BMO Eco Smart Blog Tour and Giveaway!

Making a decision on which bank/financial company to use for your mortgage can be very overwhelming to say the least.  Nearly half of all Canadians are planning energy efficient upgrades to their homes in the next year as utility costs are a big part of home ownership so reducing costs is the smart thing to do.  BMO wants to reward homeowners who have done things to reduce their energy costs with a special mortgage rate.

BMO is introducing the Eco Smart Mortgage for Canadians who meet their energy efficiency criteria.  The Eco Smart Mortgage has a five-year fixed rate of 3.89% (subject to change)  which is lower than other comparable green mortgage products.  What the homeowner does is download the checklist for house or condo from the BMO.  After reviewing the checklist if the homeowner thinks that they qualify then they contact BMO and talk to a mortgage specialist.

I went through the checklist for our house and it's really easy to do.  To qualify your house has to have 6 out of 7   energy efficient features that are listed.  The list includes things such as appliances, window, doors, hot water tanks and furnaces.  Our house has 2 out of 7 and part of the appliance category which is a fail.  Our house isn't very energy efficient at all.  Coincidentally though our current mortgage rate is the same or lower than the 3.89% offered anyway without giving away the actual number.  We would love to have all the energy efficient features listed but the biggest thing holding us back is money!  Windows can get very expensive when there's a house full of them to replace.  We're just going to start small such as with doors and if the furnace kicks the bucket then we'll look at replacing that too.  For more information visit the website here.

I get the opportunity to give one of my readers a $50 Rona gift card!  For a mandatory entry you must comment about your efforts or future plans to make your home more energy efficient.  Contest is open to Canadians only and ends on May 15th.

For bonus entries:

1.  Follow with GFC and comment that you did
2.  Follow my facebook page and comment that you did
3.  Follow with networked blogs and comment that you did
4.  Subscribe by email and comment that you did

Disclosure – I am participating in the BMO Eco Smart Mortgage program by Mom Central Canada on behalf of BMO - Bank of Montreal.  I received a gift card as a thank you for my participation.  The opinions on this blog are my own.