Thinking about buying your first home? The race to home ownership is more like a marathon than a sprint: diligent planning, pacing and strategy are the keys to success. Are you ready to approach the starting line? Here are five ways to shape up and boost your financial fitness so you’re set for success. 1. […]

This is the fourth part of a series by Pam Pikkert of things the average mortgage professional wished people knew so that they would not be held back by inadvertent missteps. Life can go sideways and that is a fact. Illness, divorce, death, longest recession in 30 years or whatever the cause is, before you […]

Pre-approvals are certainly beneficial. However, they can also be very disappointing if you are not prepared to know what they actually mean. They DON’T mean… They don’t mean that you have a mortgage. Until there is a Purchase Agreement (a written up contract to purchase a property) actually submitted to a bank and a commitment […]

Knowledge is power! With education comes limitless possibilities. Are our kids learning the essentials in life? Are they being empowered to make life-changing decisions when they enter into the real world of economics? The education that most kids in senior secondary school receive these days focuses on biology, math, physics, chemistry, English, physical education, social […]

So you’ve graduated from high school and off to university or college. Before you start, take the time to set down some goals and a budget for your financial future as a post secondary student. Your parents have probably been telling you to put aside some money from your part time job into savings. However, […]

Are you an adult with an aging parent(s) and are you concerned about your parents’ ability to remain financially independent? Today, Canadian adults have many responsibilities, including the concern for their children’s well-being, as well as their parents’ quality of life and their debt. As life expectancy rises for the senior demographic, there is a […]

Oh Canada; Our home and Native Land. The land of opportunity. You’ve arrived in a new country with hopes and dreams. If you’re an immigrant like me, one of these dreams is to own a home, and what better way to put down roots. The first thing you want to do is open a bank […]

Financial difficulty can happen. Marital breakdown, economic downturn / job loss, health issues are all realty. If I can give one piece of advice it’s this – in the face of financial difficulty the worst thing that a person can do is to go dark on their creditors. In my experience, being 100% upfront and […]

This is the third part of a series by Pam Pikkert of things the average mortgage professional wished people knew so that they would not be held back by inadvertent missteps. The next installment in the things we wished people knew series is targeted at the self-employed. This intrepid group of risk takers are entrepreneurial […]

Most of us know that changing your mortgage payment from monthly, or semi monthly, to an accelerated bi-weekly payment instantly reduces your standard 25 year amortization by 2.58 years with today’s rates. (If you didn’t know that, you’re likely not working with the mortgage professionals at Dominion Lending Centres). Sometimes, however, an accelerated bi-weekly payment […]