Tag Archive for: Vancouver Mortgage Broker

Happy Dance!

When things start to go well, no matter how small, you need to take some time and do a little “Happy Dance”. Celebrate the victories along your path to much larger successes. This is what living is all about. It’s not about the destination of some way off big goal, it is about enjoying the process along the way.

Have an excellent Saturday.

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

Cheers,

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).

Stress Test Changes Ahead

Well not really surprisingly, yesterday the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) proposed changes to the mortgage stress test in an attempt to cool the hot housing market. While theses proposed changes would only effect those putting down 20% or more, they are totally the incorrect approach to dealing with the hot housing market. It is true that almost every market across Canada is experiencing high demand, this is not due to speculation this is because of a lack of supply that is driving up prices.

Think about it we have had several years prior to the pandemic of record levels of immigration. As well as the past year with people working remotely with nowhere to spend their money as they can’t travel nor eat out so they are sitting on record levels of savings. So what are people doing is that they are looking to purchase real estate or move up from their current home.

The challenge is the housing supply has not really changed. It is still taking developers extraordinarily long time to get their projects started, yet now we have more people in the market looking for a place to call home. So the knee jerk reaction is to the move the stress test from 4.79 to 5.25%. Yes they may slow things temporarily but it does noting to address the actual cause of the problem which is a lack of supply. As soon as that is addressed and that will take years, my advice to you is keep saving up and be patient.

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

Cheers,

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).

Not all Down Payments are created equal

So you are in the market to buy a new to you home. With the current real estate market being as hot ( due to limited supply) as it is make sure that you have the correct down payment in order before you put in your offer. High ratio mortgage insurance ( CMHC, Sagen and Canada Gurantee) is available for purchase prices less than 1,000,000. However to get into a home with the minimum required will depend on the purchase price of the property and of course your credit and income.

5% down payment is the minimum for purchase prices at 500,000 or less. If you are quick at math that is 25,000. However if the house that you really like you ended up getting an accepted offer at 760,000. You will put down 5% of the 1st 500,000 and 10% of the balance. So in this example you will put down 25,000 on the 1st 500K and 26,000 on the remaining 250,000 making it a total of 51,000 down payment. This is compared to putting down 20% which would cost you 152,000.

This 5% down payment should come from your own resources and you will need to provide 90 days history to show that you have not borrowed the funds. However you can receive the 5% down from a blood relative (Mother, Father, Sister or Brother) , this is considered a gift so you don’t have to debt service ( have it included with your debt payments).

I also need to tell you that if you are buying here in Nova Scotia and you have excellent income and credit but are short on the down payment, we have a local lender who will do 0% down to get you in the new home. Ask me for details.

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

Cheers,

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).

Referrals Please!

Like most service based businesses the lifeblood or our business is referrals. Whether that be from past clients or industry partners like Realtors or Financial Planners. We do not pay for referrals. We do however work to ensure that their financing transaction with us is smoothest and stress free as possible.

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

Cheers,

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).

Short Week!

Yes I know it’s a Tuesday but it feel’s like a Monday. With 4 banking days this week but with 5 days worth of work to fill them.

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

Cheers,

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).

What is your Why?

Forget about asking what to do or how to do it, why to do it is the most important thing to ask. It has been said that with a strong enough Why anything is possible. Most people know what to do to get in shape and they may even know how to to do it, but without a strong enough why they will never do it. The same can be said to your personal finances or your relationships. Once you know why you want to improve anything becomes possible.

If you are reading this page, you may be thinking of refinancing or purchasing in the near future. The what to do and how to do it are sometimes fairly simple and straight forward. The why however can be a little fuzzy. Some of the common why’s I hear are the following, the family is growing and you need more space, you got a new position so you are moving here to take a job, spousal buyout and or need to clear up a mountain of debt.

Now I am not going to tell you to choose me for “what” many people focus on which are the lowest rates ( while I do in fact have low rates, so too do 95% of the other brokers & lenders). Also I am not going to tell you to choose me for “how” I am available to help you from X am to Y pm almost every day. However my “why” is that I endeavour to make the financing of your current home or your dream home as stress free as possible. If this is important to you then give me a call as I would love to work with you.

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

Cheers,

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).

It’s a Seller’s Market

Since this is very much a seller’s market and many properties are receiving multiple offers and are also then going for well above list price. So the number one quality to have in this market is patience. There are new properties being listed every day, so sooner or later you will find one that works for you. Just remember that if you are pre-approved ( and I hope you are, if not call me) for 500K that means that you can’t offer 525K. You should be pre-approved at the top of your affordability ratio’s so any higher and you will not get approved.

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

Cheers,

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).

It’s Grrrreat!

It’s not just a Good Friday, it’s a Great Friday. Getting up without having to rush around and drive anybody anywhere or have to call anybody is a great feeling. Got to meditate and do my workout before anyone even got up. I love holiday’s like this where sometimes the best use of our time is to settle down with a great book.

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

Cheers,

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).

Don’t be an April Fool!

Happy April Fool’s day, hopefully you have not been tricked yet. Just a short post with some idea’s on how not to be fooled in today’s hot real estate market. 

1) Make sure that you get pre-approved before you start house hunting. Note that most lenders just issue a rate hold but do not actually thoroughly review your file. You will need to deal with a competent professional who will actually review all your necessary supporting documents before your house hunting journey.

2) Don’t get carried away with excitement cause the inventory of available homes are low and there are many buyers bidding on the same property. So I am advising you NOT to write a condition free offer on a property you want to purchase. Unless you have the purchase price in cash this is not a wise decision. See my prior blog post.

3) Interest rates have been rising lately but not all rates. While in the past most people have favoured fixed rates since your payment would not change over the term of your mortgage. There is a better option with variable rates. While fixed rates are based on bond yield which have been steadily rising recently, the variable rates are based on the Bank of Canada overnight rate which has not changed. These are still at generational lows.

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

Cheers,

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).

Exclusive arrangement

Let’s talk about professional relationships. When you are looking to buy a home you don’t go house hunting with nor put in offers on the same property with 5 different Realtors. You also don’t consult and meet with 5 lawyers when it comes time to close your transaction. However when it comes time to finance said purchase why is it that a select few people (thankfully they are the exception not the rule) have no qualms about dealing with several brokers at the same time. Usually these people can be spotted in the first 15 minutes of the conversation as they seem to be concerned only about rate.

Let me save you the trouble with an example. Rates from most of the lenders in the market are consistently around the same amount. Some may very by 5 basis points or .05%. This works out to $2.39 per 100,000 mortgage payment per month. So all in all not a huge amount of savings for a small difference in rate.

Do yourself a favour and stick with whoever gives you the best service cause at the end of the day that is what is the most important. Do they get back to you in a timely manner, do they answer their phone and do they operate with a sense of urgency to get your financing done in a timely manner.

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

Cheers,

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).