Broker’s hours vs banker’s hours

Simply put, unless I am sleeping, eating or doing a workout I will take your call or return your text. Try getting that same level of service from your bank or even your bank mortgage specialist who have extended hours on occasion. However even-though I may take your call, if my corresponding lender is not available the best I can do is answer your questions to the best of my ability.

Although I do not get many client calls or texts on the weekend, it does happen and I want to make sure that they are take care of and that I have property answered their questions. I can’t imagine waiting to try to get questions answered on baker’s hours.

Today I am thankful for an early morning start to a 80K bike ride with friends, having tools to fix a loose pedal 40K away from where we started and beautiful ocean views along our ride.

“I really love showing up at work at 10 A.M and trying to make it funny until 3 P.M, and then going home. It’s like comedy bankers hours.” Chris Eigeman

I look forward to hearing from you in regard to your mortgage needs.

Patrick

p.s- You can click on this link to start the process whenever you are ready. Schedule your meeting with me here.

p.s.s- I should tell you that I am licensed in Nova Scotia, Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

p.s.s.s You can download my new mortgage app here

Opporunity Cost

Not all financing is created equal. There are low rates for AAA credit clients, moderate rates for alternative lending and higher rates for private mortgages. I have done a lot of private lending over the years and at the end of the day it is never about the rate it is about the opportunity cost. The cost of completing your build on time, the cost of loosing your home or the cost of picking up this property at the right price and the right time. All these things private lending can help you accomplish.

It’s true that private lending is not for everyone. It is essentially a bridge loan which takes you from where you are right now to where you want to be. There is also a cost for missing out on the opportunities and this is just one option available to you to make sure that you don’t miss out. This is not long term financing but financing to make sure that you don’t miss out on the opportunities in life.

Today I am thankful for a beautiful walk to my meeting this morning, that it was close enough so I could do that and for my dog who tells me that Amazon or election people were at my door.

“Intelligent people make decisions based on opportunity costs”. Charlie Munger

I look forward to hearing from you in regard to your mortgage needs.

Patrick

p.s- You can click on this link to start the process whenever you are ready. Schedule your meeting with me here.

p.s.s- I should tell you that I am licensed in Nova Scotia, Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

p.s.s.s You can download my new mortgage app here

5 to 10 basis points

This amounts to .5 to .10 of a percentage point as a basis point is essentially 1/100th of a percentage point. I bring this up as consumers will shop their mortgage business and leave an existing relationship at the last minute for perceived deal of 5 one hundreds of a percent.

So here is some mortgage math for you. Let’s take the average current mortgage balance of 400,000, taken over 5 year term and 25 year amortization. At current 5 year fixed rates of 2.09% that would give you a mortgage payment of 1,711 per month. There are also some no frills quick close deals at 1.99% giving you a monthly payment of 1,692 per month. This amounts to a savings of $19 a month or $1,140 over the 5 years. Or $5 per hundred thousand mortgage balance.

Remember not all products are created equal. Some products are locked in closed for the term, meaning that the only way to break it is with the power of sale. Some have reduced pre payment privileges or no portability features. Make sure that you look at everything as there is more to consider than just the rate.

Today I am thankful for a warm and refreshing run this morning before it got too hot, a delicious burger delivered right to my door yesterday and that my dog recovered quickly from overheating on Friday night.

“Do not let Sunday be taken from you. If your soul has no Sunday, it becomes an orphan.” – Albert Schweitzer

I look forward to hearing from you in regard to your mortgage needs.

Patrick

p.s- You can click on this link to start the process whenever you are ready. Schedule your meeting with me here.

p.s.s- I should tell you that I am licensed in Nova Scotia, Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

p.s.s.s You can download my new mortgage app here

August Market Update

As I have been a mortgage broker for just almost 20 years, I have seen a lot of interesting real estate markets. However this year really takes the cake. February, March & April anything with a roof sold as soon as it hit the market and in most cases with multiple offers and in many cases well over asking price. However since cases of Covid started declining and provinces started opening back up, things have slowed down.

I speak with hundreds of realtors every month and the common belief is that since things are open many people are choosing instead to take a well deserved vacation. In many cases their first in over 18 months. The fundamentals of the market are still relatively the same with not a lot of listing, it just that the buyers are taking a break. Don’t get me wrong there are still many properties getting multiple offer and going well over ask, but the consensus is that this is mostly the mid range properties. Will the craziness come back once school starts, only time will tell.

Today I am thankful for all the great conversations with past clients yesterday, a quiet early morning walk with my dog while most of the neighbourhood was sleeping and a run that seemed slow at the time ended up being much faster than I had though.

“I will forever believe that buying a home is a great investment. Why? Because you can’t live in a stock certificate. You can’t live in a mutual fund.” Oprah Winfrey

I look forward to hearing from you in regard to your mortgage needs.

Patrick

p.s- You can click on this link to start the process whenever you are ready. Schedule your meeting with me here.

p.s.s- I should tell you that I am licensed in Nova Scotia, Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

p.s.s.s You can download my new mortgage app here

Approved or qualified

There is a vast difference between getting pre-approved for a mortgage and getting pre-qualified. One holds your rate for up to 120 days and allows you to go house hunting and the other just gives you rough idea of what you can afford. Yes getting a pre-approval will take some time but it is worth it in the end. There is nothing worse for you realtor than finding out after you have been house hunting that you in-fact can’t get the financing for the house you want cause you didn’t take the time to go through the formal pre-approval process.

