Top mortgage stories of the week:

• RBC increases mortgage term rates - Other banks likely to follow suit
• To avoid home-buyers’ regret, do your homework
• Pre-approval versus pre-qualified

This Week's Quotation:

“ Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. ” - John F. Kennedy

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RBC increases mortgage term rates - Other banks likely to follow suit

RBC Royal Bank raised two of its mortgage rates by one-fifth of a point each on Tuesday, and it's likely other lenders will soon follow suit, an economist told The Sun. Helmut Pastrick, chief economist at Central 1 Credit Union, said bond yields have gone up by about 0.3 per cent in the past four weeks, and that is probably driving the increase… Read more....

To avoid home-buyers’ regret, do your homework

With Canadians entering the housing market in greater numbers than ever before, it wouldn't be surprising to find that many suffer buyers' regrets. But a recent survey commissioned by TD Canada Trust suggests the most common regrets for first-time home buyers have little to do with paying near record level prices, or purchasing the wrong house. Instead, many say it was a mistake not to buy sooner so as to stop pouring money down the rental hole with nothing solid to show for it… Read more....

Pre-approval versus pre-qualified

Getting pre-qualified usually involves having the lender estimate both your borrowing power and the maximum amount of mortgage you can carry. This usually involves supplying a lender with basic information regarding your income, assets and debts. As this is an initial pre-qualification stage, usually no information is verified at this point. It's simply a place to start to estimate the price range of homes you can consider. A pre-approval is a written commitment issued by the lender after a detailed analysis of your creditworthiness… Read more....