First Time Buyer Workbook - Fall 2026

Mortgages explained simply, with worksheets for your own numbers.



Buying your first home in Canada? This 31-page workbook walks you from “what is a mortgage?” to getting your keys. Each of its 10 chapters explains one step in plain language, then ends with a worksheet where you fill in your own numbers.

What’s inside

• What a mortgage is, term vs amortization, and where your payment goes

• Equity, down payments and mortgage insurance

• Help for first-time buyers: the FHSA, the RRSP Home Buyers’ Plan, the home buyers’ tax credit, the GST rebate on new homes and land transfer tax refunds, with a worksheet to add up what you could get

• How much you can borrow: GDS, TDS and the stress test

• Getting a mortgage step by step, including a checklist of the papers lenders usually ask for (every file is different, so there’s room to add your lender’s own list)

• A grid to compare offers from up to three lenders side by side

• Renewing your mortgage, and how to check a lender’s math

• Answers to common questions, plus “Your plan on one page” to bring to your lender or broker

How it works

Type in the 140 blue boxes on screen in Adobe Acrobat Reader, Preview on a Mac, or Microsoft Edge or Chrome, then save. Or print it and write in it by hand.

Where it comes from

Based on official sources such as the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, CMHC, the Canada Revenue Agency and the Department of Finance. Each chapter lists its sources.

What you get

A PDF download, emailed to you right after you pay. Fall 2026 edition.

Information only, not financial or legal advice. Rules and lender requirements change, so confirm anything important with your lender, broker or lawyer.