Buying a home can be a dream for some, while others it is a dream come true.  The Canadian goverment has stipulated that when purchasing a home, the buyers need to put a minimum of 5% down based off the purchase price of the home.  This first 5% is always the toughest to save because it seems like it is a never ending task; as the goal gets closer and closer the prices of house (usually) go up and up.  This means that as you are saving for that dream house, you have to save more and more because the purchase price (by the time you go to buy the house) is higher than when you started saving.  First time home buyers especially find it difficult because they have never experienced the housing market before and because of this they don't know what to expect.  It's not all bad news though...  It is possible for first time home buyers and repeat buyers alike to get the very best inerest rates available even though they are only putting 5% down.

People that are buying a home for the second or third time are not usually as shocked at how the market moves.  Many times they are putting more than 5% down because they end up using the equity in their current homes.  Many repeat buyers think that the 5% down payment option is for first time home buyers only -- this is not the case!  The 5% option is available to anyone buying a home in Canada, so if you would prefer to use some of the equity to pay off debt rather than putting it all into your next home, by all means you can do that.  In fact, this may allow you to qualify for more house and/or make your overall monthly payments easier to handle.  Keep in mind that if order to do this when buying the home, you need to have enough equity to cover the 5% down along with enough to payout any debts that you want to pay off.

Unfortunately, buying a home isn't quite as easy as it use to be whether you are a first time home buyer or a repeat buyer.  In the past there were a lot of lenders that were willing to lend to people with bad credit, or *bruised* credit.  Now a days if you want to buy a home with 5% down then you will have to make sure that your credit is in good shape so that you qualify through a regular bank, trust company or other lender.  The good news is that first time home buyers, repeat buyers, really anyone that is buying a home with 5% down (or more) has access to the same interest rates.  Therefore if you have good credit (at least 600 beacon score) and a decent job with enough income to qualify then you too can get fully discounted rates on that dream home.