Consumer Guide 2015 mbabc.ca | 43
lend on these properties even for qualified
borrowers. Mortgage brokers are in the
market every day and are aware of lenders
who will lend on specific property types.
Another situation in which a mortgage
broker can help is obtaining a second
mortgage. A homeowner may want to
keep his or her existing financing due
to favourable terms or to avoid an early
payout penalty, but may need to borrow
additional funds. A second mortgage may
be the answer, but is not available from
most first-mortgage lenders. Or a lender
may be willing to lend the money for a first
mortgage, but for less than the full amount
required – a second mortgage could enable
the borrower to access additional funds. By
working with a mortgage broker, borrowers
may still be able to meet their goals.
Mortgage brokers can offer expertise in
many other challenging situations, and offer
suggestions like using equity in another
property to increase borrowing capacity,
or prepaying some payments to set a
lender at ease about collecting payments.
Brokers see all sorts of different situations
and frequently come up with solutions that
would not occur to the average borrower.
Often, restructuring a financing request and
dealing with the correct lenders makes all
the difference.
Just keep in mind that many of the
niche and specialty lenders are small, with
more limited funds, so their appetite for
lending changes from month to month.
As they lend money on one type of
mortgage, they may change their focus
to other areas of the market to rebalance
their mortgage portfolios. And it gets even
more challenging when a borrower has
a combination of issues, such as bruised
credit, income verification challenges and
an unusual property all at the same time. A
good mortgage broker can quickly canvas
the likely lenders for each situation and let
a borrower know what options are available
at any given time, as this market does
change over time. What works today may
not work next summer or vice versa.
Mortgage brokers are specialists who
are constantly researching and finding
lenders for different financing situations.
Dealing with a mortgage broker can
allow borrowers to proceed with their
plans knowing their unique mortgage
requirements are being met in an evolving
mortgage market.
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