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Pat Sawler
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Why should you use a Mortgage Broker anyway?
For most of us, our ideas about mortgages have been installed by years of past experience with traditional products in traditional institutions. Long held beliefs sometimes include the idea that mortgage brokers are only for people who have less than perfect credit or have been turned down by a bank. Unfortunately, anyone with this kind […]
Topping up your RRSP with cheap money!
Right now, your house is the best piggy bank you’ll ever own. Even in our current market conditions. If you’ve got some money in that piggy bank, you may want to take some out for your RRSP. Get it before the RSP season is upon us and you are pulling your hair out wondering how […]
Fixed or Variable Rate Mortgage?
“Wow”! You say to your wife as you hit the bakes on the car. “Did you see the mortage rates those guys are advertising”? Your worries are over you’re thinking. Just lock in a rate like that for the next 10 years and you’ve got it made! Not so fast. That rate may not […]
Appeal court ruled that ABCP restructuring is legal!
Investors are left out in the cold while the banks and credit union’s receive protection form possible lawsuits regarding the securitization of Asset Backed Commercial Paper or ABCP. The good news is the the plan to restructure the ABCP market can now go ahead. For the complete news story from the source click here other […]
It's not me, it's the economy!
According to an article in the Globe and Mail this morning it says we are carrying too much debt in comparison to our assets. However don’t worry CIBC conomist Benjamin Tal said that it is because of the economy! So let me get this straight, we are spending more than we make, putting ourselves deeper in debt and it […]
Houses still selling, but for less!
In a report today from the Canadian Real Estate Association, it says that homes in Canada are still selling. In fact sales increased .1% from April to May of this year. However the downside is that the average price of these homes have dropped 3.6%. Even with the drop in values, the association does not sees […]
Many Canadians oppose tougher mortgage rules!
The great National Post had an article today that said about 25% of Canadian’s polled do not agree with the federal goverment steping in and changing the mortgage rules. In case you have forgotten click here to see an earlier post. I have to mention that the poll was conducted by Angus Reid for ResMor […]
Debt outpaces home value for one-third of new owners!
BOB IVRY Bloomberg News August 13, 2008 Almost one-third of U.S. homeowners who bought in the last five years now owe more on their mortgages than their properties are worth, according to Zillow.com, an Internet provider of home valuations. Home prices fell 9.9 per cent in the second quarter from a year earlier, giving 29 […]
Why the Sub Prime market failed!
The Globe and Mail has done a great job telling the story of the collapse of the Sub Prime Mortgage market. You can read the whole story here or hang out here for my summary. When the real estate market in the US was extremely hot a few short years ago. People were getting loans […]
Debt reduction will help secure couple's retirement!
ANDREW ALLENTUCK Globe and Mail Update August 9, 2008 at 2:37 AM EDT In British Columbia, a couple we’ll call Sylvia, 48, and Henry, 49, have an annual combined gross income of $80,000. They have a house they figure is worth $469,000, a couple of cats, no kids and a life they feel is constrained […]
How ordinary investors got sold on ABCP!
It’s been a year since the ABCP market seized up and a rescue committee set out to salvage $33-billion in notes. A Globe and Mail investigation has found that breakdowns occurred throughout the financial system. On Saturday, the story of how the retail brokerage industry lost its way. On Monday, the two-part package explores the […]
The great Canadian housing myth!
David Berman, August 7, 2008 at 2:23 PM EDT It wasn’t that long ago that economists and observers put a brave face on the health of the Canadian housing market, arguing that tighter credit conditions, relatively moderate prices and a healthy economy would keep things humming, even as the U.S. market slid into oblivion. Now, there […]
Home Trust to offer traditional mortgages!
Alternative lender believes competing with banks will lower risk, allow it to pick up more business LORI MCLEOD 00:00 EDT Wednesday, August 06, 2008 Alternative lender Home Trust Co. is launching a line of traditional mortgage products that will compete directly with those offered by the banks. The Toronto-based lender hasn’t been pushed out […]
Home Capital hikes dividend!
The Canadian Press August 5, 2008 at 7:18 AM EDT Home Capital Group TORONTO — Home Capital Group Inc. profit was $26.6-million in the second quarter, an increase of 20.6 per cent over $22-million in the same period last year. Basic earnings per share were 77 cents, up from 64 cents for the second quarter […]
HSBC posts steep profit drop!
The Associated Press August 4, 2008 at 8:39 AM EDT LONDON — — HSBC Holdings PLC [HBC-N], Europe’s largest bank by market value, reported Monday its steepest fall in profit since 2001 as costs for bad U.S. mortgage loans mounted. Net profit for the first half of the year plunged 29 per cent to $7.7-billion (U.S.) from $10.9-billion […]