Mortgages 101: What you need to know before looking for a home

Global News's Home School series is back with an explainer on mortgages: what kinds there are, what goes into qualifying and the costs you might not know about.

This article is part of Global News’s Home School series, which gives Canadians the basics they need to know about the housing market that they never learned in school.

For many Canadians, the quest to buy their first home begins and ends at one place: the mortgage.

A mortgage is a particular kind of loan that uses the property itself to back the financing. Since few people have enough cash on hand to buy a home outright, this is the most common way for prospective buyers to finance the purchase.

But the process of securing what, for many homeowners, will be the biggest loan of their lives is not exactly straightforward.

Between the multiple stages of approval, the choices between fixed and variable rates and the impact from the Bank of Canada, homebuyers have a lot to weigh before and after signing on the dotted line.

Here’s everything you need to know about mortgages.

Meghan Symons of Real Mortgage Associates in Georgetown, Ont., says brokers or agents like her should really be the “first stop” for someone gearing up to take a run at the housing market.

First, some terminology: a mortgage broker or mortgage agent generally refers to someone who works independently of lenders to help buyers compare mortgage rates from a variety of institutions.