Berniek is right: Much of the blame here falls upon the shoulders of the politicians (led by then-President Clinton), who forced banks to begin some rather foolish lending practices. Alan Greenspan certainly did his share to push this concept of "everyone can borrow" during his time as Fed chairman. Between creative financing, no money down offers, and other such options, the government has given people plenty of rope with which to hang themselves. We Americans haven't proven ourselves to be particularly strong in the moderation and self-discipline categories over the last 30-40 years. Also, remember the climate that existed in the 90s, when I bought my first house: Spurred on by the soaring housing prices, people were convinced that buying "as much house as you can afford" was a good move. Housing was considered an investment that couldn't fail. Yes, the experts began preaching about "the housing bubble" long before it hit, but the masses couldn't grasp how this sure-thing could ever fall. And there's always been a (faulty) basic belief that "If I couldn't afford it, the bank wouldn't lend it to me." I fully agree with those who say that Real Estate agents will push buyers to their upper limits and beyond, and banks will lend what they can -- it's all about profits for them. Yet, the home owner DOES also bear the brunt of personal responsibility. After all, who cares most about whether I can afford my mortgage -- and still buy groceries and other things I need? Clearly, it's ME! I reap the rewards or punishments of my decisions, so I should do the math and know whether I can comfortably afford a house (or anything else) before I buy it. However, we've sort of left that thinking behind in today's buy-now-pay-later society. We're constantly told that "we deserve" this or that thing. That if we're going to finance it, we deserve to have exactly what we want. That "everyone" has debt. We've got to get past that.

Red flag to me is "coming to the house". After my mother's death, I found paperwork of a home improvement loan (2nd mortgage). This turned out to be a predatory loan. The salesman (also a notary) was extremely good at winning her confidence and they really pulled at fast one. She, at the time, didn't share the details of this loan 'scam', but during the estate settling, there were some major headaches to deal with. They had had her quit claim her home out of the family trust, then talked her into not one loan, but a second loan -- all with exorbitant fees. There was even a bogus lien on the house which had to be dealt with. After this, my mother's name must have been sold to a "sucker's list" because there were so many phone calls. But luckily, there were no more major scams that I was aware of. So when you say the broker will come to the house, I am naturally very skeptical. Will s/he still come to the house if s'he is made aware that an attorney will review all paper work? Good luck Susan

Definitely shop around for rates. All the lending instituions pre internet used to publish all their rates in the Thursday paper - perhaps they still do. You could see all the rates for across the country and then compare them. I would go into the bank when it came time to renew, show them the lowest rate and tell them that is what I wanted. I got it every single time. When it came close to renewing our mortgage, we got the early renewal offer too. It's a way to prevent you from shopping around when the term is up. I just went to the RBC website and their special rate is 5.3% for 7 year term closed mortgage. Before you do anything, research all the rates. I found this (linked below) where there are many lower than what she is offering you. Play with her even though she's been good to you. Tell her that you have found better rates elsewhere and that you want the best rate matched. They don't want to lose your business and they will negotiate a better rate. Here's another link to bankrate.ca where you can check rates by province and city. http://www.bankrate.com/can/rate/mtg_home.asp?link=5 Don't settle for the offer she gave. There's room to go down. You could even negotiate a longer term so they can secure your business. Here is a link that might be useful: Canada mortgage rates

Thanks for the advice. I’m disappointed to hear that Navy Fed is playing games — I was hoping that they would do better for military families. I just got off the phone with someone there... they quoted a “best rate” for today of 3.25 % for a 0 point, 30 year mortgage but they charge a 1 point origination fee, plus between $400 -$800 for an appraisal, plus $40 to do a credit check on me and DH, and a “service fee” and a “tax set up fee” and a ”standard fee” and a “flood certification fee” and a bunch of other fees. It was hard to get a straight answer about all the so-called fees. They said from the time they get all the paperwork from us, they need 30-45 days but won’t tell me exactly what paperwork they need until I submit the application and the $40 credit check fee. It seems like A full 1% on a jumbo mortgage is a big fee to start with so why are they nickeling and diming with so many addition fees? Just because they can? ! At the end, after saying that’s the best they can do, they say if two other places give me a better offer, they’ll match. AAGGRrrH. I am going to hate this process! Is this par for the course?