Congratulations! You have purchased yourself a house. Now, after taking advantage of the detached housing market that has slowed down and following our advice to buy a house with a rental suite, all you need is good tenants. Let’s look at some minor changes that will not cost you much, will get you to rent fast, and have the right...
I Got an Approval. Am I Protected? When you receive an accepted offer and have all the building documents, you are issued an Approval. Most of our clients prefer an Approval and like to skip the phase of getting a Pre-Approval because of the lack of certainty we mentioned in the last blog. The Approval is a document that in fact does...
When starting the mortgage process with a new client, I’m usually asked to provide a Pre-Approval for their upcoming purchase. What these new clients usually do not know is that the Pre-Approval document provided by banks is the easiest document to get, yet the least reliable to have. What is a Pre-Approval? A Pre-Approval is usually a one-page document that acts like...
The Day the Rate War Started... It all started last week when BMO announced its fantastic variable rate of Prime -1% = 2.45% Until then, we had this type of rate offered by trust companies and credit unions only to insured mortgages with a down payment of less than 20% of property’s value. Clients that wanted to buy with 20% or more own...
If you have a variable rate mortgage, you belong in a highly respectable group that includes most of my clients and myself. At this time of rising rates, I’m frequently asked whether to lock in the variable rate into a fixed. The math is simple: every 0.25% prime rate increase, will result in a $13 increase (per month) for every...
What Makes The Mortgage Rates Go Up? In the previous years, we have looked at market forces of supply and demand to predict and plan according to the direction of the housing market and rates trend. 2018 is different - It is more about anticipating the effects of the federal government’s unpredicted intervention, which often do not align to what is happening...
The recently tabled B.C. 2018-19 Budget Plan has revised some provincial housing regulation in effect immediately: 1. Stabilizing the market. Includes policies for: taxing speculators; increasing foreign buyers tax to 20% Applying the foreign tax outside of Metro Vancouver; For instance, in Victoria and Whistler Increasing taxes (school property tax rate and transfer) on properties over $3 million; implementing an “Airbnb” tax. 2. Cancelling the B.C. first-time...
Congratulations! You’ve gotten your mortgage approved. However, your mortgage is not guaranteed until you meet all its conditions, nor is it guaranteed until it is registered by your solicitor. Many things can happen while waiting for completion and registration date. Some of them can put your approved mortgage at risk. The following is a list I use to guide my...
New mortgage regulations change the course of action Since the new mortgage regulations of October 2017 have introduced, we’ve been asked the same question over and over again: is it better to buy by the end of 2017, or wait it out? Which would be the smartest move in the light of the new mortgage regulations? Eventually, some of our clients...
You have a good credit score, the full down payment, steady job with a high enough salary but still the bank rejected your mortgage application. What are the common reasons for rejection these days? You have an excellent credit score but you were still rejected due to your credit Credit score of over 700 will allow you access to the best mortgage...
