Tag Archive for: Mortgage solutions

Third option

Sometimes when people are going through a tragic or life changing event it has often been thought they would get through it either with no change to their lives or making it much much worse. As a result you could see people be unfazed by what just happened and carry on with their ever day lives but you could also see people become paralyzed with fear, develop PTSD and becoming unable to function properly.

These could be responses to major life altering health events like having a heart attack, stroke or being diagnosed with cancer. There could also be major fearful events like being in a war zone battle, being the victim of an assault or from a financial perspective suddenly and unexpectedly losing your stable employment or going bankrupt.

However there is a third option. The often talked about “what does not kill you makes you stronger” approach. We have all heard those stories where people have taken that once stressful event and used it as a catalyst to radically improve their lives. David Hogg was a student in Parkland Florida when 17 of his fellow classmates were killed and used that event to now speak out against gun violence. Terry Fox lost a leg to cancer and didn’t sit at home and mope but instead created a Cancer fundraiser and ran across Canada. I also personally know someone who went bankrupt a few years ago and did not let this ruin him and is now tops in his field in Canada now making over 1M a year.

The trick is to not view the event as a permeant life altering failure but as a learning or growth opportunity. Year after year people radically change their lives after a heart attack, stroke, divorce or bankruptcy. If it does not kill you, it has the potential to make you stronger but only if you can see that possibility.

Today I am thankful for an early morning run to improve the mood, my daughters home made cake and new people I’ve met this week.

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 Brokerage (2021-3000179) Broker (2021-3000180), Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

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

Equal Rights

I am a big believer of equal rights. I strongly feel that it should not matter if you are a man, woman, trans, bi, gay, black, white, young or old or whatever, we should all be treated fairly and equally. It is because of this I was deeply troubled by the events in the US yesterday. This is because at the core it is an equal rights issue, they are now saying that women do not have equal rights over their physical bodies and that this is now the domain of the state goverment.

Just imagine if this same logic was applied to housing. That if you did not fit a particular demographic then you would not be allowed to purchase or own a home. Yes I know that this was the case not that long ago in the US and thankfully that has now been changed. But who is to say that a very radical minority might decide to take that away as well?

I have represented clients from a diverse demographic background and all the lenders really care about is the 5’C of credit. In case you have forgotten they are as follows, character, credit, capacity, collateral and capital. There is nothing in there that says that you have be a particular gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation in order to get a mortgage or purchase a property.

At the end of the day if we can just treat others how we want to be treated then the world will be a much happier place.

Today I am thankful for a great 50K bike ride with friends this morning, a quiet house so I can get some work done and thankful that we live in Canada where my wife and daughters still have equal rights.

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 Brokerage (2021-3000179) Broker (2021-3000180), Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

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

School’s out

School is out for the summer, and for my girls it marks the culmination of their high school experience. Although vastly different from the high school experience that I remember. I remember school trips, school carnivals and dances and my girls had none of that thanks to Covid. Through it all they never complained and are now graduating with top marks and had their picks of which University they wanted to go to in the fall. I am so proud of them as they have worked so hard.

Now that the kids will be off for the summer, what are your plans now that we are now able to freely move about the country and other countries for that matter. If your plans were to leave the country and you don’t have your passport yet, you may want to take care of that sooner than later due to the long wait.

However some are finding the need to cut back due to rising prices of everything from gas, food, hotels and everything in between. Thankfully there is still plenty to keep people busy here in NS. Just pick up the latest doers and dreamers guide for 2022 and it will list all the festivals, carnivals, events and gatherings around NS as well as beaches and parks that make excellent day trips.

Today I am thankful for how hard my girls worked to get those top marks, my son for getting his first summer job and my wife’s creativity for always coming up with exciting things to eat for supper based on what’s left in the fridge.

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 Brokerage (2021-3000179) Broker (2021-3000180), Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

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

May Inflation Rate

The May inflation rate has just set a record that we have not seen since 1983, which was a rate of 7.7%. Up almost a full percentage point since last month when it was 6.8%. Yes we expected it to be above 7% but not by this much.

The biggest contributor to the increase was the price of gas, which was up 48% compared to a year ago. Increased fuel costs put upward pressure on so many things from food, flights, lumber and any other product that gets shipped is now up as a result.

The next step to help cool the sky high inflation is for the Bank of Canada to increase the rates again. The next meeting is in July and this what I fully expect them to do. The US federal reserve recently announced an oversized rate increase of 75 basis points and this is not out of the realm of possibility for the Bank of Canada at the next meeting.

So what do you do if you are still on a variable rate mortgage. Well the fixed rates have now risen to a point well above the current variable rate and the rate for a 5 year terms is now above 5%, starting at 5.09%. With prime currently at 3.70 and most people at prime -1%, so even if prime increases by 75 basis points the smart at math say to just ride it out and that is what I am going to do. You may decide differently that that is up to you.

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 Brokerage (2021-3000179) Broker (2021-3000180), Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

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

Happy Indigenous Peoples Day

We once had a PM who tried to tell us that there were two types of Canadian’s. The old stock Canadian’s who had been here for a few generations and those who only arrived in the last generation. Well my family has been here since the mid 1750’s but it pales in comparison to the Indigenous population who have been here for thousands of years.

