MKG Mortgages · GTA
Reviewed by Micky Khaneka, licensed mortgage broker
A first purchase is a sequence: a budget, an offer, conditions, and a closing. The highest number a calculator will print is not the same as the payment that still works after you move.
MKG Mortgages names those steps for first-time buyers across the GTA, including gifted down payments, which need their own paper.
Micky Khaneka, licensed mortgage broker, M21002608, FLOW Lending Group, Brokerage #12864
MKG names the cash for the down payment separately from land transfer tax and legal fees. A gift letter is collected when family money is part of the down payment. Insured programs may allow less than 20% down when the price is under $1.5 million, subject to lender and insurer approval.
An illustrative example splits savings into the down payment and the money that has to remain for tax and moving. It does not assume a rebate. Ask your lawyer about any first-time buyer rebate before you treat it as cash you already have.
Illustrative example
The challenge. Most of the down payment was a gift, and they wanted it accepted before they offered.
How MKG structured it. We prepared the gift letter and the transfer record with the rest of the file, then set a budget they could offer with.
Illustrative example
The challenge. They knew the rent and wanted to see the mortgage payment beside it.
How MKG structured it. We laid out the payment, the cash to close, and the condition steps so the offer was a plan, not a guess.
Illustrative example
The challenge. They wanted the suite's rent considered with the salary.
How MKG structured it. We used the rental income the lender's program accepts and kept the owner-occupied down payment in view.
Gifted funds need a paper trail before the lender asks for it.
First the income and the debts. Then the cash, including any gift and where it sits today. Then a price range you can offer. The property review happens after the offer, not instead of those earlier steps. A pre-approval is a budget, not a locked house.
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Pre-approval, offer, conditions, and closing, in the sequence they actually happen.
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The highest approval is not always the payment that still works after the move.
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Income, down payment, and identification are gathered once, in the form the lender expects.
Call before you book a weekend of showings if you can. If you already have an accepted offer, call with the condition date in the subject line. The document list is the same either way. The clock is the only thing that changes.
You want the steps named before a realtor asks you to move quickly.
Gifted funds have paperwork. We line that up before it becomes a condition.
We compare the payment, the cash to close, and the timeline against staying put.
When the basement suite is legal, a lender may use part of the rent so the file carries more house than salary alone. You may qualify subject to lender and insurer approval. A suite that is not legal is not treated as income.
A first home in the GTA can be a house you live in with a self-contained basement suite. When the unit is legal, or the program accepts projected rent, lenders may use that rent so the file qualifies for more house than salary alone supports. Two methods show up again and again. A rental offset subtracts a percentage of the rent from the housing cost. The other method adds a percentage of the rent to your income. The percentage is commonly anywhere from 50% to 100%, depending on the lender and the program.
CMHC's published approach for an insured, owner-occupied two-unit home adds up to 100% of the gross rent to income, and it may leave property tax and heat out of the ratio. A three- or four-unit owner-occupied home is commonly capped lower, often at 50%. The appraiser's market rent schedule, or the lease if a tenant is already there, is what the lender reads. Many files use the lower of the two.
Ask the city whether the unit is a legal additional residential unit before you treat the rent as income. Ontario's Planning Act requires municipalities to allow up to three residential units on many fully serviced urban lots, but a permit and a final inspection are still what make a basement legal. Tell your insurer you will have a tenant, and plan on landlord obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act. Rent that arrives reduces what you pay out of pocket each month. It does not erase the mortgage payment in a vacant month.
The worked comparison — qualification with the rent and without it, plus the net monthly carry — is in Buying a GTA home with a separate-entrance basement. The figures there use an example rate for illustration only. If you will not live in the house, the rent rules change; that file starts on investment property.
| Cash | What it is for | What it is not |
|---|---|---|
| Down payment | The equity in the purchase | Land transfer tax or the lawyer |
| Closing costs | Tax, legal fees, adjustments | Part of the mortgage |
| Gift | Documented family funds | A loan you will repay monthly |
Sources. FCAC — mortgages · CMHC — mortgage loan insurance · Sagen · Ontario land transfer tax · Toronto municipal land transfer tax Published rules change. Read the current page, and confirm tax with your lawyer, before you rely on a figure.
The first-time buyer page covers the GTA from the North York office. City purchase pages add the local streets. Milton's hub is written for new subdivisions. Toronto's hub adds municipal land transfer tax. The steps themselves do not change with the city name.
The note below is paraphrased from a public Google review. It is one client's experience, not a promise that the next file ends the same way. A rate in a client's words is not an offer from MKG. The lender still decides.
First-time buyers wrote that the steps were explained without pressure and that the team coordinated with their lawyer.
Paraphrased from a public Google review of MKG Mortgages. Names and identifying details are left out.
Micky Khaneka is a licensed mortgage broker, FSRA M21002608, at FLOW Lending Group, Brokerage #12864. Canadian Mortgage Professional named him to the CMP Top 75 for 2026, at number 15 in Canada. The lender still decides. The lender still decides.
