Mortgage Payments on Hold for 4 months !

[GaryMcGowan]

My wife and I celebrated the birth of our second child last November and to we wanted to take advantage the benefits my employer offers (10 weeks off with supplemental pay). I have plans of taking the time off in the summer 

. We are trying budget accordingly and are keeping in mind the ramifications of what this might mean to our qualifying abilities for mortgages. With all that being said I called BMO today who hold the mortgage on our primary residence. They have two options I can choose from to skip mortgage payments.

1. A borrower can skip two payments a year which are not in succession. The interest that would have been paid is added to the balance of the mortgage. No charges apply

2. A borrower who is taking a leave of absence from work e.g.: parental leave - can skip up to 4 months of payments. The interest that would have been paid is added to the balance of the mortgage. No charges apply

Well you as you can imagine option 2 made my day!! I wonder if I can do that for all my mortgages!?!?! It might make our JV partners pretty happy to see extra cash flow for up to 4 months!!!

 

[DanBarton]

That is good info – especially valuable for real estate investors with large portfolios… hummm 50 properties times $1000 payments…

I know RBC & TD both have similar programs available for the skip a mortgage but never heard of the leave of absence option.
Thankfully, not quite there yet

however maybe I should convince my business partner...

 

[NorthernAlex]

Too late. We already have three kids.


LOL. Sooo, childless couples, Ur turn!

 

[HeatherBrandt]

hi Gary,

Congratulations on your find!

My husband took 4 months off with me when our first child was born. It was great, our daughter responded great to both of us.

One thing to keep in mind in that if your health benefits are through your work, you may be responsible for the premiums during your leave. We had to pay ours, but it was still worth it!

 

[CalvinPeters]

I read this and called my BMO lender and discovered that it only applies to the principle residence. On revenue properties it falls under "discretionary" which means if you golf with the lender (I am being facetious) they will possibly give it to you. But they say no. for any reason. Sooooooo...guess who is golfing with me in a couple months?!!!!