If you've bought London, Ontario real estate before, you already know all the tricks that mortgage companies use to try and get customers choose them over. However, if this home in Calgary is your first, you might end up getting flooded with so many mortgage incentives that you don't know where to start. We can help by outlining some common mortgage incentives and whether they're really worth jumping at.

Low Interest Rate

This is the holy grail of mortgage incentives because it's the one that actually saves you the most money. However, for this reason it's also the one that mortgage brokers in Canada tend to offer the least. Even a fraction of a percentage point off the advertised interest rate can save you thousands of dollars over the life of your mortgage, but since it's not an immediate savings, a lot of people will opt for one of the choices below, instead, which are all inferior.

No Down Payment

Say you want to buy a Markham house for sale, but you have less than the recommended 15-20% of the purchase price saved up. Some banks will offer to finance your purchase anyway. Think very carefully about any sort of low or no down payment mortgage as the interest rates are usually sky high, which could come back to bite you later and even cause you to default and lose the house.

Rebates and Cash Back

These are the mortgage incentives of late, because banks are increasingly looking for ways to attract customers that don't involve cutting down on the profits they make from Toronto mortgages. In a cash back deal, you'll get a certain percentage of money back, usually 1% to 3%. While this does add up to a sizeable sum that you can then use for renovations or going on vacation, it pales in comparison to even a fraction of a percentage point off the advertised interest rate.

Points, Presents, and Gift Cards

These are like the free calendars retailers will offer with your purchase, but on Thornhill, Ontario real estate instead. People love to get things for free - so much so that sometimes free stuff can blind them to the other drawbacks, like high interest rates. Banks have been known to offer Air Miles, retail store gift cards, televisions, iPods, and the like. Consider the value of the reward (perhaps a flight worth $1,000 or $400 for an iPod Touch) against the value of other rewards like cash back or lowered interest before you accept