Experts Questions and Answers

Some mortgages are portable and some are not.  Some lenders are licensed in all provinces and others are not. It is a good question to ask because most Canadians just assume they will either have to payout their mortgage or that it can come with them but not always.  There are mortgages that are portable to a new property but there are conditions and the most common condition is that the property must be of equal or greater value in order to be considered for the port.  Remember also that a porting privilege is porting the amortization of the existing mortgage as well so sometimes a "blend and extend" option is better to consider the overall strategy.  What I normally do is look at the present conditions as well as any future conditions that might influence the decision making and strategy becomes the bigger part of the decision making.  For example, if you have two years left on the mortgage, and you plan to have children and be off on maternity leave, it might be wiser to extend the term of the existing mortgage to ensure that you are back to work and able to continue to make the payments should the interest rate have gone up when the mortgage renews and the timing of it happening puts you in a precarious situation.  This is one of the benefits of working with a mortgage broker since we can set up preapprovals up to 120 days prior to your mortgage coming due and as we work with over 75 lenders, it helps to have options and back up plans!  Call me directly if you wish to discuss your personal situation and I would need to review your mortgage document to see what you have set up with the Mortgage company you are using.