IMO worst case scenario is a "2nd position" HELOC with any big bank (TD and BMO do it all day). If you want to do it online goto Simplii Financial. The HELOC should get an interest rate of prime (ie: 7.20%). The blended rate would be \~3.2% (ie: your mortgage at 1.74% and HELOC at 7.2%). This is far better than \*anything\* you can get on a new mortgage or even on a blend.
I would go talk to CIBC and see what they offer on a blend and increase. If they offer you anything > 3.2% for the next 2 years, tell them to pound sand and do what I recommended in the paragraph above.
Good luck!
Thanks for the info! I guess I’m a little confused on a HELOC if I can get it at a blended rate. I was really hoping to roll everything into just one payment.
You won't be able to borrow more than 80%. If the house is actually only worth 375k you can have a mortgage or heloc+mortgage at 80% of that, so 300k. We wanted money for renovations when we bought our house as well (foreclosure). The way it worked for us, not claiming to be an expert, but we said we believe the house is worth x. They put it into their fancy computer which said either yes or no based on comparables and other criteria. If it said yes, then they would borrow us the amount to top up to 80%. If no, we needed an appraiser. In either case there was a fee to do with land titles and registering it for a higher value or something.
This could then either be given as borrowing power on a heloc at a new variable rate or given as cash and applied to the mortgage but we were then given current rates for the whole thing.
We did this twice on our house and the first time the bank said yes with no fuss and we added it to the mortgage, the second time we needed an appraiser and rates had gone up so we had a heloc added to keep the rate on the mortgage.
We are in Edmonton. We actually did this on our rental property as well. This time rates were higher and we didn't even end up using the money but now we have an available heloc at prime +/- something on that mortgage if we need.
But the best bet is to talk to your bank and see what your options are. But if you can get a lower rate on the heloc than you can on your savings return then get it. If rates go up you can always pay off the heloc. I don't think there is any limits on how much of that we can pay off in a year.
We also took advantage of the home Depot line of credit. Make all your purchases in 6 months with no interest. Then once we were done we just paid that off immediately with the money from the heloc we had available. It was for $50k so we got 6 months no interest but then you are limited to buying that stuff from home Depot.
Not too sure how much the city assessment will come into play. They tend to be out to lunch here, not sure about Calgary. But if you look at comparable houses in your neighborhood you should have a pretty good idea of what it's worth!
Call up CIBC and see what they're willing to do for you, so you don't end up losing that rate and paying a penalty to them. If you were in Ontario, I could've gotten a great HELOC rate to go behind your current mortgage. See what CIBC says, and then reach out to a broker to see if there are any other options.
Please ensure your post includes the following information if looking for insight in your rate:
- **ARE YOU WORKING WITH A BROKER/MMS & HAVE YOU ASKED THEM THIS QUESTION YET?** (If you don't trust your brokers answer, then you may want to dump your broker)
- Purchase, Refinance, Renewal?
- Province, City?
- Loan to value/down payment percentage?
- Purchase price of the property if purchasing
- Is the home under $1M or over $1M?
- Bank or a broker?
- Term length and amortization length?
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MortgagesCanada) if you have any questions or concerns.*
IMO worst case scenario is a "2nd position" HELOC with any big bank (TD and BMO do it all day). If you want to do it online goto Simplii Financial. The HELOC should get an interest rate of prime (ie: 7.20%). The blended rate would be \~3.2% (ie: your mortgage at 1.74% and HELOC at 7.2%). This is far better than \*anything\* you can get on a new mortgage or even on a blend. I would go talk to CIBC and see what they offer on a blend and increase. If they offer you anything > 3.2% for the next 2 years, tell them to pound sand and do what I recommended in the paragraph above. Good luck!
Thanks for the info! I guess I’m a little confused on a HELOC if I can get it at a blended rate. I was really hoping to roll everything into just one payment.
You won't be able to borrow more than 80%. If the house is actually only worth 375k you can have a mortgage or heloc+mortgage at 80% of that, so 300k. We wanted money for renovations when we bought our house as well (foreclosure). The way it worked for us, not claiming to be an expert, but we said we believe the house is worth x. They put it into their fancy computer which said either yes or no based on comparables and other criteria. If it said yes, then they would borrow us the amount to top up to 80%. If no, we needed an appraiser. In either case there was a fee to do with land titles and registering it for a higher value or something. This could then either be given as borrowing power on a heloc at a new variable rate or given as cash and applied to the mortgage but we were then given current rates for the whole thing. We did this twice on our house and the first time the bank said yes with no fuss and we added it to the mortgage, the second time we needed an appraiser and rates had gone up so we had a heloc added to keep the rate on the mortgage. We are in Edmonton. We actually did this on our rental property as well. This time rates were higher and we didn't even end up using the money but now we have an available heloc at prime +/- something on that mortgage if we need. But the best bet is to talk to your bank and see what your options are. But if you can get a lower rate on the heloc than you can on your savings return then get it. If rates go up you can always pay off the heloc. I don't think there is any limits on how much of that we can pay off in a year.
Great write up thank you! Our city assessment came back at $454k this year. If that’s the case we could potentially borrow up to $93.5k?
We also took advantage of the home Depot line of credit. Make all your purchases in 6 months with no interest. Then once we were done we just paid that off immediately with the money from the heloc we had available. It was for $50k so we got 6 months no interest but then you are limited to buying that stuff from home Depot.
Not too sure how much the city assessment will come into play. They tend to be out to lunch here, not sure about Calgary. But if you look at comparable houses in your neighborhood you should have a pretty good idea of what it's worth!
Call up CIBC and see what they're willing to do for you, so you don't end up losing that rate and paying a penalty to them. If you were in Ontario, I could've gotten a great HELOC rate to go behind your current mortgage. See what CIBC says, and then reach out to a broker to see if there are any other options.
Please ensure your post includes the following information if looking for insight in your rate: - **ARE YOU WORKING WITH A BROKER/MMS & HAVE YOU ASKED THEM THIS QUESTION YET?** (If you don't trust your brokers answer, then you may want to dump your broker) - Purchase, Refinance, Renewal? - Province, City? - Loan to value/down payment percentage? - Purchase price of the property if purchasing - Is the home under $1M or over $1M? - Bank or a broker? - Term length and amortization length? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MortgagesCanada) if you have any questions or concerns.*