Get the house without undoing the tax planning you worked hard for

Yes, you can get a mortgage when you are self-employed, and often without undoing the smart tax planning that keeps more money in your pocket. There are many programs built specifically for business owners, and the trick is matching your file to a lender whose rules fit how you actually earn. Some lenders take a one-size-fits-all view and tell self-employed clients to stop writing down their income, and for many Albertans that is the wrong call.

My underwriters and I look at your whole situation and find the path that works. I have been licensed since 2018, my team and I have funded more than $150M in mortgages, and we hold a 5.0 rating from 30+ five-star reviews on Google. The first conversation is free, there is no credit check just to have it, and you finish it knowing which programs you actually qualify for.

You are the lifeblood of Alberta

One of the reasons my wife and I moved back to Alberta when we were thinking about starting a family is that we both knew it was a land of opportunity. That belief is part of what made me comfortable leaving Canada to explore the world earlier in my life, because I always knew I could come back, work hard, and make something of myself here.

Now that I work for myself, the thing I respect most about Alberta is its lifeblood, the people running oil and gas businesses, the plumbers, the electricians, the financial planners, everyone building a better life for themselves and their families. I have always loved working with those people. You are part of what makes this province what it is, and there is a way to get you a home too. You should never think you cannot get a mortgage just because you are self-employed.

Why the banks get this wrong

When you work with a good accountant and you are incorporated, there is an opportunity to write down your personal income in a way that makes you less tax-liable. That is smart, and it is to your advantage. Yet most banks or brokers will say that if you want a mortgage, you should stop writing down your income. I think that is the wrong way to look at it. We need to look at your situation holistically.

I see this every day. My wife is an accountant who works with incorporated business owners across Alberta from her office in Crossfield, and the smart tax planning her clients do is exactly the kind of work that creates the question we solve here. Do you write your income down for tax reasons, or up to qualify for a mortgage? With the right broker, you usually do not have to choose. Some lenders take a one-size-fits-all approach, but the better move is a broker who knows which lender fits which file.

What is actually possible for self-employed buyers

There are far more options than most people realize, and which one fits depends on your file. Here are the main routes my underwriters and I use.

Alternative lenders, sometimes called B-lenders, are for clients who have written income down enough that they no longer qualify on the prime side. The rate is slightly higher, but the tax savings from your accounting often more than outweigh that difference. It is a trade-off, not a free lunch, and I will show you the real numbers so you can judge it for yourself. If a business is too new or a year’s numbers too unusual even for a B-lender, a short-term private mortgage can bridge you to the point where the file is bankable, and I will be equally plain about what that costs.

Income add-backs and bump-ups on the prime side help incorporated owners qualify without changing their tax strategy. Depending on the lender, we can use net income after tax with a lender-specific bump-up, and some lenders will add back car payments or amortization that runs through the company. My underwriters and I know which lender does what.

Sole proprietor gross-ups let us increase a sole proprietor’s qualifying income by roughly 15 to 20 percent, depending on the lender, to better reflect real earning power.

Insured stated income programs are the option people are most surprised by. If you have 10 percent down, not the 20 percent everyone assumes, qualifying self-employed borrowers can use an insured stated income program through insurers like Sagen or Canada Guaranty. You state your income, the lender reviews your documents to confirm it is reasonable for your industry and the size of your business, and that becomes your qualifying income.

These programs carry real conditions. Both insurers want a minimum of two years of self-employment, a clean recent credit history with no delinquencies in the past twelve months and no income tax arrears, and they cap the loan size. Under Canada Guaranty’s Low Doc Advantage the maximum insured loan in Calgary is currently $750,000 against a maximum property value of $1,000,000, and commission sales income is not eligible. Those are the rules as they stand in July 2026, and insurer policies change, so my underwriters and I confirm the current criteria against the source on every file rather than working from memory.

If you have been told you need 20 percent down because you are self-employed, that is the single most common piece of misinformation in this space, and it is worth one free call to find out whether it applies to you.

Honest about the trade-offs

None of these tools is magic, so I will always be straight about the catches. Alternative-lender rates are higher than prime, and whether the trade is worth it depends on your file. Bump-ups and add-backs are set by each lender’s policy, so I talk in ranges, not promises. Stated income programs have real qualifying criteria, and they are not available to everyone. My job is to put the honest picture in front of you and then find the option that leaves you ahead, not to oversell a program that does not fit.

