THE GAME OF LIFE has been a popular board game for decades, in large part because it’s so easy for people to relate to. After all, we often play our own game of life in different ways each and every day. The challenges we face to accomplish our goals may be frustrating at times, but once we’ve conquered them, that feeling of having won is just unbeatable!

For me, buying my first house was my ultimate challenge in the game of life. I’d had some credit problems in the past, so the process involved planning, budgeting and saving for months before I could even hope to get a mortgage. I applied once but the application was rejected. Then I had numerous meetings with the mortgage specialist at my bank to help determine what more I could be doing to have my mortgage approved.

Finally, I started shopping around by connecting with mortgage brokers and seeing if they were able to offer me an approved mortgage at a good rate. I found a broker that was able to line up a lender, but the rates were quite a bit higher than the current prime rates that major banks were offering. Before accepting, I decided to try filing an application one last time with my current bank. And to my delight, the application was approved! [Read more…]