If you're looking to remortgage your home, there are a few key steps you'll need to take before you start. Today, we'll tell you about these essential steps while highlighting the importance of working with Calgary real estate lawyers specializing in mortgage refinancing to ensure a smooth process.

Essential Steps to Take Before Remortgaging Your Home

Remortgaging your home can be a great way to save money on your monthly payments, significantly if interest rates have lowered since you first got your mortgage. But before you start the remortgaging process, these are some critical steps to take and the documents to collect.

Get a baseline

First and foremost, you'll need to know your current mortgage interest rate. Knowing the rates will give you a baseline to compare other rates against when shopping for a new mortgage. You can find this information in your mortgage statement or by contacting your lender directly.

Shop around for a new mortgage

Once you know your current interest rate, it's time to start shopping around for a new mortgage. Pay attention to both the interest rate and the terms of the loan, as these can vary significantly from lender to lender. It's helpful to get multiple quotes so that you can compare and negotiate before making a final decision.

Collect essential documents

You'll also need to have several documents on hand for the remortgaging process.

Collect these ahead of time to prevent any delays:

• The amount of the new mortgage
• Name of the lender
• Names and amounts of all existing mortgages, including branch numbers, loan numbers, and addresses of all mortgagees
• Amount of any of your other debts (like credit cards and lines of credit) the new mortgage will discharge, as well as payout statements and credit card statements
• The names and amounts or lines of credit to get discharged
• Confirmation that your property taxes are up to date. Your lawyers can request a tax certificate to verify if you cannot do this.
• Confirmation that your fire insurance policy shows the new mortgage.
• Are you applying for a second mortgage? Then you'll need to provide the first mortgagee's name, branch number, loan number, and address. That way, your lawyers can confirm that the first mortgage is in good standing.
• Suppose you are refinancing a mortgage on a condo. In that case, your lawyers need an estoppel certificate and a certificate of insurance from the condominium corporation or the property management company.

Do You Need a Lawyer for Remortgaging?

In Alberta, remortgaging your home is a complex legal process. We recommend working with a qualified lawyer specializing in remortgaging to ensure everything goes smoothly, although there is no requirement for having one.

If you do hire a lawyer, they will help with almost every step of the process, including:

• Ensuring the lender's commitment and loan documents are consistent with your mortgage application requirements
• Conducting a title search
• Reviewing any encumbrances on the title (including liens, pending litigation, and other known mortgages)
• Preparing the new mortgage and other required documents
• Determining the balances of your existing mortgage(s), line(s) of credit, and other debts
• Properly discharge any existing mortgages or other debts. Without doing so, you might run into issues obtaining a clear title when you want to sell your property
• If you're dealing with one of the five major Canadian banks, your real estate lawyer can help with depositing the proceeds from the new mortgage, net of disbursements and other fees, directly to your bank account

Learn More About Remortgaging Your Home

If you're ready to take the next steps, contact MerGen Law, LLP in Calgary today. We have a team of remortgage lawyers prepared to guide you through the process and do it right. We'll also work with your lender directly to speed up the process.

Contact us today to begin!

Did you learn a lot from this post?

Here are three more links to visit next:

• Legal Tips: Real Estate Purchase
• Legal Tips: Real Estate Sale
• Be A Smart Condo Buyer: Know Your Condominium Law