Mortgage help, kinda....

Get yourself pre-approved for a Mortgage rate, through a Mortgage Broker……then, spend the next 30 days or so thinking it over

don't bother going to meet with mortgage brokers by the way. just do it yourself online.

spin mortgage. vancouver based, riders, great service. best rates. no affiliation personal or otherwise, i'm just impressed with their business model and like the dudes.

if you can run an investment portfolio online by yourself, why not a simple mortgage?

I work in the business for a major bank.
In my opinion never invest your downpayment money in an instrument that does not guarantee your principle, sooo any type of Mutual fund, equity act is out of the question. Money invested in quities etc should always be a long term horizon i.e. plus 10 years (ex retirement)
2nd be very careful as to the prepayment allowances given to any mtg you take out from a bank. Ie the ability to increase you monthly, weekly payments. Even if you are allowed to make accelerated payments etc. which has the power to knock off 3 plus years of your amortization.
Brokers are great but go to a bank that has a Mortgage specialist. Their pay structure is a lot different from brokers so they are a bit more in tuned with the full banking package. You do not need to someone who is a one trick pony. you need an institution that will add advise about your mortgage and investments under one roof. Get rid of your mtg quick so that the bank can help you save for retirement should be the goal for all banks. Hope this helps!

I work in the business for a major bank.
In my opinion never invest your downpayment money in an instrument that does not guarantee your principle, sooo any type of Mutual fund, equity act is out of the question. Money invested in quities etc should always be a long term horizon i.e. plus 10 years (ex retirement)

I agree with your stance, but am curious how a bond ETF would fit into here, or any other short term investment (i.e., my TFSA)

If the price of oil keeps going down, interest rates may come down, and mortgage rates with them.

AFAIK:
Variable follows prime rate, which has been sitting at near record lows (currently at 3% - hit 2.25% in 09)… so I guess we could dive a bit from where we are at now.
Fixed generally follows Bond rates, which just hit a record low (1.01%), even though fixed mortgage rates aren't really budging from the 2.89ish level (YMMV).

Not a whole lot more downward movement in mortgage rates that can happen at this point IMO - but it doesn't sound like anyone's talking rate hikes anytime soon…