Rob Carrick, a columnist at the Globe and Mail just wrote a great piece on Canadian mortgages. The article serves partly as a warning to mortgage consumers to be wary of cash-back offers, which are being aggressively marketed by lenders and mortgage brokers in Canada.

Carrick also astutely points out that "To negotiate effectively, you need to understand that there is a bigger gap than in the past between the fictional world of posted mortgage rates and the actual discounted rates that smart borrowers pay."

It's a mortgage jungle out there for consumers - make sure you've got a sherpa.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080416.wcarrick0417...