Mortgage features and your mortgage
To get a mortgage to purchase a home, a home buyer will need to make regular payments to pay off the loan. There are four key features that make up the payments: mortgage amount, amortization, interest rate and payment frequency.These features will help you determine:
- Monthly payments
- Mortgage length
- Total interest paid
- Total cost of a mortgage
The key features that make the mortgage payment
Mortgage amount: the purchase price of the home, minus the down payment. A smaller down payment will lead to a larger payment. A more expensive home will lead to a larger payment. If a home buyer has a down payment of less than 20%, they will also need to pay for CMHC insurance, which gets added to the mortgage amount.
Amortization Length: The length of time that it takes for a borrower to pay off their mortgage. The longer the amortization period is, the less monthly payments will be because the payments are being spread across a longer period of time. However, it is important to know that the longer it takes for a borrower to pay off their mortgage, the more interest they will end up paying. Typical amortization periods in Canada are 25 and 30 years.
Interest Rate: The percentage of the loan the lender charges the borrower to lend money from them, usually expressed in an annual basis. Essentially it is the cost of the debt a borrower takes on in order to purchase a property. The higher the interest rate is, the more money a borrower will pay.
Payment Frequency: The schedule at which you choose to pay off your mortgage. This can be monthly, semi-monthly, weekly, bi-weekly, accelerated weekly, and accelerated bi-weekly. Accelerated payments increase the amount paid yearly, however, it also decreases the amount of interest paid.
Use our mortgage calculator to figure out your mortgage payment
Find out more about these features with our Mortgage Calculator
Pro-Tip
Having a lower monthly payment does not mean that you are paying less interest. Paying off your mortgage more quickly (accelerated payments, or shorter amortization) will help to pay it off more quickly. Us the mortgage calculator above to see how to save money, or apply for a mortgage today and speak to on of our Advisors. Apply now!
