Residential Lending Guidelines

Loan limits are as follows: 

                                                   Owner-occupied           Rentals 

Purchase                                               75%                        65%

Refinance                                              65%                        50%

Please note that for condos and townhouses, the LTV is 70%.
For purchases, we require a minimum of 10% cash downpayment.
We only lend on the security of the first mortgages on residential real estate.
                -where the property has one or more units, the mortgage may be conventional
                -where there are more than four units, the mortgage may be conventional or                  CMHC-insured

We do finance construction financing, yet we do not do land loans. 

We do not require income verification where the client is putting down 30%. 

We only lend within the vicinity of Metro Toronto and surrounding areas. 

Where a property is rural, we use the house and surrounding five acres as the basis for determining the security for our loan. 

We do provide mortgage financing for cottage and recreation properties, as long as the properties are owner-occupied. 

We provide mortgage financing for condominium and co-ownerships, however we do not finance co-ops. 

We will consider providing mortgage financing for discharged bankrupts, provided that we can review the borrower’s rehabilitation to date. 

We provide mortgage financing for large properties and luxury homes. Applications for large properties must be accompanied by detailed information packages. 

All mortgage fundings must have the following pre-closing requirements: 

-a signed mortgage application and mortgage commitment
-an appraisal completed by one of our pre-approved appraisers
-a satisfactory credit report
-satisfactory evidence that the borrower has the financing ability to service the debt (we will accept accountant letters for self-employed borrowers and we will allow for rent reduction to support debt service)

(These are our basic requirements for which exceptions are never provided. In addition, there may be further requirements that will be based on particular circumstances surrounding a particular mortgage application.)

As a general rule we do not provide open terms for our mortgages. However, for a one year term we do provide for our mortgages to be open upon 30 day’s written notice and a one month interest penalty. The cost for this privilege is a ½% premium on the rate of mortgage.

We provide bridge financing for single-family dwellings. In particular we will finance builder-inventory homes that are either listed for sale or are sold awaiting closing.

Our minimum loan size is $100,000. (lower amounts are acceptable for co-ownerships)

For refinances, we require that the legal work be performed by one of our pre-approved lawyers.

For more information contact:

CARYN MARKMAN
Manager, Residential Mortgages
P: (416) 515-7000 ext. 237
FAX: (416) 515-7001
E: cmarkman@equitabletrust.com