Can you get a Mortgage without an Income?

Let's get to it.

1. Insured mortgages - by default, these are only available via major lenders and these loans are based primarily on credit and income/debt ratios. Specifically, it's all about how much income you have personally. Without declared personal income of some kind, you are fucked for this type of mortgage.

2. Alternative lenders - in theory, you could have zero personal income and still qualify for this type of mortgage. However, you need income or revenue of some type nonetheless. These deals are great for business owners who have good corporate revenue, commission, etc but claim little on their personal tax return (T1 General). Lenders will qualify your deal based on the revenue alone. The catch? 1% higher rate than most major lenders and minimum of 20% down payment.

3. Net Worth Programs - many major lenders have net worth programs designed for people with good equity, assets and liquidity but limited income. It's beyond the scope of this post, but the premise is the more assets you have the less income you need to obtain a mortgage.

4. Multi-residential - here, personal income is not really relevant as it comes down to the properties themselves. I have many investors that have no income whatsoever and can still own properties, or part thereof, of real estate in Canada. Light bulb just went off, eh?

5. Private lenders - if you have a bunch of cash and equity, your income won't matter for the most part. Private lenders are equity lenders and thus look at well, you guessed it, equity.

-- Brock Frost, Mortgage Broker-Investor-Financial Coach-Author