# 1st Time Renewing Mortgage



## AOB8 (Aug 21, 2009)

Hey folks...long time lurker, first time poster. Sorry for the long post. Please bear with me.

My wife and I have a mortgage which is due for renewal the end of August. We are currently with PCFinancial and have a fixed rate of 5.22%.

I have been looking into it and I am leaning toward a variable rate. PCFinancial is offering 2.25% right now (on their site - I have not spoken to them yet). I plan on shopping around a little.

I have a little different scenario. Here goes...

When we bought our house, we were preapproved together at 5.22%. We weren't sure if we were going to be staying in our area long term and we weren't very aggressive about buying a house - especially if we were only going to live there a few months.

Turns out, we liked the area and decided to stay long term. Our preapproval was going to expire and rates had gone up so we needed to act fast.

My wife was fresh out of university and still on probation at work. The bank told us we should get a co-signer or I should get preapproved by myself (at a higher rate) because she was still on probation. We didn't want to do that and her parents said it wasn't a problem and co-signed.

So here we are, going to renew 5 years later. Here are my questions/concerns:


We want to get her parents off the mortgage as co-signers.

We plan on moving in the next year. Is there anything I need to consider now before I renew or porting our new mortgage should not be a big deal?

Is there anything we need to consider when changing from a fixed term mortgage to a variable rate mortgage?

I'm sure I'll have more questions but this post is long enough at the moment.

Thanks in advance for your time.


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## jamesbe (May 8, 2010)

Make sure you get an open mortgage or only a 1 year term if you plan to move. Otherwise you will be paying a penalty of say 3 months interest when you move.

If your wife is working now and you too, don't see why you can't get the parents off. 

I'd suggest a variable rate, I've said thousands since I switched to variable and paid many years off because of it.


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## AOB8 (Aug 21, 2009)

jamesbe said:


> Make sure you get an open mortgage or only a 1 year term if you plan to move. Otherwise you will be paying a penalty of say 3 months interest when you move.


We plan on buying right away - will we still pay a penalty if we are purchasing a new home after we sell? I was under the impression we had a set amount of time to get a new mortgage after we sold - otherwise, we'd have to pay 3 months interest.


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## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

AOB8 said:


> [*]We want to get her parents off the mortgage as co-signers.


Your previous loan agreement will expire so this is not an issue. Only if they are on the title will this be a problem.



AOB8 said:


> [*]We plan on moving in the next year. Is there anything I need to consider now before I renew or porting our new mortgage should not be a big deal?


Doesn't have to be open, nor short fixed term. It certainly can be, but you can also get around by getting a portable mortgage, that will be transferred to your new home



AOB8 said:


> [*]Is there anything we need to consider when changing from a fixed term mortgage to a variable rate mortgage?
> [/LIST]


Just the fact that the rates could increase and you should plan to be able to absorb those added costs.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

AOB8 said:


> Hey folks...long time lurker, first time poster. Sorry for the long post. Please bear with me.
> 
> My wife and I have a mortgage which is due for renewal the end of August. We are currently with PCFinancial and have a fixed rate of 5.22%.
> 
> ...


Find out what the bank will qualify you for.
You have two choices if selling in a year , you have to go through with lawyer to remove the parents and will also have to pay land transfer fees on their share to put it in your name.
Or keep them on but they will have to sign all docs when you sell and close the house.I have been doing variable mortgages for 10+ years but when we got a 5 year fixed @ 3.49% we grabbed it.


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

jamesbe said:


> Make sure you get an open mortgage or only a 1 year term if you plan to move. Otherwise you will be paying a penalty of say 3 months interest when you move.
> 
> If your wife is working now and you too, don't see why you can't get the parents off.
> 
> I'd suggest a variable rate, I've said thousands since I switched to variable and paid many years off because of it.


Agree that it should be no problem getting the parents off assuming both of you are currently gainfully employed.


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## break_thru (Jan 22, 2010)

I have seen current variable rates as low as P-0.83. Most banks have prime at 3% so that's 2.17%.


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## AOB8 (Aug 21, 2009)

My wife and I both have good jobs. We make 120k+ between the two of us.

I'm not 100% sure if her parents are on the title or not. I'm hoping it's just a matter of the current agreement expiring and then not having them cosign again. If they are on the title, I will probably just wait for them to sign the papers if/when we sell.


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## AOB8 (Aug 21, 2009)

break_thru said:


> I have seen current variable rates as low as P-0.83. Most banks have prime at 3% so that's 2.17%.


I wonder if and how much PCFinancial will bend when it comes to matching rates like this?


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## AOB8 (Aug 21, 2009)

Thanks for all the advice and info.

Does anyone have a recommendation in regards as to when I should contact the banks or should I just wait for PCFinancial to contact me? I assume I should be hearing from them soon with 4-5 months until my current mortgage term expires.


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## jamesbe (May 8, 2010)

No, they won't contact you until 1 month before expiration or closer. They don't want to give you time to shop around.

Get a rate locked in now, with PC Financial or others. I just received prime - 0.85 form BMO.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

BMO sent us the best offers last year but TD matched them for us.The property tax bill should show who is on title.


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## AOB8 (Aug 21, 2009)

marina628 said:


> BMO sent us the best offers last year but TD matched them for us.The property tax bill should show who is on title.


Excellent. I was just thinking - where should I look for that. Thanks!

I will definetly start looking for rates now.


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## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

AOB8 said:


> I will definetly start looking for rates now.


Find a broker! They'll do all the leg work for you and give you access to the best rates.

Use the internet to look into all the options, then specifically request what works best for you from the broker. Lowest rates aren't always the best for everyone.


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