Mortgages for first-time home buyers
By Cheryl Mills
Mobile Mortgage Specialist, RBC
Are you a first-time home buyer? Arranging your RBC Royal Bank mortgage is easier than you think!
As a first-time home buyer, you probably have many questions. That's why RBC, Royal Bank, offers step-by-step personal assistance. We'll be by your side each step of the way, from helping you understand your options and what to expect, to mortgage pre-approval, and all the way through finalizing your mortgage and the purchase of your home.
So why is getting pre-approved is so important? Well, one of the first steps in buying your home is obtaining a pre-approved mortgage. With a pre-approved mortgage you will:
- Know how much you can afford and what your payments will be;
- Lock in your interest rate; and
- Demonstrate to vendors and their agents that you are a serious buyer.
With that noted, you'll also need to know your mortgage down payment options: the minimum down payment is 5%, which can come from gifted monies from family members, from money you have saved or from your Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP). RBC has a borrowed down payment program where you can borrow the 5% down payment if you do not have all of it available to you.
What your Lender will be looking for to get you pre-approved are the following:
- Obtaining a mortgage application which will provide the lender of your personal and financial information such as birthdates, SIN numbers, address, employer information and income.
- Your permission to pull your credit bureau which tells the lender what your liabilities are and minimum payments. This allows the banks to determine how much you qualify for, for a mortgage.
- Two forms of income verification, which can either be a letter of employment or a most recent T4 along with a current paystub.
- We will also require your down payment verification. We will need to verify all down payments, so if gifted money we will have you and your donor complete a gift letter. If from your accounts, we require a 90-day history and if from an RRSP account, we require a quarterly statement.
Once we have received all of the above information we can proceed to have you pre-approved in less than 24 hours. Then you can start shopping for your new home!
Please feel free to give me a call at any time to answer any questions or to set up an appointment. I am a mobile mortgage specialist and therefore can meet you on your time, at your home or at any RBC branch.