Veronique Fortin's (montrealmortgage) Blog

As mortgage professionals, we feel it is of the utmost importance to inform our customers as to the significance of their credit standing and how it affects their capacity to obtain a mortgage and, even worst, affects the cost of borrowing, especially in these uncertain economic times. Making som...

Only available for the 2009 tax year. The Home Renovation Tax Credit is a non-refundable tax credit based on eligible expenses for improvements to your house, condo or cottage. It can be claimed on your 2009 income tax return. It applies to eligible purchases made after January 27, 2009, and befo...

The question that all mortgage borrowers ask us most often: Is it better to opt for a fixed- rate mortgage or variable rate mortgage? For several years, the classic answer was always: it depends on your cash flow and your tolerance for risk, but the variable rate mortgage or short term has been m...

Credit rating is the means of assessing the credit worthiness of individuals, companies, states and countries. It indicates the ability of the debtor (individual, company, state or country) to fulfill his financial commitments. Credit rating can refer to personal, corporate or sovereign credit ra...

When Rahim Moosa lost his job last October, he decided to sell the house he'd bought with his wife a year earlier. His lender, TD Canada Trust, said there would be an $8,000 penalty to break his five-year closed mortgage – an amount he found tolerable. "   By the time we sold in April 2009, TD Ba...

If Shakespeare's Hamlet were a 20-something living in Toronto today, chances are he'd be working on his first career. He'd have some inheritance in the bank, he might even be living in his mother's basement. He'd have little job security, no pension and would probably be soliloquizing about the s...

The Bank of Canada should cut interest rates to a record low next week to stimulate the economy, a panel of private-sector economists said Thursday as evidence of a deepening recession - globally and in Canada - mounted, including a major drop in Canadian home sales and home prices. The C.D. Howe...

Canadian homeowners are green with envy over the fact our neighbours to the south are allowed to deduct the interest paid on their mortgages from their taxes. Is it possible to do the same thing here? I received an elegant little flyer in my mailbox the other day. It was a small glossy fold-over,...

While blue skies and picturesque lakes certainly drew people to this valley, its postcard-perfection hasn’t been enough to stave off the effects of worldwide economic trouble. The first signs came when water-cooler talk changed from estimating real estate gains to lamenting losses in retirement p...