Zero Money to Hero Money

So with the purchase of a new house comes the need to borrow a boat load of money and pay tons of interest over a set period of time.  When I originally signed the agreement to purchase my home I needed to be pre-approved for a mortgage, the builder (Richcraft) suggested that I use this broker from TD who is affiliated with that site and could give a 120 day guaranteed rate.  So I contacted him, and set everything up.  4 months or so passed and I still had about 7 months to go till I moved in, so I started investigating other brokers who deal with more than one bank.  I found another broker and got her to get me some rates.

After doing a lot of research I decided to go with a variable rate 5 year mortgage.  I was quote at prime - 0.6%.  Here’s where (at least I think so) my intelligence kicked in, about 2 weeks ago I let both brokers know that I had another broker, and told both of them that the other one was going to get me prime - 0.75% .  Not wanting to lose the work they put into me,  they both went to work trying to beat that rate, the original guy who works solely with TD ended up on top with prime -0.76% while the other could only muster up a prime - 0.7%.

So this week I’m going in to sign my variable rate mortgage with prime -0.76%, I’m pretty happy I managed to get an extra 0.16% off my interest.  It all adds up in the long run!

Well first of all, I haven’t updated in a month, I’m just shy of 5 weeks until I close on my condo, and I’ve been slacking hard with the budget.  I’ve made about $2,000 in the past month of extra income, and honestly, I think I spent every last penny of it.  I guess my life has been changing somewhat, I broke up with my girlfriend, my work is now a 5 minute bike ride instead of a 35 minute car ride, and I’ve been going out a lot more now that I’m single again.

Some great things have been happening lately though, the amount of gas I buy for my car is incredible, so far this month I’ve used less than I did in 5 days of last month.  Biking to work is amazing, my previous gym is also within walking distance from work, and once I move into my condo, I can walk to work in 10 minutes.  I’m wondering if my car insurance will go down.

I spent the past couple of weeks with 2 mortgage brokers fighting each other for the better deal.  My previous offer was prime minus 0.6%, I thought I could definitely get better.  All said and done, my mortgage is Prime - 0.76% which as of right now is 3.99%, not too shabby for a 5 year variable, here’s hoping rates don’t increase drastically.

I’ll try to update this again before I move into my new place.. my money is all in order for my downpayment etc, so I’m sure once I move in, I’ll have a lot more to write about.