How a Mortgage Broker Structures Her Own Mortgage: Inside My Hybrid Mortgage Strategy

One of the questions I get asked from time to time is: How does a mortgage broker structure her own mortgage?

The answer might surprise you.

We don’t have one mortgage.

We currently have three separate pieces attached to our home:

• A variable-rate mortgage

• A fixed-rate mortgage

• A home equity line of credit (HELOC)

  
  

Each piece has a different purpose, different features, and, in the case of our two mortgage portions, different maturity dates.

And we structured it this way intentionally.

I’m sharing our personal mortgage structure because I think it demonstrates something I talk about with clients all the time: a good mortgage strategy is about much more than getting the lowest rate available today.

Your mortgage should make sense for your cash flow, your plans, your risk tolerance, and your longer-term financial goals.

Here’s how ours works.

Part One: Our Variable-Rate Mortgage

The smaller portion of our mortgage is variable and matures in 2027.

Interestingly, the rate on this portion is currently lower than the rate on our fixed mortgage.

But the rate isn’t the only reason this portion works for us.

Our variable mortgage also comes with valuable prepayment privileges. We can make a 20% lump-sum prepayment, increase our regular payments by 20%, and make double-up payments.

Those features sound great on paper, but they only really benefit you if you use them.

And we do.

After our anniversary date on July 7, we took advantage of the prepayment features available on this portion of our mortgage.

For us, mortgage planning isn’t something we think about once every three or five years when a renewal notice arrives.

We’re actively looking for opportunities to reduce our mortgage faster.

That doesn’t necessarily mean throwing every available dollar at the mortgage. It means understanding what options are available to us and deciding when using them makes sense within our overall financial plan.

Part Two: Our Fixed-Rate Mortgage

The second portion of our mortgage is fixed.

We originally took a five-year fixed mortgage as part of a refinance we completed in 2022 while we were building our home. We renewed this portion in July 2026.

And yes, this mortgage has a different maturity date from our variable mortgage.

That is intentional too.

Why I Like Having Different Mortgage Maturity Dates

People sometimes assume having your entire mortgage come up for renewal at the same time is automatically preferable.

Personally, I like that ours doesn't.

Having different maturity dates means we aren't forced to make one enormous decision about our entire mortgage at one specific point in an interest-rate cycle.

One portion may mature when rates are relatively high. Another could mature in a completely different rate environment.

Of course, nobody knows exactly where rates will be in the future. That's the point.

Instead of trying to perfectly predict interest rates, our structure gives us options and flexibility.

It allows us to make decisions about smaller portions of our overall debt at different times rather than having everything riding on one renewal date.

That strategy isn't right for everyone, but it works well for us.

We're Aggressively Paying Down the Fixed Portion Too

Our fixed mortgage also gives us prepayment options.

We can increase our regular payments and make lump-sum payments against the principal.

We've already maxed out the payment increase available to us on this portion, but we still have room to make another lump-sum payment this year.

Our goal is to do that around October or November.

This is one of the reasons I constantly encourage homeowners to understand the features of their mortgage.

A mortgage isn't just a rate and a monthly payment.

You should know things like:

• How much can you prepay each year?

• Can you increase your regular payments?

• Can you make double-up payments?

• What happens if you sell before maturity?

• How is your penalty calculated?

• Is your mortgage portable?

• What happens at renewal?

Sometimes a mortgage with a slightly different rate can offer features that are significantly more valuable depending on your plans.

Part Three: Our HELOC

The third component of our mortgage strategy is our HELOC.

As we make mortgage payments and prepayments, the available credit on this portion can increase.

Most of the time, however, our HELOC balance is:

$0.

We like having access to it as a financial tool if we need it, but we don't view it as money that's available to casually spend.

That's an important distinction.

Available credit isn't the same thing as available money.

Occasionally, though, life gives us a very good reason to use it.

Like when your oven literally blows up while you're making chicken fingers for your kids.

Yes, Our Oven Actually Blew Up

This happened to us recently.

I was making chicken fingers for the kids when our oven decided it had had enough.

Suddenly, we needed a new oven.

Rather than immediately pulling money from savings or investments, we used the financial tools we already had available to us.

We purchased the oven using our high-points credit card so we could take advantage of the benefits and insurance associated with the card.

Then we paid off the credit card using our HELOC.

But here's the important part:

The HELOC was never our plan for ultimately paying for the oven.

It was simply the bridge.

Because we strategically plan our cash flow and pay ourselves regularly, we were able to move through the process like this:

Buy the oven → Pay off the credit card → Pay off the HELOC

Within three weeks, our HELOC balance was back to $0.

That's how we choose to use revolving credit.

It gives us short-term flexibility without turning an unexpected purchase into long-term debt.

Why We Keep a HELOC Available

Most of the time, our HELOC simply sits there unused.

We like having it available for three main reasons:

An opportunity.

An unexpected expense.

A short-term bridge.

Having that access means we don't necessarily have to disrupt savings or investments every time an unexpected expense comes up.

But there's a very important caveat here: this strategy requires discipline.

A HELOC can be an incredibly useful financial tool, but it's still debt.

If available credit starts feeling like extra income, it can become very easy for balances to grow and stay there.

Our goal is different. We want access to the tool without treating the available limit as money we have to spend.

So, What Does Our Overall Mortgage Strategy Look Like?

When you put everything together, our current structure looks like this:

Variable mortgage: Smaller portion, maturing in 2027, with prepayment privileges we're actively using.

Fixed mortgage: Renewed in July 2026, with a different maturity date and payment increases already maximized.

HELOC: Available as a flexible financial tool, but normally carrying a $0 balance.

On top of that, we're making additional payments where our mortgage terms allow us to because one of our goals is to reduce our mortgage debt faster.

It's not a passive strategy.

We're regularly looking at our mortgage, our cash flow, and our financial goals and asking:

Is there something we should be doing differently right now?

Is a Hybrid Mortgage Right for Everyone?

Absolutely not.

And that's exactly the point.

I'm not sharing our mortgage structure because I think everyone should copy it.

Your financial situation may be completely different from ours.

You might value payment certainty above everything else. You may be planning to move in two years. You might anticipate a significant change in income. You could be preparing for a renovation, purchasing another property, starting a family, or approaching retirement.

All of those factors can influence how a mortgage should be structured.

That's why I don't believe the mortgage conversation should simply be:

"What's the lowest rate today?"

Rate matters. Of course it does.

But it is only one piece of the mortgage decision.

The better conversation is:

What are you trying to accomplish, and how can we structure your mortgage to help you get there?

Your Mortgage Should Work With Your Life

One of my favourite parts of being a mortgage broker is having these bigger-picture conversations with clients.

Sometimes the right solution is incredibly simple.

Sometimes it involves fixed and variable portions, different maturity dates, a HELOC, or specific prepayment strategies.

Sometimes the strategy changes as your life changes.

The important part is understanding your options.

If you've never looked at your mortgage beyond the rate and payment, it might be worth having a conversation about what else is possible.

A hybrid mortgage strategy isn't right for everyone, but for the right borrower, having different mortgage portions, maturity dates, and features can create some interesting opportunities for flexibility and long-term planning.

Your mortgage should be structured around your life, your cash flow and your goals — not simply around today's lowest rate.

Ready to chat about your goals?Visit www.emilycallme.com