News, Views and Trends!
Another great Q & A between myself and Jenelle Cameron of Remax. We had a chance to discuss what’s happening with mortgages, interest rates and the real estate market in general.
Continue reading “Mortgage and Real Estate Q & A | April 23 2020”
Hope this update finds you well. First, let’s make sure you are okay. We will get through this. I guarantee it! I’ve been through the 2008-09 US subprime mortgage crisis, the SARS 2002 crisis, and the 1990 real estate collapse. We recovered from all of those terrible times and we will recover from this. I am here to help you in any way possible. Don’t hesitate to call on me for assistance.
The government has been announcing new programs to provide financial assistance almost daily. And there have been just as many amendments to those programs as they work to fine tune the programs.
I want to make sure you are informed with accurate info. There’s been so much junk articles posted in the mainstream and social media outlets. Let’s block out that junk and focus on reality.
Continue reading “How are things?”
Welcome to today’s update.
Canada and the banks announced a six month deferral of mortgage payments. I have been fielding many calls on how this works and the answer is different for each financial institution. I will be posting updates as they become available. Some of the financial institutions have not yet come out and said they will give a full six months of deferred payments, while others have. It’s still early but I will keep you informed as the details roll out.
Another update on the rates. Fixed rates are up again slightly. Variable rate pricing for new applications has increased as well. Most financial institutions are now offering variable rates at prime (Prime: 2.95%) or just minus .05%. No surprise as stock market jitters is spooking everyone.
This will pass and we will come out okay on the other side of this. That’s my message. We’re all in this together and we will come out of it together. Call or message me if you need anything. My team and I are here to help.
Steve Garganis 416 224 0114 steve@mortgagenow.ca
There have been many changes lately and there will be many more to come. As this is a critical and fast-moving situation, I wanted to get these updates out and will be updating you regularly as we all work through this.
We’ve all heard about the Bank of Canada rate cuts. Two one-half percent rate cuts in less than two weeks. Unprecedented. And while common logic would dictate that mortgage rates would fall, that’s not exactly happening.
Continue reading “Important Mortgage Updates 03-18-2020”
In case you missed it, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced this week that adjustments to the “Stress Test” are coming on April 6th. While the government says the change will make the stress test qualifying rate more responsive to market conditions, what does that really look like?
On the bright side, this new qualifying rate will probably be lower by around 0.30%. This will increase the amount of a house one can buy by around 5%.
Example… $500k increases to $525k.
On the dark side, this isn’t really making a whole lot of difference. I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but I’d like to point out the shortcomings of his announcement. It’s purely political. They said they would do something and I guess, technically they did. But it really has no significant impact.
Continue reading “Adjustments to the “Stress Test” don’t go far enough”
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