How Can I Afford A More Expensive House In 2022 : 3 Useful Tricks

Before we answer the question: how can I afford a more expensive house in 2022?, it’s important to first discuss what you need to get a mortgage when purchasing a home in Hamilton. To get a mortgage, you need 3 main things:

• Income
• Credit
• Down payment

You can get a mortgage when 1 of those items is lacking, as lock as you are stronger in one of the other 2 areas. Let’s say all of that is in order, you’ve been pre-approved, and all the homes in Hamilton that you are interested in are too expensive. Now what do you do?

Here are 3 ways to qualify for more:

1. Increase your income. You might ask, how can I do that? I can’t just fabricate additional income out of thin air! No, but you can fabricate income from a basement rental. 🙂 If you find a home that has a rentable basement apartment, that additional potential income can be used to afford more house.
2. Get a strong co-signer. Another way to introduce additional income is to get a good co-signer. A good co-signer is someone who has good credit, good income, and relatively little to no debts of their own. Don’t forget to mention to your mortgage broker in Hamilton all sources of your income. For example, some people may neglect to mention the child care tax benefit, that also contributes to your usable income.
3. Increase your down payment. If you can reach the 20% down mark (or more), the banks are generally much less restrictive on how much they will lend you. The reason is that the higher the stake you have in the property, the less risk for the mortgage lender. 20% is the magic number because it eliminates the scrutiny of CMHC! The down payment or a portion thereof, can come from an immediate family member as a gift. That means there needs to be no expectation for it to be paid back. That is, it cannot be a loan.