Micky Khaneka, licensed mortgage broker, M21002608, FLOW Lending Group, Brokerage #12864
The firm serves clients in English, Hindi, Punjabi and Bengali.
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These are the questions that show up before a file is opened. The short answer sits under each one in the page, so you can read it without opening a box. The lender still decides, and a figure in an example is not an offered rate.
A rough price range, where you want to buy, and how you earn your income. You do not need a full document package to start.
Yes. A separate-entrance basement can be part of a first home across the GTA. When the unit is legal, lenders may count a portion of the rent, commonly 50% to 100%, either added to income or offset against the payment. CMHC's published approach for an insured owner-occupied two-unit home uses up to 100% of gross rent. The worked example is in our note on buying a GTA home with a separate-entrance basement. The lender still approves the file.
It depends on the price. Under $500,000, the minimum is 5%. Between $500,000 and $1.5 million, it's 5% of the first $500,000 plus 10% of the rest. Illustrative example. That is $70,000 on a $950,000 home.
At $1.5 million or more, it's 20%. With less than 20% down your mortgage is insured, and the premium is usually added to the loan. Lenders can ask for more if you're self-employed or rebuilding credit.
We'll show you the minimum and the smarter number for your plan.
Checked October 18, 2026. https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/services/mortgages/down-payment.html
Sometimes. Normally the minimum down payment has to come from your own money, like savings, your FHSA or RRSP, the sale of a property, or a gift from family. Some insured programs do accept a borrowed down payment, such as a line of credit, as long as you can carry that payment along with the mortgage.
For a rental property or a second home, using a HELOC on your current home is common. Tell us where your money is coming from early, and we'll match you with a lender that accepts it.
Checked October 18, 2026. https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/services/mortgages/down-payment.html
As a first-time buyer, you can take up to $60,000 out of your RRSP tax-free to buy or build your home, and a couple buying together can each do it. You pay it back to your RRSP over 15 years. Any amount you skip in a year gets added to your income for that year.
The money has to sit in the RRSP for at least 90 days before you take it out. You can combine it with your FHSA. We'll show you where it fits with your other savings, and your accountant can confirm the tax side.
Checked October 18, 2026. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/rrsps-related-plans/what-home-buyers-plan.html
The First Home Savings Account lets first-time buyers put in up to $8,000 a year, to a $40,000 lifetime limit. You get a tax deduction going in, and a qualifying withdrawal comes out tax-free. You never pay it back.
The money is yours to use toward buying your first home, so it can cover your down payment and help with closing costs. Couples can each have one. Open it early, because unused room only builds up once the account exists.
Check the details with your accountant.
Checked October 18, 2026. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/first-home-savings-account/contributing-your-fhsa.html
Yes, and it's one of the best moves a first-time buyer can make. You can take up to $40,000 from your FHSA, which you never pay back, and up to $60,000 from your RRSP under the Home Buyers' Plan, which you repay over 15 years, for the same purchase. For a couple that's up to $200,000 toward the home before you count other savings or gifts.
We'll show you how it all fits into your down payment and closing costs, and your accountant can confirm the tax side.
Checked October 18, 2026. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/first-home-savings-account/contributing-your-fhsa.html https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/rrsps-related-plans/what-home-buyers-plan.html
Yes. With 20% or more down, many lenders offer up to 30 years. With less than 20% down, you may qualify for a 30-year insured amortization if you're a first-time buyer or you're buying a brand-new home, subject to lender and insurer approval.
Everyone else is limited to 25 years on an insured mortgage. A longer amortization lowers your payment and can help you qualify, but you pay more interest over time. Prepayment privileges let you pay it down faster when you can.
We show you both payments side by side.
Checked October 18, 2026. https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/services/mortgages/choose-mortgage.html https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2024/09/the-boldest-mortgage-reforms-in-decades.html
It depends on the program. For Ontario's land transfer tax refund, and Toronto's, you must never have owned a home anywhere in the world, and your spouse can't have owned one while you were together. For federal programs like the FHSA, the Home Buyers' Plan and the 30-year insured amortization, you usually qualify if you haven't lived in a home you or your spouse owned in the last four years.
So you might count for some programs and not others. We'll go through each one with you.
Checked October 18, 2026. https://www.ontario.ca/document/land-transfer-tax/land-transfer-tax-refunds-first-time-homebuyers https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2024/09/the-boldest-mortgage-reforms-in-decades.html https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/first-home-savings-account/contributing-your-fhsa.html https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/rrsps-related-plans/what-home-buyers-plan.html
Book a time or send the statement, the agreement, or the assessments you already have. The first call is free. It is a review of the file, not a promise of approval, and any rate talk stays illustrative and on approved credit.
Any rate or payment mentioned is illustrative and on approved credit (OAC). It is not a quote, a commitment, or a current offer.