Region served
Buying in Grand Montréal before you have sold calls for a bridge loan, and most lenders grant one only if your sale is firm. The other options, and what they cost.
Here, timing decides. A lender with the best answer in three weeks is useless when the financing condition expires Friday. What slows a file is the appraisal, the notary or a missing document, almost never the analysis.
Bring the complete file to the first call: notices of assessment, income proof, down payment, the signed offer to purchase and the notary’s contact details. Each missing piece costs a day or two, and it’s that pile-up that breaks tight deadlines.
Your offer is only as good as the appraisal. Where few comparable sales exist in Grand Montréal, the appraiser can come in under the price you agreed to, and you cover the difference in cash. It does not get added to the mortgage.
The lender wants to see enough to work out your monthly budget: proof of income, the source of the down payment, your debts and what is left after the bills. Have them ready before the first call about a Grand Montréal file.
Rate is the easy comparison. On a purchase, two offers differ mostly in the penalty to break the term, in how much you can prepay each year and in whether the mortgage moves with you to the next home.
A complete file the first time avoids the back-and-forth that adds weeks. It is almost never the analysis that drags on a Grand Montréal file. Somebody is waiting on an employer, a bank or an appraiser.
To prepare
Yes. It all runs by phone, email or video call, and documents go through online. We can meet in person, but most files get settled without anyone having to travel.
An answer within 24 to 48 hours is common when the file is complete. What stretches the rest is the appraisal, the notary and whatever documents are missing. Set your financing condition to match.
Pick the situation closest to yours.
Contact
Buying, renewing, refinancing, or something a bit out of the ordinary: tell us where you’re at, even if it’s still fuzzy. Mathieu gets back to you with next steps and the documents to pull together.