7 moves every Ontario homeowner should make before they sign.

Credit score, income, down payment, your debt ratios (GDS and TDS), and the property itself. These five decide your approval. Work on them in this order, because credit and ratios are where most approvals are won or lost.

Fixing these first can change the size of mortgage you qualify for.

You don’t qualify at the rate you’re offered. You qualify at the higher of your contract rate plus 2% or the benchmark rate. Run that number first so you shop in a price range that will actually fund.

Shopping at your real qualifying number avoids heartbreak after an offer.

A true pre-approval reviews your documents and holds a rate for you. A quote is just a number on a screen. Only one of them protects you if rates rise while you’re house-hunting.

A held rate is free insurance in a rising market.

Don’t open new loans, change jobs, or make large undocumented deposits between approval and closing. Lenders re-check everything before funding, and a single surprise can pull the whole deal.

Most last-minute collapses are self-inflicted and avoidable.

Prepayment privileges, how the penalty is calculated, portability, and your amortization often cost or save you far more than a small rate difference over the life of the term.

The cheapest rate with a brutal penalty is rarely the cheapest mortgage.

Lenders can hold a renewal rate up to 120 days in advance. Shopping early, instead of signing the auto-renewal letter your bank mails you, is the single easiest way to save money. And since late 2024, switching lenders at renewal with the same balance and amortization no longer requires re-passing the stress test.

The auto-renewal rate is almost never the best rate available to you.

A broker compares dozens of lenders at once, including ones that look past a single bad ratio, self-employment, or a recent life change that one bank would decline outright.

One lender means one answer. A broker means options.