Why is Whistler such a great place to invest in real estate? Whistler is in the unique
position of being a great investment because of:
- The bed unit cap - a limit on building in Whistler, which is expected to occur in the next few years.
- The low Canadian dollar.
- The excellent marketing job of Tourism Whistler - formerly the Whistler Resort Association.
- The fact that it has been consistently rated the number one resort in North America for the past seven years - see my Whistler Information page.
Often visitors to Whistler have no intention of buying a home here before they leave for their
holidays in North America's number one resort, but that often changes once they have arrived.
Our huge yearly snowfalls only helped to increase the number of skier visits and summer visits
have been rising sharply as well.
Financing Criteria - The Basics:
With interest piqued, what criteria are there for financing a home in Whistler? Basically, there are
two criteria for financing a home in Whistler, or anywhere in Canada, for that matter.
- First, housing costs including the mortgage payment, taxes, utilities and strata fees cannot exceed 32% of your gross income. If you have no other debt, an exception can be made up to 35%. Total debt servicing, including all other loans and credit payments cannot exceed 40% of your gross income.
- Secondly, in a conventional mortgage, a down payment of 25% is required. The exceptions to this are high ratio, insured mortgages that are available for your primary residence with a minimum of 5% down payment. The insurance cost increases as the percentage of financing requested increases.
Financing Your Whistler Real Estate Investment
With higher valued properties, lending values decrease as the value of the property increases.
- In other words, for a property valued at or below $500,000, the conventional down payment of 25% is required.
- For the next $250,000, the down payment amount shoots up to 40%.
- For the next $250,000, 45%, and then 50% of the remainder.
For example, with a purchase price of $800,000, the maximum mortgage allowed is $552,500. This applies to Canadian residents only, either owner occupied or investment properties.
Non-residents:
- For the first $400,000, a down payment of 35% is required.
- For the next 300,000, a down payment of 45% is required,
- Then 50% for the remainder.
For example, if the purchase price is $800,000 the maximum mortgage allowed is $475,000.
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