First-Time Home Buyers · Surrey, BC & Alberta · Since 2012

Nobody teaches you how to buy your first home.

So most people learn it from a bank employee whose job is to sell them a product, three weeks before completion. Here is the version you should have had at the start: what you can actually afford, where a down payment really comes from, and what leaves your account on closing day.

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  • Direct broker communication — you’re never chasing updates
  • Self-employed, newcomers, bruised credit, commercial and private

Step 1 · What you actually qualify for

The number that matters is not the one on the listing.

Almost every first-time buyer starts in the wrong place. They find a house they like, then work backwards to see whether it is possible. By then you are emotionally committed to a number that may have nothing to do with what a lender will approve.


Start at the other end. Your income, your credit, your down payment and your existing debts produce a range. That range is the honest boundary of your search, and knowing it before you look saves you from the two worst outcomes: falling for something you cannot finance, or shopping thirty percent below what you could comfortably carry.


One thing worth saying plainly. Every buyer in Canada is qualified at a rate higher than the one they will actually pay, under a federal rule that applies to every lender. Nobody removes it. What differs between lenders is how they read your income and which debts they count, and that is where a broker earns their keep.

  • How your income is documented, which matters more than how much it is
  • Credit history, and what a short one does and does not rule out
  • Student loans, car payments and credit lines, and how each is counted
  • Whether a co-signer, co-borrower or guarantor changes the picture, and how they differ
  • The difference between what you qualify for and what you should spend

General information for British Columbia and Alberta. Not an approval, a rate quote or advice on your specific file.

Step 2 · The down payment

Your down payment has more sources than you think.

Most first-time buyers underestimate what they can put together and overestimate how much of it a bank will explain to them. These are the sources we go through, and the ones people most often forget they have.

Source 01

First Home Savings Account (FHSA)

A registered account designed for first-home savings, with contribution and lifetime limits set by the federal government. Eligibility and limits apply — worth confirming with your accountant or financial planner alongside your mortgage plan.

Source 02

RRSP Home Buyers’ Plan

Allows eligible first-time buyers to withdraw from an RRSP toward a home purchase, repaid over a set schedule. Withdrawal limits, holding periods and repayment terms are set by CRA and change from time to time.

Source 03

Gifted down payments

Many lenders accept gifted funds from an immediate family member, supported by a signed gift letter and evidence the funds are a gift rather than a loan. Requirements vary by lender — we’ll tell you exactly what yours needs.

Source 04

BC property transfer tax exemptions

First-time buyer and newly built home exemptions may reduce or eliminate BC property transfer tax on qualifying purchases. Thresholds and eligibility rules change, confirm your situation before you budget for closing.

“As first-time homebuyers, we had many questions, and Dil and Mandeep always took the time to explain everything clearly and made sure we understood all our options.”

Jackie Gee · Google review

This overview is general information, not tax or financial advice. Program rules, limits and eligibility are set by government and lenders and change over time. Confirm current details for your own situation.

Step 3 · Closing costs

The bill on completion day surprises almost everyone.

This is the single most common way a first purchase goes wrong. Buyers save diligently for a down payment, put every dollar of it into the offer, and then discover there is another set of costs due at completion that nobody itemised for them. It is entirely avoidable, and it takes one conversation at the start rather than a panicked one at the end.

What most buyers budget for

The down payment

The monthly mortgage payment

Maybe the moving truck

What actually leaves your account

Property transfer tax in BC, payable in cash at completion and not financeable, unless an exemption applies to you

Legal or notary fees, title insurance and registration charges

The home inspection and, on some files, an appraisal

Mortgage default insurance where the down payment is below the conventional threshold, plus provincial sales tax on that premium in BC

Adjustments for property taxes and strata fees the seller has prepaid

Fire insurance in place before completion, because your lender will require proof of it

Costs, thresholds and exemption rules are set by the province, the federal government and individual lenders, and they change. Confirm current figures for your own purchase with your lawyer or notary before you budget around any of them.

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  • Direct broker communication — you’re never chasing updates
  • Self-employed, newcomers, bruised credit, commercial and private

Step 4 · How it actually runs

From first call to keys, in the order it really happens.

There is no mystery to this, but almost nobody explains the sequence to a first-time buyer, which is why the process feels chaotic when it is mostly just unfamiliar.


Two things are worth knowing up front. A pre-qualification and a pre-approval are different, and neither one is financing: final approval always depends on a lender reviewing your full file and the specific property. And the property itself can sink an otherwise strong application, which is why an unusual building, a small unit or a rural lot is worth raising before you write an offer rather than after.

  • A conversation about income, credit, down payment and timing
  • Documents gathered once, properly, so nothing stalls later
  • A realistic range, and a lender shortlist that fits how you earn
  • Pre-approval where it makes sense, with a rate hold while you shop
  • You find the place. Offer written with financing conditions that protect you
  • Full application, lender review, appraisal if required
  • Commitment issued, conditions satisfied, file sent to your lawyer or notary
  • Signing, completion, keys
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  • Direct broker communication — you’re never chasing updates
  • Self-employed, newcomers, bruised credit, commercial and private

First-time buyers in Surrey and the Fraser Valley

Around here, the first purchase is rarely a textbook file.

