With my husband’s line of work moving is par for the course so we usually try to keep on top of what banks are offering for mortgages, incentives and stuff like that so that when it is time to go {and horray it is! we’ll be moving again in the coming months} we’ll know what our best options are.

BMO has a really great incentive on right now. Since nearly half of Canadians are planning energy efficient upgrades in the next year, BMO wants to encourage and reward homeowners who are looking to reduce their energy usuage with a special eco smart mortgage rate.

For Canadians who meet BMO’s energy efficiency criteria, The BMO Eco Smart Mortgage is a new mortgage product with market-leading five-year fixed rate of 3.89% – a rate significantly lower than comparable green mortgage products.

Here is how it works:

A homeowner downloads the appropriate checklist {house or condo} from the BMO website. The check-list includes things such as: High-efficiency heating and cooling systems, Solar, tank-less or ENERGY STAR qualified hot water system and ENERGY STAR qualified windows, doors and major appliances. If after reviewing the checklist, the homeowner feels their home qualifies; they then contact a BMO branch to talk to a mortgage specialist. BMO will send an appraiser into the home of the consumer to confirm the house qualification.

We did the checklist and we’re actually not doing too bad considering we have an older home. We did A LOT of renovations to this house but I don’t think we’d qualify – you need to meet 6 out of the 7 categories and we meet 4 or 5 since most of our renovations were things like cupboards, counters, bathrooms, flooring, siding. Not really energy related upgrades.  For those of you who have a home with newer windows, a good hot water tank, energy star appliances, etc., it’s definitely worth checking out!

Funny reno pics?

I might have swung a sludge hammer and an axe a few times, but my husband made most of this mess. {this is very staged LOL}:

Here I am putting together our kitchen cupboards with Aidan sleeping and strapped to the front of me when he was a year old:

We’ll be moving in the coming months so we’re keeping BMO in mind for our next mortgage since the next house should be newer than this one and will likely have  most of the what’s on the qualification list. We’re pretty tired of doing big renovations so we’ll be focusing on greening up a newer house with smaller changes, but don’t forget the small things add up to reduce your impact.

THE GIVEAWAY

One lucky reader is going to win a $50 RONA gift card!

TO ENTER

Tell me what you’ve done {or what your future plans are} for making your home more energy efficient!

EXTRA ENTRIES

– Like BMO on facebook
– Like Natural Mommie on facebook
– Subscribe via email {2 steps! You must confirm your subscription!}
– Subscribe via reader
– Leave a comment on a non-giveaway post
– Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link
– Follow my blog with Google Friend Connect
– Follow @bmo on twitter
– Follow @naturalmommie on twitter and ReTweet this giveaway {can be retweeted daily – leave me the links} Are you greening your house?  Tell me here & enter to #win a $50 RONA GC via @naturalmommie #giveaway #greenliving http://bit.ly/kx2kHk

Closes May 20th  at 8pm MST. Open to Canada only.*For facebook entries, please leave your first name and last initial with your comment so I can verify you’re a fan on facebook. 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.

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3. green gift guide: iq plant-based & non-toxic cleaners
4. green gift guide: pat bay international {reflective safety products – 10 winners for go green find a light}