In this hyper competitive housing market it is absolutely necessary to get pre-approved BEFORE you start house hunting. Here are the steps to take, complete the mortgage application and submit all necessary supporting documents with the application. Together we will review your credit, income and down payment then discuss the various mortgage options. Once you have settled on what you like, we will submit your file for a pre approval rate hold. The banks are very busy so it may take a few days to get it back. Once it is back then go shopping with confidence.

Today I am thankful for my internal alarm clock waking me up at the perfect time, First time clients closing on their home today and kids up early and out of the house with their friends.

I look forward to hearing from you in regard to your mortgage needs.

Patrick

p.s- You can click on this link to start the process whenever you are ready. Schedule your meeting with me here.

p.s.s- I should tell you that I am licensed in Nova Scotia, Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

p.s.s.s You can download my new mortgage app here

90 Days History

When applying for a mortgage it is necessary to provide 90 days history of your down payment. This is to prove that you did not borrow it or it was not obtained through illicit activity. Often clients have more than one bank account as a source for their down payment. This will require that we provide the lender with 90 days history for each account that is associated with the down payment. Also any large deposits much be throughly explained. We will need to show the sources of the large deposits and 90 day history of said deposits if required by the lender.

Once all funds can be accounted for, then and only then will the lender sign off on your down payment. Anti-money laundering rules are in place for a reason and deposits over 10K will be heavily scrutinized. Everything involved in securing your financing this is the most time consuming and is a big relief once completed to the lenders satisfaction.

Today I am thankful for the persistence of clients and the patience of my underwriters, the relaxed pace of the weekend not that the work actually stops and the way my dog looks up at me when we go for a walk and it’s priceless.

“Former US House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay, has been sentenced to three years in prison. One year for money laundering and two more for his performance on Dancing with the Stars.” Jay Leno

I look forward to hearing from you in regard to your mortgage needs.

Patrick

p.s- You can click on this link to start the process whenever you are ready. Schedule your meeting with me here.

p.s.s- I should tell you that I am licensed in Nova Scotia, Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

p.s.s.s You can download my new mortgage app here

Deadline Anxiety

We all have deadlines in life from when to file and pay your taxes to due dates of new arrivals to your family and lastly and importantly for my business are deadlines for financing to purchase your new home. When you are prepared you can deal with deadlines much easier. However sometimes things are outside of your control which cause complications. Which is why you get an accountant not your buddy to do your taxes, take your significant other to have the baby at the hospital and seek the advise and guidance of a mortgage broker to do your financing.

The current state of our real estate market is really an issue outside our control. For example the local real estate market here in Halifax is up over 56% vs the same time last year. This is just us and Ontario is also up and they are 14 times bigger by population than us. This has created a significant backlog with the lenders. What used to take hours is now taking days. So while I insist that my clients provide all documents up front and upon submission, it is still taking time for the lenders to pick up the files and review all the paperwork.

So we must continue to practice a game of patience. Patience to see if our offer gets accepted and patience to have the bank review and sign off on all your documents. This is not my first rodeo and things will work out but they are taking some time to get there.

Today I am thankful for the best run I’ve had in over a month which may have been because I have been watching so much of the Olympics, that we are all in great health and have had all of our Covid shots and for clients and vendors who are patient while the banks do their thing.

“Overdeliver on promises and deadlines. Show up early, deliver your product early, and deliver more than you promised. Overdeliver now, and in the future, you will be overpaid.” Clay Clark

I look forward to hearing from you in regard to your mortgage needs.

Patrick

p.s- You can click on this link to start the process whenever you are ready. Schedule your meeting with me here.

p.s.s- I should tell you that I am licensed in Nova Scotia, Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

p.s.s.s You can download my new mortgage app here


Back up plans

Sometimes you need back up plans for your back up plans. Today is one of those days. Found out when I turned my computer one that one of my private lenders decided not to do a transaction. Since they are lending their own money they are fully right to do so. Several frantic calls later I was able to secure another lender. Sometimes being prepared means having more than one plan.

Today I am thankful for the fair on the Halifax waterfront where my kids has such a great time last night, having developed a large list of contacts from 20 years in this business so knowing who to call when is vital and the fact that my teenagers sleep in is priceless.

“Everyone loves the backup” Donovan McNabb

I look forward to hearing from you in regard to your mortgage needs.

Patrick

p.s- You can click on this link to start the process whenever you are ready. Schedule your meeting with me here.

p.s.s- I should tell you that I am licensed in Nova Scotia, Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

p.s.s.s You can download my new mortgage app here

Bull by the horns

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Be Flexible

Not every file gets approved exactly how it was originally submitted to the lender. The key is to be flexible and to be able to amend or change things as required by the lender. It could be a larger down payment if possible, paying off some more debts or the addition of a co-signer. All these things change the context of the loan and can take it from a decline to an approval.

Don’t take the first no or decline as a reason to believe that your mortgage request will never get done. There is more than one lender through the broker channel and plenty of ways to restructure ( legally & ethically) your request for approval. In addition to the AAA lenders, I also have access to a few alternative lenders and several private sources as well.

Today I am thankful for being able to finish my morning run just before the rains came, taking the first of my kids to get her second shot and having clients who are flexible and able to adept to lenders needs to get their requests approved.

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” Albert Einstein

I look forward to hearing from you in regard to your mortgage needs.

Patrick

p.s- You can click on this link to start the process whenever you are ready. Schedule your meeting with me here.

p.s.s- I should tell you that I am licensed in Nova Scotia, Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

p.s.s.s You can download my new mortgage app here