A lot of what I see in Surrey does not look like the example in the pamphlet. Two or three incomes on one application. Parents helping with a down payment, or going on title. A basement suite that is supposed to carry part of the payment. A buyer whose parents run a business, or who runs one themselves at twenty-eight.


Each of those is ordinary here and each one is handled differently depending on the lender. How many applicants a lender will accept, how they treat gifted funds, how much suite rental income they will count and whether it has to be tenanted already: these vary enough that the same buyers get very different answers from different institutions.


That is the actual reason to talk to a broker on a first purchase. Not the rate. The rate is roughly the rate. It is that somebody needs to know which lender reads your particular household correctly.

  • Multi-generational households pooling income on one application
  • Gifted down payments, and what a lender needs to see to accept them
  • Mortgage-helper suites, and how much of the rent a lender will actually count
  • Self-employed first-time buyers, where the income documentation is the whole file
  • Newcomers to Canada with a short credit history in this country
  • Buying with a sibling or a friend, and how title and liability work

General information for British Columbia. Every file is assessed on its own facts under the federal qualification rules.

Mortgage Tools

Run your own numbers.

Estimates for planning — not approvals, rate offers or advice. When the numbers raise questions, that’s exactly what a twenty-minute conversation is for.

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All calculator results are estimates for illustration only. They are not a commitment to lend, a rate offer, a pre-qualification, a pre-approval, or financial advice. Actual qualification depends on a full review of your credit, income, documentation and the policies of individual lenders. Tax rules and insurance premiums are subject to change.

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The Mortgage App — free to download. Payment, affordability, land transfer and closing-cost calculators, connected directly to Dil.

First-time buyer questions

The questions I get asked every week.

General information for British Columbia and Alberta, not advice on your specific file. Program rules, thresholds and exemptions change, so confirm current figures before you rely on them.

  • How much do I need for a down payment on my first home?

    There is a minimum set federally, and it rises in steps with the purchase price rather than being one flat percentage. Below a certain level of down payment you also pay mortgage default insurance, which gets added to the mortgage, and in BC there is provincial sales tax on that premium payable at closing. Rather than quote thresholds that change, the useful exercise is to work out what you can assemble from all sources and then see which side of each line that puts you on. That takes about twenty minutes.

  • Can my parents give me the down payment?

    Yes, gifted down payments are common and most lenders accept them. What they want is a signed gift letter confirming the money is a genuine gift and not a loan, plus evidence of where it came from and that it has landed in your account. Where it gets more involved is if your parents want to go on title or co-sign, because a co-signer, a co-borrower and a guarantor are three different things with three different consequences. Worth understanding before anyone signs.

  • What is the difference between a pre-qualification and a pre-approval?

    A pre-qualification is an estimate built from numbers you give me. It is for setting a realistic budget before you start looking. A pre-approval means a lender has actually reviewed documents and usually holds a rate for a set period. Neither one is financing. Final approval always depends on the lender's full review of your file and of the specific property, which is why your offer should carry a financing condition.

  • Do I have to pay property transfer tax in BC as a first-time buyer?

    BC charges a property transfer tax on most purchases, and there is relief available to qualifying first-time buyers and on qualifying newly built homes. Whether you qualify depends on thresholds and conditions the province sets and revises, so the honest answer for your purchase comes from your lawyer or notary. What I will tell you is not to assume the exemption. Budget as though you are paying it, and treat it as good news if you are not.

  • Does using a mortgage broker cost me anything as a first-time buyer?

    On a standard residential purchase with an A-lender, no. The lender pays the brokerage when the mortgage funds. If your file needs an alternative or private lender there can be fees, and you would see those in writing well before you agreed to anything. First-time buyers get the same lender access as anyone else, which is rather the point.

  • My credit history is short because I am young. Is that a problem?

    Short is not the same as bad, and lenders treat them differently. A thin file with a couple of years of clean history is workable with most lenders, though some want to see a minimum number of active accounts or a certain amount of time reporting. A short history combined with a recent missed payment is a harder conversation. Either way it is a reason to talk early rather than to assume you are out.

  • Should I buy now or keep saving?

    I am not going to give you a confident answer to that, and be suspicious of anyone who does, because it depends on your job security, how long you plan to stay in the place, what rent is costing you and how much of your savings a purchase would consume. What I can do is show you the actual numbers for both paths so you are choosing between two things you understand. Sometimes the right advice is to wait a year, and I have given it.

  • Can I use rental income from a suite to help me qualify?

    Often, but how much of it counts varies a lot by lender. Some offset the rent against the property's carrying costs, others add a percentage of the gross rent to your income. An already-tenanted suite is treated differently from one you intend to create. On a new build or an empty suite, expect the lender to want a market rent appraisal before they count anything at all. If a suite is part of how you plan to afford the place, bring it up in the first conversation.