Editorial standards
Source Methodology And Editorial Standards
How Best Mortgage Offers selects sources, labels proposed rules, reviews policy pages, and writes Ontario mortgage calculator content.
Source hierarchy
Primary sources come first: CRA, Finance Canada, Ontario government releases or budgets, municipal tax pages, CMHC, Tarion, and other official program administrators.
Secondary commentary can help identify user questions or SERP gaps, but it should not override primary sources for formulas, eligibility, effective dates, or policy status.
- Confirmed: active source supports the rule being modelled.
- Proposed: public announcement or budget text exists, but final enacted details still need review.
- Needs review: source, formula, or implementation detail requires another audit before launch reliance.
- Buyer input: amount depends on the user's agreement, statement of adjustments, mortgage approval, or lawyer ledger.
Calculator content standard
Every important output should be explainable through a ledger line, scenario comparison, source card, warning, or checklist item. If the output depends on contract language, it should stay editable and be flagged for professional confirmation.
Ontario enhanced HST relief remains visibly marked as verify-before-relying until final rules are confirmed. The calculator should never present a proposed rule as guaranteed closing cash.
Corrections and updates
Pages should be updated when a primary source changes, when Search Console reveals an unanswered high-intent query, or when a user reports a reproducible issue with source-backed evidence.
When a policy-sensitive change affects the calculator, update the policy constants, content page language, source cards, tests, and last-reviewed date together.