Your equity is real money — here's the cheapest way to reach it.

Often, no — in a buyer's market this is one of the most common files we place. The listing sits, but the equity in it can still be pulled: sized to cover the down payment and closing costs on the next purchase, and structured so you can carry both properties. You buy while prices favour buyers, keep the original home listed or rent it for a year or two, and sell when the market tilts back toward sellers. Being told by one bank that you can't carry two mortgages doesn't mean every lane is closed — a home that's actively listed does narrow which lenders will touch it, but that's a placement problem, and placement is exactly our job. Run your numbers above, then send us the file.

Exactly what our published fee schedule says: a residential A-lender refinance is lender-paid (zero brokerage or lender fee to you) plus roughly $2,500 legal and an appraisal. Alternative firsts and second mortgages carry brokerage and lender fees with minimums on smaller amounts — brokerage from $2,500 residential and $10,000 commercial, private lender fees from about $2,500 residential — always disclosed in writing before you sign anything. The penalty on a break is the other big line — variable is 3 months' interest; fixed can be IRD — and it drops to zero at renewal.

The cheapest time is at renewal: a new mortgage that funds on your maturity date pays no penalty at all, and the switch can be locked in up to 120 days ahead — so if your renewal is on the horizon, run these numbers early and have the money land the day the old term matures. But the best time is when you actually need it: a CRA balance about to become a lien, a deposit deadline, a partner buyout, payroll — those don't wait for a maturity date, and the cost of missing them is usually far bigger than any penalty. That's what the second-mortgage path is for (no penalty, ever), and why the calculator prices a mid-term break honestly — sometimes the penalty is small enough that waiting was never worth it.

Clearing CRA balances before a lien lands, consolidating credit cards and high-rate loans, a down payment on the next property or on business premises, buyout of an ex-spouse or partner, renovations, and working capital for a business. What matters to the lender is the story and the exit; what matters to you is the cost per dollar — which is exactly what the two paths compare.

If you're self-employed, often yes — stated-income programs qualify on what the business actually earns rather than your deliberately-lean personal T1, at both alternative and private lenders. Salaried borrowers qualify on regular income. Either way, equity strength does a lot of the work on take-out files; placement does the rest.

See it on a real file: Salon Owner's Stated-Income Refinance at 68% →