Tag Archive for: Vancouver Mortgage Broker

NS budget 2022

Just as a point of reference I am not going to delve into all the items on the 2022 budget here in NS, but only how it effects the real estate market. It doesn’t matter the political strip of the government just the details on how it effects your ability to purchase property here in NS.

The new 2022 budget was announced yesterday and in it includes a revenue generating plan to tax foreign buyers of real estate. By foreign buyers this covers anyone who will not be a resident of Nova Scotia after they purchase the property. It turns out that there are approximately 27,000 non resident property owners here in Nova Scotia. This covers those who have cottages, condo’s or investment properties here but live elsewhere.

The first new tax will increase the deed transfer tax for foreign buyers from 1.5% of the purchase price to 5%. The change is scheduled to take effect April 1st/2022 and will apply if you don’t move here within 6 months of purchasing the property. The second will be an increase in the property tax to $2 per $100 applied to properties of 3 units or less bought by foreign buyers. They expect the changes will result in over 80M of new revenue for the province.

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

Buckle Up

Buckle up as it may be a bumpy ride. Since Russia decided to invade Ukraine, I am not saying because of it but this did start around the same time, that bond yields have been steadily rising thus the fixed mortgage rates have also been increasing.

In the past month the 5 year discounted fixed rate has increased by 90 basis points from 2.89% to 3.79%. There are many in the mortgage industry who say that they see this increasing further to over 4% and only then possibly settling down. There is also talk of the Bank of Canada increasing the overnight lending rate by 50 basis point on the next meeting on April 13th. Doing so will then increase the prime rate from 2.70% to 3.20%.

While the costs of almost everything has been increasing lately from the homes we buy, the wood we use the construct them and the gas we use to get ourselves around. Just be thankful that we live in a safe and free country. Do your best to help those around you who are in need. So until this all settles down, just buckle up and do your best to get through it.

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

Upset win

Well the underdogs came through big time yesterday. CODA the little picture that could came out on top when it really mattered. Also the Canadian men’s soccer ( football for everyone else) team won to qualify for the world cup later this year. Both monumental wins as it was the first win in the best picture category for a streaming service and the first time in 36 years ( and only the 2nd time at all) that the Canadian men’s team qualified for the world cup.

We all love it when the underdog overcomes overwhelming odds to win. Here are a few examples to jog your memory. When Leicester City over came 5000-1 odds to win the Premier league in 2016. When unseeded Boris Becker wins Wimbledon in 1985. Lastly when unknown John Daly won the US PGA Championship in 1991.

When underdogs win they can teach us a few things:

  1. Teamwork is important and that no individual person can do it all alone.
  2. Having the motivation and passion to be the best that you can be.
  3. It all starts with the belief that you can over come the odds and do it.
  4. Behind every so called overnight success is a strong work ethic and persistance.
  5. Lastly the ability to pick yourself up after your have encountered a setback and push through to the end.

Sure it’s exciting watching great teams set records but after a while you want to see someone new win, this is why it is always fun and exciting to root for the little underdog. Your story is not done so there is still plenty of time left for you to come out on top.

Underdog

I have to confess that I don’t watch a lot of TV. When I do it tends to be Hockey a documentary or a fun movie. Last night I stumbled upon CODA on Apple TV +. Mostly because I had heard that it was in the mix for an Oscar and that it was billed as an easy feel good movie that was fun to watch. This is vs Power of the dog which my wife watched and told me that it was supremely acted but very dark. While I get enough of the dark watching the news lately I didn’t really feel like investing 2 hours of my life watching it, thus leaving me angry or depressed.

This has nothing to do with Apple vs Netflix or traditional movie studio vs streaming, in my mind it is all about the perceived front runner Power of the dog with 193 wins leading up to the Oscars today vs CODA with 32. To me this is the David vs Goliath battle. It is just as similar as rooting for Canada to snag a berth in the world cup of Soccer this evening as well.

It is fun to go for the plucky underdog compared to the established player. This may be also why I get a feeling of excitement when I have been able to secure a client away from one of the big banks. A file or two does not mean much to the big five but they do matter to me. Think of it as supporting a local business vs a large chain store. All the profits stay in the community as compared to disappearing on their corporate balance sheet.

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

Long Term Thinking

Too often I find that people look at situations or problems based on their short term inconveniences or immediate benefits. Thus you see people wasting their pay check just after they have gotten paid by going on a shopping spree, a night on the town or a fancy vacation on credit. All these things may give you good feelings over the short term but don’t help you at all if your long term goal is financial stability.

The same applies if your goal is getting and staying healthy. Sure that donair may taste good today but if you eat consistently bad over time you will never achieve the results that you want.

The trouble is that our hedonistic society wants pleasure now and all the time. They don’t want to put in the work but want the immediate benefits. Sadly there is no magic pill for success or for the perfect body for that matter.

To be smarter, you must love to read more than you enjoy watching TV. To be healthier you much first suffer through the workouts and eat healthy. To be financial free, you must lear to pay your self first and then invest that for the long run.

We must all learn to be uncomfortable doing uncomfortable things. Paying yourself first means that you can’t hit the town every pay day or take those fancy vacations but when you are older you can do that while everyone else is still working. So think of the long term benefit while you pass up the immediate gain. Work harder now so you can play that much more later.

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

Changing Rates

The global instability due to the war in Ukraine has finely started to effect mortgage rates. There have been a lot of changes in the past month and they are now starting to hit the financial markets. Bond yields which effect fixed mortgage rates have steadily started to rise since the start of the month and as a result have increased the fixed 5 year mortgage rate by 55 basis points since the 1st of the month. The bank of Canada has also changed prime rate for the 1st time in 2 years this month as well increasing the overnight lending rate by 25 basis points.

