The Mortgage Renewal Wave: How to Turn 1.2 Million Renewals Into New Listings
Right now, 1.2 million Canadians are facing mortgage renewals — many locked into rates far higher than what they originally paid. This is the single biggest listing opportunity in years for realtors who know how to…
Show notes
Right now, 1.2 million Canadians are facing mortgage renewals — many locked into rates far higher than what they originally paid. This is the single biggest listing opportunity in years for realtors who know how to approach it. Scott Dillingham shows you exactly how to position yourself, what to say, and how to convert renewal conversations into transactions.
The core challenge is simple but impactful: when homeowners renew, they must continue with the amortization remaining on their mortgage. So if a client has 14 years left, their new, higher rate is applied over that shorter period — driving payments up even further. Scott outlines a key strategy that mortgage professionals use to combat this: restructuring the mortgage as a refinance to extend the amortization back to 25 or 30 years. This can substantially lower monthly payments without necessarily pulling cash out, giving homeowners the breathing room they need to stay in their properties comfortably. Extending amortization at renewal is a growing strategy across Canada, with many borrowers and mortgage brokers using it to bridge the gap between pandemic-era rates and current borrowing costs.
Scott then connects the dots for realtors. Many homeowners maximized their debt ratios when purchasing at lower rates, meaning any payment increase could push them past their comfort zone. This opens the door for realtors to proactively reach out to past clients — especially those from three to five years ago — and offer real solutions. Whether it is connecting them with a mortgage professional like LendCity to explore refinancing and amortization extensions, helping them downsize to a more affordable property, or simply being the trusted advisor who checks in at the right time, this approach builds loyalty and generates referrals.
The episode also highlights how lenders often send renewal offers that are not their most competitive rates, banking on the assumption that homeowners will simply sign and move on. By encouraging clients to shop their renewal, realtors position themselves as advocates who go above and beyond. Scott emphasizes that this proactive outreach not only helps clients save money but creates a natural pipeline of listings, buyer transactions, and referral business that can fuel a realtor's growth through this unprecedented renewal cycle.
Key Takeaways
- Canada's Mortgage Renewal Wave Is Massive: Roughly 1.2 million Canadians are up for renewal, with about 60% of all outstanding mortgages expected to renew in the coming cycle — many originally locked in when rates were at historic lows.
- Payments Are Jumping at Renewal: Homeowners must renew at their remaining amortization, meaning higher interest rates applied over fewer years results in significantly higher monthly payments that many borrowers are not prepared for.
- Extending Amortization Lowers Payments: By restructuring as a refinance, borrowers can reset their amortization to 25 or 30 years, reducing monthly payments to more affordable levels without necessarily taking cash out of the property.
- Realtors Can Be the Hero: Proactively reaching out to past clients facing renewals positions realtors as trusted advisors, creating opportunities for downsizing listings, new purchases, and referral business.
- Always Shop the Renewal Rate: Many lenders send renewal offers that are not their best rates, assuming clients will not compare. Working with a mortgage broker to shop around can save homeowners significant money.
- Target Past Clients From Three to Five Years Ago: These clients are the most likely to be facing renewal shock right now, making them the ideal audience for outreach that adds genuine value and generates new business.
Links to Show References
- LendCity Mortgages (Renewal & Refinance Consultations): lendcity.ca
- Government of Canada – Renewing Your Mortgage: canada.ca/mortgages
- Bank of Canada – Mortgage Renewal Analysis: bankofcanada.ca
- CMHC – Residential Mortgage Industry Report: cmhc-schl.gc.ca
- (00:00) - – Introduction to the Mortgage Renewal Wave in Canada
- (00:57) - – How Amortization Works at Renewal and Why Payments Increase
- (01:16) - – Extending Amortization: The Refinance Strategy to Lower Payments
- (02:15) - – Why Homeowners Are Struggling With Higher Renewal Payments
- (02:41) - – Options for Clients: Downsize, Refinance, or Shop Around
- (02:57) - – Why You Should Never Just Accept the Renewal Offer
- (03:29) - – How Realtors Become the Hero by Helping Clients Save
- (04:11) - – Reaching Out to Past Clients and Generating Referrals
Transcript
Introduction
Welcome to the Close More Deals podcast for realtors, the no BS podcast that turns stalled real estate deals into signed contracts and flaky buyers into loyal clients. I'm your host, Scott Dillingham, a battle-tested mortgage expert who's closed over $2B+ in real estate transactions. Each week, I unpack proven lending programs, negotiation hacks, mindset shifts, and insider tools from top producers so you can close faster, earn bigger, and crush your goals. Ready to dominate?
