More people are choosing self-employment as a way of life. In fact, over 60% of Canadians are now self-employed in one way or another. Despite this, it still remains incredibly difficult for a self-employed person to get a mortgage. This is mainly due to lack of income verification or inconsistency of income. Although it may be difficult, it’s not impossible!
In general terms, our self-employed clients are still getting best rates by the banks even though they are not able to provide proper income verification. You may ask how? Many of our lenders introduced a Self-Employed program where business owners and other self-employed individuals are able to qualify by using “Stated Income”.
The lenders use a reasonable type of income based on industry, type of business, length of time business is owned, the number of employees etc. to determine if income used is reasonable. The minimum down payment requirement under our Self-Employed program is only 10% of a purchase price under $1,000,000.
Here is a heartfelt testimonial from one of my past self-employed clients. I love helping people achieve their home ownership dreams!
“The process of buying a house can be a nerve-racking time for anyone. Chances are, a house will be the single biggest purchase you make during your lifetime, so it’s absolutely imperative that you go in prepared and ready for war. I had been looking through MLS listings for about a year before deciding to pull the trigger, but I had no idea how competitive Vancouver’s real estate market had become. With no end in sight to climbing real estate prices, I put my Vancouver condo up for sale and started looking to buy a house.
From the first moment I contacted him, Ajit had supreme confidence in his ability to get me approved for a mortgage with competitive rates — but then again, so did the others that I spoke to before contacting Ajit. Getting approved for financing, however, was not a simple task, as I’m self-employed and had already been turned down for a mortgage by my bank. Even though my first option didn’t work out for me, Ajit had a seemingly limitless list of secondary options and helped me choose the mortgage that was best for me and my financial situation.
In addition to helping me find a mortgage, Ajit seamlessly fit into the network I had created between my architect, real estate agent and notary, making sure that the mortgage was taken care of and that he was always available to answer any questions we had. By making himself so accessible, Ajit made all of us feel as if we were his only clients. I have never experienced this level of client support before and if it wasn’t for him, I would’ve had multiple nervous breakdowns. Looking back on this house-buying experience, I’m extremely grateful to have had access to Ajit’s professional expertise, moral support, and assistance guiding me.
Ajit is a true professional in every sense of the word — confident, knowledgeable, seasoned, but most of all, effective. This will definitely not be the last house I buy and from now on, I plan to use Ajit every single time I make a real estate purchase. Ajit makes it so that you can focus all of your time and energy on finding your dream home, not on whether or not you’ll get approved for a mortgage.” — Roy D.
If you know of someone who is self-employed and not getting the best advice about their mortgage, please feel free to introduce them to me.
