Pay Down Your Mortgage Faster

Josh Perez • December 13, 2023

Being a home owner is excellent, having a huge mortgage isn’t. So, if you have a mortgage that you’re looking to get rid of as quickly as possible, here are four things you should consider doing.


Accelerate your payments


Making the change from monthly payments to accelerated bi-weekly payments is one of the easiest ways you can make a difference to the bottom line of your mortgage. Most people don’t even notice the difference or increased payment.


A traditional mortgage with monthly payments splits the amount owing annually into 12 equal payments. Accelerated biweekly is simply taking a regular monthly payment and dividing it in two, but instead of making 24 payments, you make 26. The extra two payments accelerate the paying down of your mortgage.


Increase your regular mortgage payments


Chances are, depending on the terms of your existing mortgage, you can increase your regular mortgage payment by 10-25%. Alternatively, some lenders even offer the ability to double-up your mortgage payments. These are great options as any additional payments will be applied directly to the principal amount owing on your mortgage instead of a prepayment of interest.


Make a lump-sum payment


Depending on your lender and your mortgage product, you should be able to put down anywhere from 10-25% of the original mortgage balance in a bulk payment. Some lenders are particular about when you can make these payments; however, you should be eligible if you haven’t taken advantage of a lump sum payment yet this year.


Making a lump-sum payment is a great option if you’ve come into some money and you’d like to apply it to your mortgage. As this will lower your principal amount owing on the mortgage, it will reduce the amount of interest charged over the life of the mortgage.


Review your options regularly


As your mortgage payments debit from your bank account directly, it’s easy to put your mortgage on auto-pilot and not think twice about it until your term is up for renewal. Unfortunately, this removes you from the driver's seat and doesn’t allow you to make informed decisions about your mortgage or keep up to date with market conditions.


So let’s talk about an annual mortgage review. Working through an annual mortgage review with an independent mortgage professional is beneficial as there may be opportunities to refinance your mortgage and lower your overall cost of borrowing. By reviewing your mortgage at least once a year, you can be sure that you’ve always got the best mortgage for you! There is no cost involved here, just a quick assessment and peace of mind.


If you’ve got questions about your existing mortgage or want to compare your mortgage to options available today, please connect anytime. It would be a pleasure to work with you.

Josh Perez
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How Payment Frequency Impacts Mortgage Financing

By Josh Perez • May 28, 2025
You’ve most likely heard that there are two certainties in life; death and taxes. Well, as it relates to your mortgage, the single certainty is that you will pay back what you borrow, plus interest. With that said, the frequency of how often you make payments to the lender is somewhat up to you! The following looks at the different types of payment frequencies and how they impact your mortgage. Here are the six payment frequency types Monthly payments – 12 payments per year Semi-Monthly payments – 24 payments per year Bi-weekly payments – 26 payments per year Weekly payments – 52 payments per year Accelerated bi-weekly payments – 26 payments per year Accelerated weekly payments – 52 payments per year Options one through four are straightforward and designed to match your payment frequency with your employer. So if you get paid monthly, it makes sense to arrange your mortgage payments to come out a few days after payday. If you get paid every second Friday, it might make sense to have your mortgage payments match your payday. However, options five and six have that word accelerated before the payment frequency. Accelerated bi-weekly and accelerated weekly payments accelerate how fast you pay down your mortgage. Choosing the accelerated option allows you to lower your overall cost of borrowing on autopilot. Here’s how it works. With the accelerated bi-weekly payment frequency, you make 26 payments in the year. Instead of dividing the total annual payment by 26 payments, you divide the total yearly payment by 24 payments as if you set the payments as semi-monthly. Then you make 26 payments on the bi-weekly frequency at the higher amount. So let’s use a $1000 payment as the example: Monthly payments formula: $1000/1 with 12 payments per year. A payment of $1000 is made once per month for a total of $12,000 paid per year. Semi-monthly formula: $1000/2 with 24 payments per year. A payment of $500 is paid twice per month for a total of $12,000 paid per year. Bi-weekly formula: $1000 x 12 / 26 with 26 payments per year. A payment of $461.54 is made every second week for a total of $12,000 paid per year. Accelerated bi-weekly formula: $1000/2 with 26 payments per year. A payment of $500 is made every second week for a total of $13,000 paid per year. You see, by making the accelerated bi-weekly payments, it’s like you end up making two extra payments each year. By making a higher payment amount, you reduce your mortgage principal, which saves interest on the entire life of your mortgage. The payments for accelerated weekly payments work the same way. It’s just that you’d be making 52 payments a year instead of 26. By choosing an accelerated option for your payment frequency, you lower the overall cost of borrowing by making small extra payments as part of your regular payment schedule. Now, exactly how much you’ll save over the life of your mortgage is hard to nail down. Calculations are hard to do because of the many variables; mortgages come with different amortization periods and terms with varying interest rates along the way. However, an accelerated bi-weekly payment schedule could reduce your amortization by up to three years if maintained throughout the life of your mortgage. If you’d like to look at some of the numbers as they relate to you and your mortgage, please don’t hesitate to connect anytime; it would be a pleasure to work with you.

How I Locked Up a $4M Building by Saying (Almost) Nothing

By Josh Perez • May 26, 2025
People sometimes ask me how I managed to buy a 23-unit building for $4 million — especially when they hear that I “didn’t say anything” to close the deal. While that might be a bit of an exaggeration, it’s not entirely wrong. What sealed that deal wasn’t a flashy pitch or aggressive negotiating — it was listening. Here’s what actually happened. We had been in negotiations for a while. The seller was very particular about who he wanted to sell to — and rightfully so. He wasn’t looking for a buyer who was going to swoop in, pay tenants for cash-for-keys, and force everyone out. This wasn’t just a numbers game for him. It was personal. In fact, the selling realtor told us directly that there were higher offers on the table — offers that were rejected because they didn’t align with the seller’s values. He wasn’t just looking for top dollar. He was looking for the right kind of buyer. Eventually, we managed to get on a call directly with the seller — just him and us. No middleman. No pressure. He started talking. And talking. And I’ll be honest — for the first 20 or 25 minutes, it felt like a dead end. He went over everything he didn’t want, what had gone wrong with other offers, and how he was feeling uncertain. I remember zoning out for a second and thinking, This deal is dead. This isn’t happening. But then something changed. “Near the end of the call, he casually mentioned he’d be open to a vendor take-back — and not just any VTB, but one that was significantly more generous than what we had heard through the realtor.” That one comment completely changed the math on the deal. Suddenly, we could put in less capital than expected. Then he added that he’d even be willing to manage the property after the sale — and for a very nominal fee. That’s when it all clicked. What seemed like a non-starter 30 minutes earlier turned into a perfectly aligned opportunity — because we were willing to shut up and listen . Had we rushed to pitch our side, or tried to “close” him early in the call, we would’ve missed the golden moment. But instead, by giving him space to share what he truly wanted, we found the common ground that led to a win-win. The Takeaway? Listening is one of the most underrated tools in real estate investing. Sometimes the best move you can make is not to speak — it’s to stay in the conversation long enough to actually hear what matters most to the other side. It’s not always about having the best offer on paper. It’s about understanding the people involved. Want to Learn How to Structure Deals Like This? Whether you're just starting out or looking to scale your portfolio, these kinds of creative, relationship-first strategies can make a massive difference. 📞 Book a Call with the team and let’s talk about how you can build long-term success through smart negotiation and strategic partnerships.