So today we should all pause and celebrate their culture & heritage and the fact that we still share their land. Speaking of the land, on key Indigenous value that we should all adopt is something called the “Seventh Generation Principal”. This means that we should make our decisions today based upon how those decisions will effect the future seven generations. We must realize that we are only here for a short period of time and to take care of the earth so it is here for future generations to come.

When we truly stop and listen to others we will find that we will learn so much. The Indigenous people in Canada have such a rich cultural heritage and by learning more it will enrich all our lives.

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 Brokerage (2021-3000179) Broker (2021-3000180), Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

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

Cost vs benefit

The old adage of you get what you focus on is spot on. People can make a heaven out of hell or a hell out of heaven. If you’re in a good mood then the chances are that you will find things to support that, and the same goes if you are in a foul mood.

Benjamin Franklin has a quote that I have always loved ” The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten”. Meaning if you value low prices more than quality then you will always have issues with quality and as a result will end up costing you more to replace it.

I have pretty much always been a Mac computer user. Yes they are more expensive than the comparable PC computers but in my personal experience the quality is so much better. My Mac’s have lasted me on average 6-7 years, which is much longer than my PC loving friends.

To take this back to what I originally wrote about, if your focus is on cost you will miss out on all the other benefits that a good quality product will bring you. Take private mortgages for example. Yes they are expensive and if you are able to obtain what you need with institutional or alternative financing then proceed with that option. However if your only option is a private loan to prevent you from loosing your home then cost actually becomes secondary to the benefit it provides.

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 Brokerage (2021-3000179) Broker (2021-3000180), Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

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

For all the Dad’s

Happy Father’s day for all the Dad’s out there. My Dad has been gone for 10 years now and Father’s days are not the same with out him. So if your Dad is still around today then give him a big hug for me.

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 Brokerage (2021-3000179) Broker (2021-3000180), Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

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

Nip it in the bud

The first sign of any unwanted behaviour it’s best to nip it in the bud, or put a stop to it before it gets out of control. You notice that your pants don’t fit right anymore, don’t wait till you need a whole new wardrobe, do something about it now. Suddenly having too much month left at the end of your money, do something about it now before it gets out of control. Weeds taking over your garden, nip them in the bud before they have a chance to take over.

Some pundits ( arm chair economists) says that the Bank of Canada reacted too late to the rising inflation and should have acted earlier by increasing the overnight lending rate much sooner that it did. The BOC actually started increasing the rates right around the time that the inflation started to get out of control.

The CPI (consumer price index) numbers averaged in the 4% range right up until January of 2022 when it crept over 5% for the first time. It has since gone from 5.1 in January to 5.7% in February and 6.7 & 6.8 in March & April when the BOC took action by increasing rates. While the numbers for May have not come out yet they are predicting it to remain high again and thus almost guaranteeing another rate increase when the next BOC meets in July. So the number speak for themselves and I don’t think they waited too long, but who knows how long it’s going to last before it starts to come back down again.

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 Brokerage (2021-3000179) Broker (2021-3000180), Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

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

Psychological Barrier

A psychological barrier is a commonly held belief that something can’t be done until someone brave enough proves everyone wrong. Take Roger Bannister for example, nobody believed that the human body could be able to run the mile in less than 4 minutes. So on May 6th, 1954 he proved them wrong by running it in 3:59.4. With this barrier broken, the record only stood for 46 days till it was broken again.

The last 10 years or so we were holding onto a psychological belief that interest rates would stay low forever. Thus giving us access to basically cheap money for as long as we wanted. This barrier too was broken this week when the 5 year fixed discounted rate rose above 5%. Our continued inflationary pressures that have pushed prices of food, fuel, housing and now bond rates to new levels.

Just a year ago the 5 year fixed discounted rate was at 2.09%. Today this same product is now at 5.09%. Even with the low rates of last year we were qualifying clients at the stress test rate of 5.25%. Now it’s the contract rate + 2%, so that means to qualify you must stress test at 7.09%. So if you were on the limits of your debt service ratio’s last year to get approved at 500K, you now have to set your sights at a lower price point. Either that or find a co-signer to help you qualify.

Quick note to let you know that it has been since before the financial crisis in 2008 that we had 5 year fixed rates above 5%.

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 Brokerage (2021-3000179) Broker (2021-3000180), Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

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

Two important components

There are two very important components when considering private lending to meet your borrowing needs. They are rate and fee’s. There are other important components like loan to value and location but today I want to talk about rate & fee’s.

The rate for a private mortgage is typically interest only for a 1 year period. I usually call these bridge loans as it helps bridge you from one situation to another. The rate determines your carrying costs for the loan. While there are various private lenders out there, the rule of thumb I advise clients is that it will be 1% per month interest only calculated monthly, which works out to 12% per year.

The next part is the fee’s. Which is the basically the cost to obtain the mortgage. Similar to high ratio loans where there is a CHMC premium, for private mortgages the fee is the lender & broker’s cost to arrange, secure and lend the money. In most cases this is added to the loan amount and then the monthly payment is based the principal amount + the fee’s. However these can be also be paid upfront and in full upon closing.

Not all private mortgages are created equal. Make sure that the rate and terms make sense to you. Also because of the rate & fee’s these are never supposed to be long term solution but short term fixes, so treat them as such.

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 Brokerage (2021-3000179) Broker (2021-3000180), Ontario(M18001555) & in British Columbia(BCFSA #504098).

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