Major points

The main points are noted below. Always remember that these are not all. There are other many factors the lenders look for.

• Credit report: Gather copies of your credit reports from major credit bureaus and review the reports. Usually all of the credit bureaus let you get a customized credit report for yourself for free. Sometime some of the of credit reports contain errors. They may give you hard time sometime. Have any errors or problems reviewed and corrected. To do a credit check on yourself visit - www.equifax.ca and www.transunion.ca
• Income and assets: As usual, the most important question - How much do you make? Is it consistent ? You will have to produce satisfactory evidence of steady sources of income, so don't pickup a fight with your boss right before applying for a mortgage. Changing job right before applying a mortgage is not a very wise decision as well. Also your assets also counts.
• Down payment: How much money would you put forward to buy a property? That would influence the Loan To Value ratio (LTV) and the requirement of mortgage default insurance.
• Interest rates: Interest rates will help determine how much you will have to pay each month. Gross Debt Service ratio (GDS) and Total Debt Service ratio calculator will help you that. Sometimes there is long wait between getting mortgage preapproval and the actual purchase. Therefore, in case of interest rates fluctuation your preapproval may be designed to ensure that you get the better rate.
• Funds in hand and closing costs: In addition to a down payment, you will need to have money available for closing costs. Avoid making expensive purchases and risk eating-up your available funds just before closing a mortgage.
• Cost of the property: You can't buy a home you can't afford pay. Figure out your GDS and TDS ratio to get an idea of how much you can afford to pay on a monthly basis. The Banks usually take GDS as 32% and TDS as 40%.For people with good credit scores, GDS requirements are often waived and the TDS adjusted to a higher percentage point.
• History of the property: Based upon the past of the property many lender may deny to approve a mortgage as they may not be very comfortable with the collateral.
• Credit Balance: Before you apply, try to pay off or pay down all credit cards and outstanding bills. If in case you can not pay all of them off then make sure that they carry very low balances, less than 50% usually.
• Credit card applications: If you are going to apply for a mortgage soon, don't apply for new cards or close current accounts.
• Lender: Every lender is different. Everyone has their own set qualification requirement for mortgage approval.
• Mortgage Default Insurance: Although it is not very important to get a mortgage but it ensures that lenders charge a very good interest rate on high LTV (usually over 85%) loans.
• Openness and honest discloser: An honest and complete discloser saves you from a lot of headache in future.