News says "Mortgage Rates Are Rising" 1. What does this really mean? 2. Who is affected? 3. Does this change the amount of mortgage clients qualify for? 1. What does this really mean? Let’s use an example to illustrate what this actually means. On a mortgage of $500,000 with a 25-year amortization and an interest rate of 1.59% the payment per $100K of mortgage is $403.93....
We have received countless calls from clients due to the uncertainty created by COVID-19. Some of our clients have lost their jobs, or taken unpaid leave or are working from home on reduced salaries. A few of our clients who own rental properties now face tenants that cannot afford their rent anymore. Our clients wanted to know about the mortgage...
Dear Friends, We hope each one of you and your families are staying safe and healthy during this time. As we all watch the news, and follow the changes happening around us, we understand there is a lot of uncertainty about what is to come. Because of the confusion and the many questions being asked, we would like to share our experience...
Corine approached us after she had an accepted offer on an Ottawa house and 2 banks had already pre-approved her for a mortgage, securing her an excellent 5-year fixed-rate. She had heard about us in the past and called just to make sure she is not missing anything in her process. Unfortunately, Corine’s call came after most banks and lenders had...
Bank of Canada announced yesterday that they will keep the overnight rate at 1.75%, meaning the prime rate will stay at 3.95%. What’s going on with the prime rate? This announcement came by surprise. A month and a half ago, most experts were expecting a reduction of 0.25% on the prime rate of 3.7%. Opinions were mixed as to why this did...
During our fifteen years of experience in the housing financing industry, we have seen many trends and heard many rumours about the housing market. In most recent years, however, these rumours seem to have been played up in the media to the extent that many people believe them to be fact. In my blog today, I would like to take...
Bond yields affect mortgage interest rates because mortgages are an investment alternative to bonds. Mortgages are somewhat riskier than bonds, making mortgage rates equal to a bond yield plus a premium reflecting mortgages additional risk. Every time bonds yield increase, mortgage rates go up. Every time bond yields go down, mortgage rates go down, but at a slower pace if compared...
Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto are seeing steady growth in taxes over the last few years. The aim in adding these taxes is to control foreign influence on the rising real-estate market, to protect housing affordability and supply, as well as increase the community’s cohesiveness. Foreign Buyer Tax The first tax introduced in 2016 was the provincial Foreign Buyer Tax, which has...
Saturday 9 am - Relator question has been sent A few weeks ago, we sent my clients and my realtors, as well as a circle of professional partners, a quick question asking them for their choice of realtor. The email went out to a limited list of 890 people out of the thousand in our database. The response was overwhelming: By 10 am, Saturday morning, I had...
2018: The Year of Mortgage Renewals Are you renewing your mortgage before the end of this year? If so, you are among almost 50% of Canadian borrowers who are renewing their mortgage in 2018. Today’s reality of renewing a mortgage is completely different than the one five years back. Higher rates are just half of the story. In January of 2018,...
