specialist will go above and beyond to get you the best rate. Sometimes, these specialists can give a special discount out of their own commission. This special discount that they give mostly is the reason behind the cheapest mortgage rates in the industry.
Once you get a firm offer from your specialist, you should take that offer to other specialists and ask them to beat it. You don’t have to accept your specialist’s offer right away and finalize it. You have to make sure you are getting the best deal. When you take this firm offer from your specialist to another specialist, do not get into a credit application at all. This is just to get an idea about the interest rates in the market. Sometimes the mortgage specialists at the other financial intuitions or brokerages can give discount when they see an application that is already approved at another bank. All specialists, brokers and lenders are in competition with each other to increase their market share, they will be more than willing to take a look at your application and try their best to beat the interest rate already provided to you.
Last but not the least; interest rate should not be the only differentiating factor! What if a bank is offering you the cheapest rate but has a condition that you cannot pay off your mortgage? Or what if your lowest rate mortgage is only for 18 months and after that the rate will go up? Basically, you have to read the fine-prints and make sure you are getting the BEST deal overall.
There is a famous saying that “you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate”. This is exactly how you can get the best mortgage rate, by shopping around and negotiating.
The very first thing you have to do is visit a few mortgage rate comparison websites that compare Canadian mortgage rates. Based on your mortgage balance, mortgage term (such as Fixed or Variable rate), amortization, credit history and income, find out what type of interest you are most likely going to get. This will give you an idea of what interest rate you can get. Once you have an idea of the market, you can confidently talk to your bank or mortgage broker to get the same or better rate.
After knowing the market rate, the next step is to find the right mortgage specialist. The specialist could be from a bank or a broker from a local mortgage brokerage. Finding the right mortgage specialist is extremely important because they can talk to the lenders on your behalf, complete your application and make sure everything is in order. Most importantly, a right mortgage specialist will go above and beyond to get you the best rate. Sometimes, these specialists can give a special discount out of their own commission. This special discount that they give mostly is the reason behind the cheapest mortgage rates in the industry.
Once you get a firm offer from your specialist, you should take that offer to other specialists and ask them to beat it. You don’t have to accept your specialist’s offer right away and finalize it. You have to make sure you are getting the best deal. When you take this firm offer from your specialist to another specialist, do not get into a credit application at all. This is just to get an idea about the interest rates in the market. Sometimes the mortgage specialists at the other financial intuitions or brokerages can give discount when they see an application that is already approved at another bank. All specialists, brokers and lenders are in competition with each other to increase their market share, they will be more than willing to take a look at your application and try their best to beat the interest rate already provided to you.
Last but not the least; interest rate should not be the only differentiating factor! What if a bank is offering you the cheapest rate but has a condition that you cannot pay off your mortgage? Or what if your lowest rate mortgage is only for 18 months and after that the rate will go up? Basically, you have to read the fine-prints and make sure you are getting the BEST deal overall.