What a mortgage broker does
A bank can offer you its own mortgages. A broker arranges a mortgage for you with one of many lenders: banks, credit unions, and alternative lenders for people whose income or credit does not fit a bank's template. You make one application. We put it in front of the lender whose rules fit your situation, and we handle the paperwork from the first call to the day the money moves.
Every mortgage on these pages follows the same three steps: a short call; documents first, then the application; then approval, conditions and funding. The broker handling your application is your contact through to funding, and you hear from us as each step closes, not when you chase.
Which page is yours
Pick the closest match; each page says what lenders look for, what to bring and what it costs.
| Your situation | Start here | What that page covers |
|---|---|---|
| Buying a home | Buying a home in BC | Pre-approval, down payment and closing costs, and the timeline from offer to keys. |
| Your first home | First-time buyers | FHSA, Home Buyers' Plan, the BC transfer tax exemption, and what your down payment changes. |
| Debt, a renovation, a second property | Refinance and equity take-out | When it makes sense, break penalties in plain words, and what it involves. |
| Term ending within a year | Renewals and switches | Why we start twelve months out, the bank's offer beside the market, who pays for a switch. |
| You work for yourself | Self-employed | Two years of returns, bank programs for owners, and the red flags fixed before submission. |
| Arrived in Canada recently | New to Canada | Programs by status, credit without a Canadian history, and money from abroad. |
| Buying a rental | Investment property | How rent is counted, holding companies, and proving a portfolio property by property. |
| The bank said no | When the bank says no | Lenders beyond the banks, every cost in writing, and the plan back to a bank. |
How we compare lenders
Rate is one line of the comparison. We also put the term, how the penalty is worked out if you leave early, and how much you can pay down each year without one beside each other. Whether the mortgage can move to your next home and the lender's conditions sit in the same comparison, because those are what cost money later. If your bank's offer is in hand, bring it; it goes in the same table.
No lender sees your application until you say so. One credit report, pulled with your written consent, travels with the application, so the lenders read the same report rather than each pulling their own. There is no credit check at the enquiry stage.
The lenders we work with include TD, Scotiabank, BMO, Beem Credit Union, Coast Capital, Prospera, Envision Financial / Tru, Community Savings and WealthONE, and a range of alternative and private lenders across BC. See every lender we can place with →
What it costs
For most residential mortgages the lender pays the brokerage when the mortgage funds, so you usually pay no broker fee. For private lending and some complex applications a broker fee may apply, and it is disclosed in writing before you commit to anything.
Some costs come with any mortgage, whoever arranges it: the lawyer or notary, an appraisal if the lender asks for one, BC property transfer tax on a purchase, and the default insurance premium on a purchase with less than twenty percent down. Each page below says which apply to you.
Every page, in one place
Each one is written so a first-time reader leaves knowing what to bring and what happens next.
Buying a home in BC
Pre-approval first, then a purchase that closes on the date in the contract.
Buying a home →First-time buyers
Programs, down payment rules and a plain explanation of what you can afford.
First-time buyers →Refinance and equity take-out
Consolidate debt, fund a renovation or a second property, or restructure what you have.
Refinance →Renewals and switches
The conversation starts twelve months before maturity, not the week the letter arrives.
Renewals and switches →Self-employed
Two years of returns, the right lender program, and an application that explains your income.
Self-employed →New to Canada
Programs for permanent residents and work-permit holders, and what counts without Canadian credit.
New to Canada →Investment property
How lenders count rent, when a holding company helps, and proving a portfolio property by property.
Investment property →When the bank says no
Lenders beyond the banks, every cost in writing before you sign, and a plan back to a bank.
Credit challenges →Not sure which page is yours? Tell us what you are doing and when, and we will say which applies. We reply within one business day, with no credit check at this stage. Book a 20-minute call →