Hit play and let's seal the deal. Welcome to the Close More Deals podcast. I'm your host, Scott Dillingham. Today, I'm going to be talking to you about renewals.
This is a major, major thing that's happening right now. And by you getting on top of this, and I'll explain why it's so important as well, but it can help you to close more deals. So a lot of clients are currently up for renewal this year and next. They're calling it the renewal wave for a reason.
And the challenge is, is that pre-COVID rates and even rates that were given during COVID, because they shot down really low, they're so much cheaper than current rates. So what's happening is people are entering these renewals and their rates are going up, which means their payments are going up. It's making things harder for them to carry, right? 2 million Canadians that are up for renewal this year and next.
The Core Idea
So it's just massive amounts of people. So the thing is, is when you're up for renewal, there's a couple of things. When you're up for renewal, you have to take the amortization that's left. So what I mean by that is say, you know, you started with a 25 year and you renewed and maybe now let's say that you have, I don't know, 14 years left, right?
Maybe you chose a one year, five year, whatever the options are, but you've got 14 years left. So what happens is when you renew, your payment goes up because the interest rate goes up, but then you still have to keep that 14 year period. So one of the things that we're doing to save clients money is obviously when we're looking at the renewal rates, we're checking all of what the lenders offer, but then we're looking at, you know, if we do it in structure as a refinance, we're not necessarily giving the investor or the client, um, money out of, uh, out of pocket.
But what we are doing is we're changing their amortization. So we can bring them back up to a 25 or a 30 year amortization, lowering their payments to make this affordable for them. So you coming in with that suggestion to your clients, you're going to be the hero, but here's how you as a realtor, here's how you close more deals. So there's going to be a lot of clients that when they get their renewal monthly payment, it's going to be unaffordable for them, right?
A lot of homeowners, when they buy their home, they're maximizing their debt ratios. So they're already maxed at the lower payment. So when the payment goes up, right, they're, they're really struggling. So the downsizing option, uh, is there, right?
Deep Dive
So touching base with your clients, letting them know that renewals, you know, it is going to raise their payment. If that's not an option for them, right? They can sell or downsize. They can speak to a mortgage professional like Lend City, where we will analyze and see if we can extend the amortization to improve their positive cashflow.
Um, or you know what, maybe they can afford it. And then what we'll do is instead of just accepting the, the, the banks or whoever their lender is renewal, uh, shop it around to also save money because there's many lenders that, um, assume clients don't shop around. And when they give these renewal documents or these rates, they're not very aggressive. So we can quite often help.
No, sometimes they are right. I'm not saying every time they're not, but, um, we've seen it a lot where they're not aggressive and we can help the client to save money, but you will come and become the hero for helping your client to save, uh, especially if their payments are becoming unavoidable. So look back, think of your transactions that you've done, right? Those transactions that are three to five years ago.
Um, this is the perfect people to reach out to, right? Because they're going to be facing these higher renewal payments. So just touch base, check in and see how it's going. And you'll be surprised, um, how many clients you'll be able to convert and then referrals you're going to get by doing that extra due diligence and helping them, um, when they need it because right, nobody wants their payments to greatly increase on, on their home.
Practical Steps
Uh, and that's what homeowners are up against the next two years. So anyways, I hope this episode added value. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did like it, share it, follow all that good stuff, share with a friend, you know, anyways, thanks so much.
Look forward to seeing you next week. Take care.
Thank you so much for tuning into the show today. If you found value, please follow the show and rate it five stars. It would mean the world to me.
And lastly, all the resources that we spoke about are at the bottom of the show notes. Looking forward to seeing you on the next episode.