Closed in 2023 · Published October 18, 2026
- Residential
- Prime lender
- Purchase
- First-time buyer
- Single income
- Port Moody
- Value
- about $840,000
- Loan-to-value
- 80% of the value
- Debt-service ratios
- about 52%
- Credit score
- 823
- Rate in 2023
- 6.59%, three-year fixed, 30-year amortization
The Situation
A single first-time buyer was buying a Port Moody townhouse with three bedrooms and three bathrooms, close to SkyTrain and Simon Fraser University, to live in, valued at about $840,000.
The Challenge
Everything rested on one salary of about $130,000 as an animation lead, in the same job since February 2018. The credit file was clean but thin, and on that one income the debt-service ratios came to about 52%, well over the usual 44% limit.
The Solution
In 2023 we placed the mortgage with a major Canadian bank under its bundled conventional program, 80% of the value, on a three-year fixed term at 6.59% with a 30-year amortization, qualified at 8.59%. The bank took the ratios at about 52% on an 823 score with every account paid as agreed, no debt and more than five years in the job.
The Outcome
Our client bought a first home with 20% down, about $170,000, drawn from about $250,000 of savings and investments saved from that salary.