Two ratios set how much you can borrow: what housing costs relative to income, and what all your debts add up to. With a condo, monthly fees count too. They shave off more capacity than people think.
Papers to gather first
Bring two years of notices of assessment, recent pay stubs, an employment letter and three months of statements showing the down payment. Buying a condo? Add the declaration of co-ownership, the syndicate’s budget and the contingency fund status. An underfunded one should worry you as much as it worries the lender.
Budget and payment
What a lender approves and what you can comfortably pay are rarely the same number. Settle on the second one first: in Grand Montréal, taxes, insurance and heating come on top of the mortgage every month.
Offer conditions in Grand Montréal
Count the timeline backwards from the signing date: lender review, mortgage insurance if it applies, the appraisal, and then the documents that will always be missing. A financing condition that is too short costs you an extension to ask the seller for, in Grand Montréal as anywhere.
Property eligibility
The lender approves the property as much as the borrower. Condition, intended use, anything the inspection or the title flags: any of it can stall a Grand Montréal file that looked settled on the numbers alone.
Funds required at closing
On top of the down payment: notary fees, tax adjustments and transfer duty. In Grand Montréal the welcome tax often shows up months after the purchase, when the move and the furniture have already drained the account. That is exactly why people forget it.
To prepare
What to gather.
Purchase budget
Verified income
Down payment
Current debts
Property conditions
Financing deadline
Frequently asked
Can the file be reviewed remotely?+
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.
What down payment is needed for a first purchase?+
5% on the first $500,000, then 10% on the portion above. Under 20%, mortgage insurance is added to the loan. In a condo, the condo fees also count in your ratios.
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.
