So long, CMHC

We made our final CMHC payment today.

For those who don't know, CMHC (Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation) is the agency that insures "high ratio" mortgages against default. If you have a down payment of less than 25% when you purchase a home in Canada, you pay a premium of 2-4% of the total amount borrowed. I think this is similar to PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) in the US.

The CMHC amount is usually tacked onto the mortgage amount, and you spend your first year as a homeowner working to pay off that premium, without touching the actual purchase price at all.

We bought our condo last June, and today we paid off the last $66.76 of CMHC, along with $286.22 of the purchase price. This means that, for the first time since we moved, we have actually made real progress on our mortgage.

And it feels good.