Want to help your kids buy a home? · Toronto
Help with the down payment, without touching your savings.
Your kids are sitting out this market, and helping doesn't have to mean cashing out investments or waiting for the estate. The equity in the home you own can fund the gift, structured around your retirement first.
- No cost to talk
- No obligation
- Vaughan office, or virtual across the GTA
The early inheritance
The house can help before the estate does.
Most parents assume helping with a down payment means dipping into savings, or that the kids simply wait for the will. There's a middle path, and it starts with the home you already own.
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The gift can come from your equity
A home equity line of credit or a refinance can fund the down payment gift while your investments and retirement accounts stay where they are.
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Borrowed money is not income
Cashing out an RRSP to help can mean withholding tax. Money borrowed against your home is not income, and your accountant confirms how that fits your own picture before anything moves.
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Only if it fits your retirement
Jenny and your financial planner check that you can help comfortably before anyone talks products. If the numbers say it would stretch you, she'll say so plainly.
When you talk to Jenny
You're talking to a network of specialists.
Jenny spent over ten years inside wealth management before going independent, and her referral partners are the planners, lawyers and accountants she worked with there. When a gift touches your retirement plan, your will or your taxes, the right specialist is already in the conversation.
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Certified Financial Planners
The plan comes first. Jenny works alongside your CFP, or introduces one from her own network, so the gift fits the bigger retirement picture.
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Estate and family lawyers
Gift letters, title and what the gift means for the will are put in writing properly, so an early inheritance never becomes a family dispute.
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Accountants
The tax side is confirmed with your accountant before anything is signed, never assumed from a rule of thumb.
Families Jenny helps
In her clients' words.
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Everything was so smooth. I can’t say enough about Jenny, and I tell everyone how great she was. We are all moved in and the renos are already underway.
Erin Y.Home purchase
Ontario-licensed · Mortgage Agent Level 1 · Lic. #M18000235. Jenny has spent over ten years in mortgage and financial services and works through Orbis Mortgage Group, which deals with major banks, credit unions and trust companies. She advises in English, French and Cantonese, from the Orbis office in Vaughan or virtually across the GTA, at no cost to talk and no obligation.
Jenny Ho, Mortgage Agent Level 1 · Lic. #M18000235 · Orbis Mortgage Group (FSRA #13476).
Rates, terms and qualifying amounts shown or discussed are not guaranteed and are confirmed directly with Jenny Ho and the lender before anything is signed. Approval is subject to lender criteria and property assessment. Borrowing against your home reduces your available equity and carries interest costs. Nothing here is financial, tax or legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
How does gifting a down payment from home equity actually work?
You open a home equity line of credit or refinance the mortgage on your own home, draw the gift amount, and sign a gift letter for your child's mortgage application. Jenny arranges both sides, your equity and their purchase mortgage, so the two close together instead of in the wrong order.
Is the money we borrow against our home taxable?
Borrowed money is not income, so drawing on a home equity line of credit or a refinance does not create a taxable event the way cashing out an RRSP can. Interest, structure and your own situation still matter, so Jenny brings your accountant or financial planner into the decision before anything is signed. Nothing on this page is tax advice.
How much of our home's value can we access?
In Canada a home equity line of credit is generally capped at 65 percent of your home's appraised value, and combined borrowing through a refinance can reach 80 percent, less anything you still owe. An appraisal sets the number that actually applies to your home, and Jenny walks you through it before you commit to anything.
Is a reverse mortgage a better way to do this?
Usually not, if you can qualify for a home equity line of credit. A HELOC is interest-only and flexible, and you stay in control of when it's repaid. A reverse mortgage has no monthly payment, but the balance compounds and erodes what's left in the estate, which is why most families treat it as a last resort. Jenny will walk through both honestly and tell you which one actually fits.
Will helping put our own retirement at risk?
That's the first question Jenny asks, before any product comes up. She reviews it with you and your financial planner, and if the numbers say helping would stretch you, she'll tell you plainly and look at smaller or later options instead.
Our kids found this page. Can they start the conversation?
Yes. Plenty of these conversations start with the kids. Jenny can meet you together or separately, in person at the Orbis office in Vaughan or virtually, handle the purchase mortgage for your child, and bring the equity conversation to you when everyone is ready.
Request a callback
Leave your details and Jenny Ho Mortgages gets back to you directly to set up a time that works for you.
- Mortgage Agent Level 1 · Lic. #M18000235
- Over 10 years in mortgage and financial services
- English, French and Cantonese
Prefer to talk? Call 647-921-9657.
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Prefer to talk now? Call 647-921-9657.