Imagine if you didn’t have a mortgage. You could save for retirement, take those trips, maybe even buy a house in the Okanagan to summer or winter in. But first, you need to pay off your original mortgage.
Our Kelowna mortgage brokers help homeowners not only buy their houses, but pay them off faster with steps you can negotiate when you’re applying for a mortgage.
Top strategies to be mortgage-free:
- Increase the frequency of your payments. By making weekly rather than monthly mortgage payments, you end up making the equivalent of 13 months of payments each year rather than 12. Over time, that means savings thousands in interest by speeding up the life of your mortgage.
- Make your regular payments higher. When it comes time to renegotiate your mortgage with a mortgage broker in Vernon, consider increasing your payments. If you now have a little more you could give each month—even $100—it’s going to add up fast and possibly shave years off your term
- Give an annual lump sum. Some mortgage agreements allow homeowners to make hefty extra payments once a year to help you trim down the remainder of your mortgage. For some families, those tax returns (if you’re lucky enough to get one) can be a great source of extra funds to contribute to an annual lump sum.
If you’re not one of the lucky ones who get a substantial tax return each year, you might have to get creative when it comes to finding the money to be more aggressive with your mortgage payments.
What can you do to save money and pay off your mortgage sooner?
According to a recent poll of Canadians who paid off their mortgage early, the following strategies helped them plan and become mortgage free:
- 53 per cent said they skipped large, “unnecessary” purchases
- 53 per cent said they created a budget to track their spending
- 49 per cent cut down on extra spending, including restaurant and entertainment costs
- 38 per cent skipped vacations
Looking for ways to pay off your mortgage faster? When it’s time to renew your mortgage, contact the top Okanagan mortgage brokers at Kal-Mor Mortgages & Investments doing business as OneCallMortgage.ca, serving Penticton, Kelowna, Vernon, Kamloops and Salmon Arm. 1-800-567-5511