News, Views and Trends!
The Bank of Canada governor, Till Macklem, made no change to interest rates on April 21st, the 3rd of 8 annual meetings dates. This comes as no surprise, though, There wasn’t a chance of an interest rate hike anyway. You can read more on this here .
Continue reading “Interest Rates to Stay As-is for Now. But When Will They Rise Again?”
There is big news that was announced earlier this month and it might affect home buyers in the market for a mortgage. The Office of Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) released a proposal to increase the qualifying mortgage rate for uninsured mortgages. Uninsured mortgages are ones where there is more than a 20% down payment.
The new qualifying rate will increase from the posted 5 year fixed rate, which is currently 4.79%, to the contract rate plus 2% or 5.25%, whichever is greater. This would effectively qualify consumers for 4% less mortgage. On a $1,000,000 purchase with a $200,000 down payment, buyers would qualify for around $755,000 vs $800,000.
Many are concerned that this could have an effect on our market by slowing it down.
Continue reading “New, tougher mortgage stress test? What will this do to our red hot real estate market?”
In today’s ultra sensitive society, I had better give a warning… I’m not promoting bullying. Okay, now that we got that out of the way, here’s why a bully offer can make sense for you when it comes to purchasing a home.
Continue reading “Bully Offers and Why They May be a Good Tactic”
The real estate market is more active and more competitive than any time in history. The results? Pure chaos.
It used to be normal for people to insert a few conditions when making an offer to purchase a home. The standard conditions used to be along the lines of obtaining satisfactory financing within 5 to 10 business days and obtaining a satisfactory home inspection. The lender would go through an in depth underwriting process, then verify income, down payment, credit, and finally the property would get reviewed and appraised to ensure it meets the lender’s criteria and lending value.
Continue reading “No Conditions with an Offer… Is This the New Normal?”
It happens to many of us from time to time. Either we need to build our credit, or even rebuild it. Well, the good news is there is a card on the market that can help you do just that.
With this card, you put a deposit down to secure a line of financing from Visa. This is ideal for those who need to rebuild credit, perhaps to switch to a new mortgage deal or to get a mortgage in the first place. The card works just like a credit card and can help raise your credit rating as long as your monthly payment is made on time. You can see what all this card entails and apply for it here.
Continue reading “How to build credit with a Home Trust Secured Visa card”