Prime Mortgage
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Most Burnaby purchases are strata, and strata is where approvals quietly go wrong. I read the documents lenders will read, flag the problems early, and compare offers across more than 30 lenders.
Buy in Burnaby and the odds are you are buying into a building. Metrotown, Brentwood and Lougheed are dense with towers, Edmonds and Highgate with mid-rise and townhouse stock. That changes what a mortgage approval depends on: the lender is assessing the strata corporation as carefully as it is assessing you.
What that means in practice is that a perfectly strong borrower can be declined because of a building. A depreciation report showing a deferred envelope repair, a contingency reserve that is thin for the size of the complex, minutes hinting at a special levy that has not been voted on yet — any of these can turn an approval into a decline, and it usually happens late, once the lender has ordered documents. The fix is to look at them during your subject period, when a problem is a negotiating position rather than a lost deposit.
The rest of Burnaby is a different conversation. Houses in Burnaby Heights, Capitol Hill, Deer Lake and Government Road have been held by long-term owners who now have considerable equity, and much of my work here is refinancing to fund a renovation, help a child buy, or consolidate more expensive debt. Presale completions around Brentwood and Metrotown are their own category again, with an appraisal risk that is far better handled months ahead than in the final week.
Practically, that means the first thing I ask a Burnaby client for is the address, not the income. The building narrows the lender list before your file does. Once I know which lenders will lend on it, the rest of the work — comparing rates, terms and penalty clauses across more than 30 of them — is the straightforward part. The mortgage payment calculator is a reasonable place to start if you want a rough figure before we speak.
From a first one-bedroom at Brentwood to refinancing a Burnaby Heights house that has been in the family for thirty years.
At Deepinder Sidhu, we are dedicated to helping you turn your dream of homeownership into reality.
Read More about Prime MortgageDeepinder Sidhu is committed to making your home-buying journey simple, confident, and stress-free.
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Read More about B LendingBurnaby buyers tend to fall into a few recognizable groups, and each needs a different lender.
Metrotown, Brentwood and Lougheed are dense with newer towers. The building matters as much as the buyer: lenders look at the depreciation report, the contingency reserve and any special levy before they look at you.
A presale bought three years ago has to be financed under today’s rules, on an appraisal done at completion. If the appraisal comes in under the contract price, the gap is yours to cover. I would rather work that out months ahead than in the final week.
Selling a condo to buy a townhouse or a house in Burnaby East usually means bridging two closings. Bridge financing is straightforward when arranged in advance and stressful when it is not.
Houses in Burnaby Heights, Capitol Hill and Deer Lake have gained a great deal of equity. Releasing some of it for a renovation, a second property or debt consolidation is one of the most common requests I get here.
Five stages, with the strata review deliberately placed before you commit rather than after.
What you are buying or refinancing, roughly what you have for a down payment, and when you need to move. Free, and no credit check at this point.
Income, credit and debts reviewed against the stress-test rate, with strata fees and property tax included the way a lender includes them. You get a figure you can shop with.
For a strata purchase I look at the depreciation report, reserve fund and minutes for anything a lender will object to. Better to know before subject removal than during it.
Your documents go once to the lenders most likely to approve both you and the building, and I negotiate rate, term and prepayment terms on your behalf.
Instructions to your lawyer or notary, coordination with the lender through to funding, and a review before your renewal comes up rather than a letter you sign on autopilot.
North Burnaby, South Burnaby and everywhere between.
My offices are in Surrey and White Rock. Burnaby clients are usually handled by phone, email and e-signature, which is faster than driving across the region — though you are welcome to come in if you would rather.
The strata issues that cause late declines get raised while you still have subjects, when they are a negotiating point rather than a crisis.
Strata fees and property tax are in the calculation from the start, so the payment you plan around is the payment you will make.
Applying at four banks yourself means four inquiries on your file. Going through me means one set of documents and one pull.
The lender pays the commission. Where a file genuinely needs a fee-based solution you will hear the number before any work begins.
Yes, and it is more common than people expect. Lenders review the depreciation report, the contingency reserve fund and recent minutes. A large upcoming special levy, an unresolved building-envelope repair or a very low reserve can cause a lender to decline the property even when the borrower is strong. Different lenders draw the line in different places, which is why checking early and having alternatives matters.
Yes. Presale completion is its own process: the mortgage is arranged close to completion under the rules and rates in force then, not those when you signed. The appraisal is the risk — if it comes in below your contract price, you cover the difference in cash. I start these files well before the completion window so there is time to deal with a shortfall.
A meaningful amount. Lenders include a portion of your monthly strata fee in the debt-service calculation alongside property tax and heat. Two units at the same price can support different mortgage amounts purely because one has higher fees. I include this from the first conversation so your budget does not shift later.
Sometimes. Lenders look closely at leasehold titles, and parts of UniverCity are leasehold rather than freehold. Leasehold is financeable, but fewer lenders will do it and the remaining lease term affects both approval and amortization. It is worth confirming the title type before you make an offer.
Yes — that is bridge financing, and it is common here. It covers the period between your purchase completing and your sale funding. It is straightforward when the sale is firm and arranged in advance, so tell me your dates as soon as you have them.
Usually, but not all of it. Lenders either add a percentage of the rent to your income or subtract the shortfall between rent and carrying costs from it, and the two methods produce noticeably different results on the same property. You will need a lease and often the last few months of deposits. If you are weighing keeping the condo against selling it, this calculation is the one that decides it, and it is worth running before you list.
Three to four months before your completion date, and earlier if your income has changed since you signed. Presale financing cannot simply be arranged at the last minute: the lender needs a current appraisal, and if it lands below your contract price you must cover the gap in cash. Finding that out with a month to go leaves you very few options; finding out with four gives you time to arrange something.
New Westminster, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Vancouver, North Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey and the rest of Metro Vancouver, along with the Fraser Valley. I am licensed in British Columbia and Alberta.
Send me the address or the building and I will tell you what lenders are likely to say about it — and about your file — before you commit to anything.