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Posted 1 Comment on Housing slump? Recession? Not so fast… Mortgage News

Housing slump? Recession? Not so fast…

Blog Image, Economy Ben Tal, November 2018

Remember all those pessimists who were calling for a housing bubble or collapse?

If you listened to them and rented for the past eight years, how much would you have lost? How much would your rent have increased since then? And would you still be able to rent that condo or house… or would your landlord possibly have plans to sell it and leave you out in the cold?

We used to expect an economic slowdown or recession every five years. But something happened after the last big recession in 1990. Since then, there has really only been one recession: in 2009.

This came off the heels of the infamous US subprime mortgage crisis that crippled most of the world’s economies for years. Yet, in Canada, we got off relatively easy. Our slowdown lasted less than a year.

Continue reading “Housing slump? Recession? Not so fast…”

Posted 4 Comments on Real Estate Rebounds in June as Expected! Mortgage News

Real Estate Rebounds in June as Expected!

Blog Image, Housing Outlook, June 19Earlier this year, I voiced my disagreement with the real estate pessimists who said a real estate crash or bubble was forming. Click here to read more.

This same more positive outlook is backed up by CMHC’s latest Housing Market Insight report for Ontario courtesy of regional economist Ted Tsiakopoulos.

Below are some key highlights from CMHC’s report:

Continue reading “Real Estate Rebounds in June as Expected!”

Posted Mortgage News

Ontario Housing Market: Increased Opportunity for Investors!

Ontario Housing Market Stats Image - April 2018

Rental vacancies are ridiculously low and demand for rental units is high… and growing!

That’s just a sampling of the opportunistic real estate investment news Ted Tsiakopoulos, CMHC’s Regional Economist for Ontario, shared recently at the Canadian Mortgage Brokers’ Association (CMBA) of Ontario annual conference.

Here are other main takeaways:

  • Strong 2017 economy helped ease imbalances
  • Sales and new home starts expected to slow
  • Prices to grow moderately
  • Eastern & Western Ontario will outperform Southern Ontario
  • Mortgage delinquencies remain at record lows – much lower than credit card or car loan debt

Continue reading “Ontario Housing Market: Increased Opportunity for Investors!”

Posted 2 Comments on Yes, you can still buy a home in Canada… Keeping the dream alive Bank News

Yes, you can still buy a home in Canada… Keeping the dream alive

Homeownership Image, March 2018

Canada’s a nation of immigrants. It truly is the land of opportunity. Chances are, your parents, grandparents or great grandparents came here from another country.

There are many reasons why people left their homeland. Some left by choice to pursue a better life. Others had to leave for safety reasons. Whatever the reason, most of us have a common goal: A better life.

Homeownership has always been an important part of that dream. We want to own something. We want to plant roots. There’s a pile of statistics to support this claim. In my 28 years in the financial services industry, I can attest to this claim.

Continue reading “Yes, you can still buy a home in Canada… Keeping the dream alive”

Posted 1 Comment on Why I started this site… 400+ articles later Money saving tips

Why I started this site… 400+ articles later

Facts Myths

I’m often asked why I started this site. It’s simple: I was tired of reading misinformation and twisted truths about mortgage brokering in Canada.

Back in 2009 when I created the site, there were some new blogs reporting on mortgage trends and offering ‘expert’ advice. (I use the term ‘expert’ loosely.) In reality, these sites were full of misinformation. The information was even damaging to the mortgage brokering landscape, in many cases… yet, they were being quoted by our largest newspapers and TV news channels. Wow! How can the major newspapers print this stuff?? It made me angry.

At the same time, there were rate shopping sites being launched. You know the ones… they compare bank, credit union and mortgage broker rates. These sites promised to compare rates, with no strings attached and tell you which provider has the lowest rate. They were supposed to be totally unbiased. They were supposed to be market neutral. Hey, don’t get me wrong, everyone loves to compare, shop and save, right? Comparing is part of being a smart consumer… but there is this huge problem… These sites are NOT unbiased or neutral. These sites are NOT run or owned by independent people.

You would expect a product review site to be neutral and unbiased, right? I mean, it just makes sense. If I want to compare hotels or vacation destinations, I’ll go to a site like TripAdvisor or Booking.com. We can clearly view the best available price and past customer experiences. We wouldn’t expect TripAdvisor or Booking.com to own the hotels or airlines they were advertising. That would be a conflict of interest.

Continue reading “Why I started this site… 400+ articles later”

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