First time home buyer with RRSP money.... and a couple other questions.

[D. Dub]

Originally posted by Weapon_R


If you can, i'd skip out on the broker and head straight for the bank. Banks will almost always match your brokers rates if you can show them that you have received a lower rate. Brokers are great for less than perfect credit, but dealing with private lenders sucks sometimes because some of them are shady. Once a broker gets you the mortgage, your on your own to deal with the company directly.

If I may,

Mortgage brokers deal with ALL of the major lenders in Canada and get wholesale rates for the client without the client having to negotiate at their bank.

The only time brokers deal with "private lenders" is with wonky or unique deals.

[HRD2PLZ]

Just my .02... if you can get your mortgage through without using RRSP's I would go that route personally. Years ago I had originally planned on withdrawing my RRSP's to purhcase my first home, but when I weighed it out, I decided not to.

Also, working with a mortgage broker really makes your transaction go a lot smoother. You can get ahold of a broker all the time. A banker is only there for you during banking hours. A banker is working for the bank, while a broker is working for you. In all honesty, from my experience, the differences between the two is astounding. A good broker can truly streamline the financing end of a purchase.

[D. Dub]

Using a good mortgage broker is like shopping all the banks at once and choosing the best fit for your financial situation. In the past brokers were the choice for bad credit but now we are the best choice for any mortgage consumer.

Through a broker --- you can also do a "zero down mortgage" with the same rate and terms as with a regular downpayment mortgage. (with good credit)

That way you don't even have to touch the RRSP.

[flipstah]

BUMP. How did the RRSP HBP work out for the OP? Was it worth doing it?

I'm in the same boat and I have enough to utilize for the HBP thanks to employer contributions. I have the income match initiative so paying it back shouldn't be an issue.

I also called my financial institution that handles the company RRSP and there's no restrictions so all I have to do is fill out a T1036 form to get started.

[roopi]

Originally posted by flipstah
BUMP. How did the RRSP HBP work out for the OP? Was it worth doing it?

I'm in the same boat and I have enough to utilize for the HBP thanks to employer contributions. I have the income match initiative so paying it back shouldn't be an issue.

I also called my financial institution that handles the company RRSP and there's no restrictions so all I have to do is fill out a T1036 form to get started.

Never read the thread but if you have the money in your RSP to withdraw without penalty then you should be doing this to use for a down payment.

[88CRX]

Worked out fine for me. I’m still paying it back, roughly $120/month goes towards paying it back which I don’t get the tax break on this time around.

I found it was useful at the time to max out my RRSP withdrawal ($20k or whatever it was) so I dumped all my savings into, then I got a huge tax refund which I also dumped right back into it (getting more refund back the following year), then withdrew it all for house down payment. It allowed me to grow my down payment amount by whatever the tax refund was (roughly 30%).

I did however read some additional posts on here explaining why it doesn’t make sense for everyone all the time but don’t recall the specifics of why it wasn't good in the long run.

Also from what I can gather you can use employer RRSP contribution to count towards paying it back as well.

[flipstah]

Originally posted by 88CRX
Worked out fine for me. I’m still paying it back, roughly $120/month goes towards paying it back which I don’t get the tax break on this time around.

I found it was useful at the time to max out my RRSP withdrawal ($20k or whatever it was) so I dumped all my savings into, then I got a huge tax refund which I also dumped right back into it (getting more refund back the following year), then withdrew it all for house down payment. It allowed me to grow my down payment amount by whatever the tax refund was (roughly 30%).

I did however read some additional posts on here explaining why it doesn’t make sense for everyone all the time but don’t recall the specifics of why it wasn't good in the long run.

Also from what I can gather you can use employer RRSP contribution to count towards paying it back as well.

Yeah because what I did just now is shuffled money around my company accounts from non-registered all into my RRSP as a top-up.

Doing so will *hopefully* get me a refund that I can either throw more into the RRSP for 2014 return or put it into a TFSA and add on top of my cash.

I'll have to double-check if employer contribution can be used to paying it back but if I can use employer RRSP for this plan, I should be able to use employer contribution to match and pay it back.

[88CRX]

I'm positive when I've done my taxes the last couple years I've used a combination of personal and employer RRSP contributions to pay it back.

[avishal26]

^Thats correct. It doesnt matter if its personal or employer contribution. All you do on your tax return is allocate a certain portion of your total RRSP contributions that year to 'HBP' payback or whatever its called.

Also, the max now is $25k for HBP for first time home buyer. You can also withdraw in more than 1 calendar year depending on when your home possession date is (if its Feb for example, I think you can withdraw the year before and again in the same year - the details are on the form)

CRA HBP Form T1036

[avishal26]

and wow - a 7 year old thread bump!

[flipstah]

With tax season right about now, is there harm using RRSP funds for HBP during March-April? Should I wait?

[TimH]

I'm pretty sure you have to wait 90 days to withdraw the RRSPs.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[KappaSigma]

Tax advice from beyond....awesome.

Its 1/15 payback but you don't have to for the first two years so its basically amortized over 13 years.

Also if you do not make RRSP contrivutions to "pay it back" the amoutns are simply included as income for that year and taxed.