BC Home Partnership Program - How Does It Work?

BC Home Partnership Program – How It Works

The BC Home Partnership program was designed to help first-time homebuyers by providing a repayable loan that will form part of the down payment. Applications for this program will be considered starting January 16, 2017 and can fund no earlier than February 15, 2017. Mortgages must fund before March 2020, at which point the program will be terminated.

Are You Eligible?

• You must be a Canadian Citizen or a permanent resident for at least five years and have lived in BC for at least one year
• You are considered a first-time home buyer
• You intend to purchase a home for a maximum price of $750,000
• You have at least 50% of the down payment required
• Your total household income doesn’t exceed $150,000
• The home purchase will be your principal residence (not a rental)

How Do You Apply?

1. Get pre-approved from an approved lender
2. Apply with your pre-approved letter for the BC Home Partnership program (5 day turnaround)
3. Find a home and make an offer, subject to financing
4. Provide the BC Home loan commitment to your broker/lender (1 day turnaround)
5. Get a final approval for an insured mortgage from your broker/lender
6. Move into your home and fund your mortgage (Requires minimum 14 calendar days)

Other Things You Need To Know About The BC Home Partnership

• Max loan contribution from the BC government is $37,500
• Your deal has to be CMHC insured
• The first 5 years is both interest and payment free
• For years 6-10, the interest rate will be set at the time of purchase and will be equal to the Prime Rate + 0.5% amortized over 20 years (today that equals 3.2%) – the interest rate will be reset at the Prime Rate plus 0.5% at each of the 10th, 15th and 20th anniversary dates
• If you move out of the property during the first 5 years, the loan becomes immediately repayable
• The loan will be registered as a 2nd mortgage
• Everyone on title must be eligible for the BC Home Partnership program

This post was provided by Spin Mortgage: For more information on the approval process and to see if you are eligible you can go to their website to get pre-approved for your mortgage. 

You can also visit BC Housing to see if you are eligible for the loan, and apply online if you are already pre-approved for a mortgage!