My underwriters and I know the policies

The reason this works is detail. A lot of banks will simply write off a self-employed applicant, because their one policy does not fit. My underwriters and I know the policies for every lender, which is what lets us take a file that one institution rejected and place it somewhere it sails through. That knowledge is the whole job, and it is why working with a broker who specializes in self-employed files is so different from walking into your branch.

The most satisfying part for me is when somebody comes in convinced it is impossible, sure they cannot qualify or that they need 20 percent down, and we find a solution they did not know existed. That moment is why I love this work.

Incorporated or sole proprietor, each has a path

How you are set up changes which tools we reach for. If you are incorporated, lenders look at a mix of your personal income and what your company earns and retains, and the prime-side add-backs matter most here, because we can often use net income after tax with a lender-specific bump-up and add back expenses like vehicle costs run through the business. The smart tax planning you do with your accountant stays intact, and we work with it rather than against it.

If you are a sole proprietor, your income shows on your personal return, and the gross-up approach tends to do the heavy lifting, increasing your qualifying income by roughly 15 to 20 percent depending on the lender to better reflect what you really earn. Either way, the work is the same in spirit. We start from your real situation and find the lender whose rules give you the fairest read, instead of forcing you into the one box a single bank happens to use.

Plan ahead with your accountant

A little timing goes a long way with self-employed files. Most lenders want to see about two years of self-employment history and your two most recent notices of assessment, so the picture your tax returns paint matters a great deal when you apply. That does not mean stopping your tax planning, but it does mean it is worth a conversation before you file, especially in the year or two before you plan to buy or refinance.

This is one of the reasons I like working with clients and their accountants as a team. When the accountant understands the mortgage goal and I understand the tax strategy, we can usually find an approach that protects your tax position and still presents a strong file to a lender. The earlier we talk, the more room there is to line those two things up.

That planning matters twice over if buying a rental is anywhere in your thinking. How a self-employed file is documented on your own home decides which lenders will look at you for an investment property later, because the same income question comes up again with a stricter lender list. It costs nothing to plan the two together from the start, and a great deal to unpick afterwards.

And if your bank is the right answer, I will tell you

Sometimes, after looking at everything, the best option for a self-employed client really is an ordinary prime mortgage at their own bank. If that is the case, I will tell you so plainly, and I will even help you get a better rate there, with nothing expected from you in return. My goal is for you to end up in the right place, not necessarily a place that runs through me.

That honesty is the whole point of working with a broker who knows this space. Most self-employed clients have more options than a single lender will ever show them, and my job is to lay all of them on the table, including the one that happens to be the bank down the street, and then help you choose the one that actually fits.

Documents that make a strong case

A clean, well-organized application makes all the difference. Usually that means two years of personal tax returns and notices of assessment, your business financial statements or T1 generals, proof your business is active, and confirmation of your down payment. We will tell you exactly what to pull together and help you present it in the best possible light, so a lender sees the real strength of your business rather than one shrunken number on a return.

What this costs you: nothing

The consultation is free, and so is a full pre-approval when you are ready for one. On standard purchases and refinances the lender pays me, so my advice costs you nothing at any stage. Pulling your credit at the pre-approval stage does cost me money, and I have never passed that on to a client.

Your credit is not touched on the first call either. That conversation is just a conversation, and your credit is only pulled later, with your permission, when you decide to move ahead.

What happens when you book a call

The first call takes about twenty minutes, by phone or video. We go through how your business is structured, roughly what it earns and what shows on your personal return, how long you have been self-employed, what down payment you have and where it is sitting, and when you would like to buy. You do not need your accountant on the line or a full document package ready.

You finish that call knowing three things: which of the four routes on this page realistically apply to you, roughly what price range each one puts you in, and what to line up before you apply. If the answer is that waiting two months for a second notice of assessment doubles your options, you will hear that rather than being pushed into a worse program today.

The documents listed above are what we work toward, not what you need in hand to have a first conversation. If you are buying, the mortgage pre-approvals page explains what a properly underwritten approval involves, and if you already own and want to pull equity out of the home, the refinancing page covers that side.

Working for yourself should never cost you a fair shot at a mortgage. The first conversation is free, there is no credit check to have it, and you will get an honest read on where you stand and which program fits you best.