Gathering the right mortgage documents can be a challenge, but in this guide, I’ll help you get the right documents up front for your situation. Please keep in mind that different lenders may ask for different or additional documents that might be required per their guidelines for mortgages. This should only be used as a reference.
Employment documents
The Permanent Salary Employee
An individual that works for an employer that is permanent and is paid a salary requires the a Letter of Employment, and a recent Paystub to support the salary amount.
The Letter of Employment states when the employee first started working for the employer, the salary amount, the current date, employers contact information, and an authorized signature.
For the Paystub, it will need be recent of within 30 days that reflects the salary amount being claimed.
The Permanent Hourly Employee
An individual that works for an employer that is permanent and is paid an hourly wage requires the a Letter of Employment, and a recent Paystub to support the employment income amount.
The Letter of Employment states when the employee first started working for the employer, the hourly rate of pay, the number of guaranteed hours, the current date, employers contact information, and an authorized signature.
For the Paystub, it will need be recent of within 30 days in which the hours reflect the guaranteed hours being claimed.
Now, if you happen to fall outside of the above 2 scenarios - Self-Employed - Seasonal - Contract Employee - Commission Based Pay - Permanent Disability - Earning Bonuses (Seasonal bonuses, Servers, Taxi Drivers, etc…) - Employed earning Over Time
Any individual earning any of the listed will require full 2 years of filed tax returns at their employment (whether that’s self-employed, seasonal, etc…). The documents required are the Full T1 Generals (Yes, the one that’s the size of a novel) and Notice of Assessment (all of the pages) for the 2 most recent years.
Now that I've gone over all of the employment documents with you, let’s move on to the down payment side.
Down Payment Confirmation
From your own savings
For the down payment the rule of thumb is 90 days of banking statements. While some lenders do allow only 30 days, it is best to have 90 days of banking statements. This should reflect how the money has been accumulated. Whether thats through constant savings over the last few months/years, or if its an RRSP/redeemable GIC. Unfortunately, money from under the mattress is not an acceptable method of down payment.
The Gifted Down Payment
If you do happen to have an immediate family member that is going to be helping you with your down payment, we can use a Gift Letter. A gift letter states that the funds that you are depositing into your account is a true gift from family member 1, which is being gifted to family member 2, and it does not require to be repaid.
The 2 methods noted above are the more common methods of obtaining a down payment, there are other options such as a Borrowed Down Payment.
For more information on this or anything else, not mentioned in this article, please give me a call, or send me an email at any time and I’d be more than happy to discuss your specific situation.