CategoryMortgage Products

Posted April 10, 20142 Comments Mortgage News

Self-employed and can’t prove all income? There’s a new mortgage solution.

IT STARTED WITH 2008

In 2008, the world experienced the U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis. Financial markets and real estate values nose-dived around the world…. well, not everywhere. Some countries, like Canada, held their own. Most of Canada didn’t really suffer like the rest of the world. Call it luck, govt intervention, maybe being 5 yrs behind the U.S. (that’s personally what I think it was), or whatever. Today, property values have never been higher!

Here’s the strange thing. Our Federal govt has made several mortgage rule changes that makes getting a mortgage tougher. Yet, those changes were made AFTER the crisis. In fact, they have made annual changes since 2009, including 2013. Somehow, our real estate market remains red-hot. (That’s something to discuss another day).

The govt demanded higher credit scores, more proof of income, larger down payments, shorter amortizations and reduced how much your can borrow against your house. Yes, all these changes were made AFTER the 2008 crisis and are as recent 2013. And that’s what so amazing our current real estate market.. it’s resilient. It’s continued to grow and climb even with all the govt tinkering. Continue reading “Self-employed and can’t prove all income? There’s a new mortgage solution.”

Posted April 8, 20143 Comments Consumer Debt

A 2nd mortgage? Yes, this option can save you money.

Quick, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of “second mortgages”? For some it could be that shady looking character in a smoke-filled pool hall… guys with gold chains and a baseball bat nearby. Maybe you’re thinking of someone in financial trouble. Or maybe it’s just someone who doesn’t want to pay outrageous costs and penalties to refinance their existing mortgage.

The mere mention of 2nd mortgages conjures up all sort of images. Most of them, negative. For many, a 2nd mortgage can be a last resort solution during a financial crisis. For several others, it can be an opportunity to save money. That’s right, to save money.

Sure, 2nd mortgages carry a higher interest rate than 1st mortgages but, they can also serve a purpose. One of those purposes can be to save you money. Yup, I said it again. There are some new trends emerging with today’s new mortgage products that are forcing consumers to seek other options. Two of these trends are INFLATED PREPAYMENT PENALTIES and NO FRILLS MORTGAGES! Continue reading “A 2nd mortgage? Yes, this option can save you money.”

Posted November 11, 20131 Comment Mortgage News

Long term is almost always more expensive.

Ever wanted to change cell phone providers? How about internet providers? Move your investments or rrsps? Cancel that hydro or gas contract because you moved?

And how about mortgages? When interest rates started heading down about 4 years ago, thousand of borrowers in fixed rate mortgages wanted to get out of their higher rates and start benefiting from the record low interest rates.

But borrowers were shocked to hear of unbelievably high early prepayment penalties… Penalties of $15,000, $20,000, $30,000. One recent situation had CIBC charging a $33,000 penalty on a $500,000 mortgage. I’ve seen dozens and dozens of situations like this. Almost all of these high penalties were from one of the BIG SIX BANKS… Continue reading “Long term is almost always more expensive.”

Posted October 2, 20132 Comments Interest rates

Another US Govt shutdown… could mean lower mortgage rates for Canada.

Remember the U.S. Debt ceiling crisis in the summer of 2011? Panic was an understatement. That story dominated headlines for close to 2 months. Stock markets dropped, but mortgage rates dropped, too. In fact, fixed wholesale mortgage rates dropped 0.50% in the months leading up to the Debt Ceiling deadline, from June to August…. And continued to drop another 0.70% into 2012.

Mortgage rates hit all-time lows in the fall of 2011 and just kept right on dropping. We hit our the all-time low in May 2013 before rates jumped almost 1.00% to our present 3.69%. (This is for 5 year fixed mortgages. Variable rates did not budge… Bank Prime rate has changed since Sept 2010…that’s important to remember as I will explain later) Continue reading “Another US Govt shutdown… could mean lower mortgage rates for Canada.”

Posted July 9, 2013 Interest rates

Time to look at Variable Rates again.

With fixed rates up around 0.60% over the last 4 weeks (currently at around 3.49%.. there are some lower rates but these come with conditions so we are using the more widely available rate) we must again take a look at Variable rates. Today’s best Variable rate product is sitting at around Prime less 0.40% … there’s even a few promotional Variables at Prime less 0.50% for qualified applicants. But for this article we will stick with Prime less 0.40%. That’s 2.60% today. We are almost at that 1.00% spread that I like to see.

Two years ago, the best Variable rate was at Prime less 0.75% with the option to lock into the BEST discounted fixed rate at any time (this option is important, don’t ever settle for a variable product that doesn’t have this clause). And 5 years ago, we had Variable rate products as low at Prime less 0.90%. Continue reading “Time to look at Variable Rates again.”