So the reason that I am bringing up rates today is that the spring is typically the busiest time of the year to purchase real estate, if you are planning to purchase a home in the near future then I highly suggest that you look at getting pre approved so your rate can be held while you go out and find your dream home or your next home. In case you are wondering we can also hold the spread on the variable rate which currently sits at prime -.90% to prime -1.1% depending on the lender and the down payment percentage.

So protect yourself against any further rate increased by locking in your rate now. Just reach out and I can help you do it.

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

Qualifying rate change

As some of you may know that we have a mortgage stress test or qualifying rate of 5.25%. This is to help insure that when you are qualifying for a mortgage you will still be able to make the payments if and or when the rate changed to 5.25%. What many of you may not have heard is that this qualifying rate or stress test rate has now increased.

Actually it has not changed but it has increased so let me explain. The way the stress test works is that it is based on the contract rate ( your mortgage rate) plus 2% or 5.25% which ever is greater. The stress test rate of 5.25% has not changed but the mortgage rates have thus moving the qualifying rate now above 5.25%.

Rates have been increasing as bond yields have changed as they have over the past several months. Yesterday they increased again. Notification received last night that 5 year fixed rates were changing to between 3.54 to 3.84% depending on loan to value ( percentage of down payment compared to the value of the property) and the type of program. So based on these things it would change your qualifying rate to 5.54 to 5.84% thus further reducing your buying power and affordability.

One option would be to go with a variable rate as that still uses the 5.25% qualifying rate until those rates change or select a 1 or 2 year term instead. If you are in the market to purchase a home this year, then please reach out to me so we can lock in your rate now before the next rate increase.

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

Overheated

In the past few days there have been several articles all taking about the potential upcoming downfall to the Canadian real estate market. If this is true should you be worried.

Let’s examine a few things first, the pandemic changed a lot of things about our lives and with it came the ability to work remotely and yet still be productive. As a result there have been plenty of people leaving the major centre’s and moving to the suburbs and also to other provinces to get that better quality of life and the slower pace.

The interprovincial migration coupled with the recent higher level of International migration has led to record levels of demand for housing. When you put the migration in with lower multi unit and single family housing starts this creates higher demand for the units currently available on the market. Now this year it has heated up even further with a sharp drop in the available listings on the market. So what does hit the market tends to sell for well over the listing price.

Now we circle back to the original point, should you be worried that you just paid 150K over asking to secure your home? I don’t think so and this is why, if you plan to stay in your new home for at least 10 years then any market correction combined with the paying down of your mortgage will balance out in the end. However if you are speculating and hoping to flip it for a quick profit, that may be easier said than done as homes that require a lot of work are still selling for top dollar.

Here are the stats that one of my local realtors just posted. Prior to the pandemic HRM was averaging around 3000 active listings so that means that buyers had lots of choice and homes tending to sell within 60 days which was always the normal rule of thumb. Today we have just over 200, and they are only staying on the market for up to 17 days or long enough to have the financing secured. These homes are also selling for 110% of the listing price on average. All this helps create the 15-20% gains in value that we have seen in the past two years.

When listings and or available units ( multi residential) start to increase to catch up with demand then we will start to see the market to calm down and actually get back to normal. The recent increase in mortgage rates has had no effect on cooling the market. People still need a place to live and until there are enough of them out there this will continue at least for the short term.

“A housing bubble is a run up in housing prices filed by demand, speculation and exuberance” Investopedia

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

KYC

In the financial services industry which I work as a mortgage broker, it is expected that we all practice KYC also known as know your client. Without doing so how can I possibly recommend a mortgage product for their current needed or requirement. When I started doing this 20 years ago there was always a lot of face to face time. The initial meeting to find out their requirements, follow up to gather documents and finely another meeting to sign everything. So there was lots of face to face time.

Now most of my meetings are conducted over Zoho meeting ( virtual meeting software), with follow ups on the phone, text or email. My role as I see it as their mortgage consultant is to present the best possible options and then help my clients decide. There are no cookie cutter solutions in this industry, one size defiantly does not fit all when it comes to your financing. So without getting to know you and your unique situation it is very difficult to find a solution that is ideal. I am only a phone call away if you ever have any questions.

Today I am thankful for the snow flurries during my morning run, a great book about a visionary and getting to know lots of great people.

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

Doom Scrolling

Doom Scrolling or wasting your life away on social media. Thanks to Apple’s screen time feature I had discovered that although I was working 10-12 hour days I was still loosing way too much time to social media. You see a few minutes to see what your friends and family are up to can lead you down of rabbit hole and 45 minutes later your commenting on the latest crisis du jour and now your productivity is out the window.

So a few months ago I decided that I was no longer going to scroll endlessly on social media. I still have my accounts but I only check them when I get up at 5am and have them open just long enough to clear out any notifications and that’s it. I still love the idea of social media to help connect us to those around us. However the darkside has also turned me off.

Here is an example and you can extrapolate it how you like. Say that you are into works of art and really love Monet, suddenly your feed is full of his works of art and groups to join and you’re able to connect with lots of like minded people. However this is really limiting as well as what if you also like Renoir, Picasso, Dali or Van Gogh, but the Monet people that you have connected with only like Monet and that’s it.

Finding a difference of opinion is really the spice of life. We can’t be all of one and none of the other. There is so much going on in the world and it’s best to approach it with an open mind. Social media, as good as it gets tends to group us around similar interests and that is far too limiting. So if I am not commenting on your latest cat photo, your vacation selfie or any number of your special occasions it’s not that you’re not important to me it’s just that I am no longer scrolling my life away.

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