CMHC's lending guidelines, the same ones a lender checked at your original approval, cap housing costs at roughly 39 percent of gross income (GDS) and total debt at 44 percent (TDS). A renewal at a higher rate or an income drop that pushes you past those ratios is the earliest, quietest warning sign, well before a missed payment shows up on a credit file.
Selling before a default is registered is almost always the better financial outcome, since a private sale on the open market keeps the equity you have built rather than surrendering it to a forced process. A lawyer, not the lender, is who actually walks a Saskatchewan sale through Information Services Corporation to clear title once it closes, so involving one early costs little and protects a lot.
Waiting until a lender's letter arrives narrows every option down to the most expensive one. Get your hand-reviewed valuation from Joel Dyck.