Venturing into the real estate market as a self-employed homebuyer comes with its own set of challenges and opportunities. This blog post delves into tailored strategies and expert tips designed to help self-employed individuals successfully navigate the home buying process. Discover how a mortgage broker can be your ally in securing favorable terms, ensuring that your unique financial situation is well-represented. Whether you're seeking to understand the market dynamics or need guidance on obtaining the best mortgage products, this article provides valuable insights to empower your home buying journey.

Is your mortgage coming up for renewal soon? If so, this is blog for you.   Earlier in the year, Canada's banking regulator, OSFI, made an announcement that they were going to remove the stress test qualifications for all insured mortgages coming up for renewal.   The purpose behind this was to help increase competition for homeowners so that they are not locked into their existing lender and can shop around with their mortgage broker to find a better interest rate.   This is great news for anybody who is looking to shop around and get a better interest rate, but only for those…

To compete for business, banks will often incentivize homeowners by offering either cash-back or cash bonuses to earn their mortgage business.

This isn’t just a way of earning business, but by dangling a carrot and getting you focused on the cash it steers the conversation away from the fine print and important features of the mortgage that could easily cost you more money in the long run.

With today’s interest rate market being less than friendly, current and future homeowners are wondering if there is a way to find a lower interest rate like what we saw between 2020-2021.

For future home buyers, one option is they can consider finding a seller who has an ‘assumable’ mortgage that they can take-over.

With interest rates being the highest they’ve been in over 10 years, along with the stress test reducing what buyers qualify for this has created a number of issues for buyers attempting to find an approval for their home purchase or homeowners to complete their refinancing.

For this reason, among many others alternative financing is becoming increasingly popular as people try to find creative ways to get the job done.

Alternative financing allows current and future homeowners access to bank programs otherwise unavailable through traditional forms of financing.

Simply put, these programs are very versatile and open the door of possibilities when you keep running into rejections from your traditional lender.

Assuming a Special Assessment is a Bad Thing

A special assessment also known as a special levy, is when the members of a strata vote to make major repairs or upgrades on the building. This leads to the strata imposing a levy on the unit owners for part of the costs of the repairs. 

If you’re planning to purchase a vacation property, pay for children’s education, or require cash to cover a sudden expense, then pulling equity from your home through refinancing can be a good option.

There is no disguising that after 2 years of historically low interest rates due to the pandemic, rates are now on the rise in an attempt to reduce inflationary pressure.

Taking your first steps towards a mortgage and getting a foot on the property ladder can be a really exciting time. But it’s also important you’re armed with the right information before you start your journey to homeownership. However, splitting the fact from fiction isn’t all that easy, particularly when some of the mortgage myths out there have been doing the rounds for many years. To make sure you know fact from fiction, we have written down a few myths commonly heard amongst friends, family and co-workers.

‘How low can you go?’ has been the mantra for interest rates for years since the start of the pandemic. However, when there is a chance of a possible interest rate increase to the prime lending rate, it is common to wonder whether now is the time to convert your variable interest rate and lock into a fixed rate. However, before deciding to lock in, there are three options you should consider that may better address your concerns and allow you to keep the savings you’re receiving from the variable. As an expert in the field, I, Cody Rowe, want you to be able to make a sound decision by equipping yourself with expert information and knowledge. Read on to find out your options.

When someone chooses a five year fixed mortgage term for their home financing, more often than not it is for one simple reason – security. A fixed interest rate provides the comfortability of knowing that your interest rate, and therefore your regular payment, will not change for the life of the mortgage term typically 5 years. For this simple reason, this is the default choice for many homeowners when shopping for a mortgage rate. But what if I told you that if you broke that fixed rate early you would be looking at a drastic penalty that will equate to around 4.5% of your mortgage balance? This would maybe make you wonder if there was another option that provided a stronger protection against the changes of life.

Unless you have a couple hundred thousand dollars or more to spend, you can’t just plunk down cash and buy a home. Instead, you need to go through a process that takes you from getting loan approval to sitting down at the closing table. This can be overwhelming, but if you break the procedure down into steps and take your time, you can be a homeowner one day, living in your dream home! To help first-time buyers like you understand the many steps involved in purchasing your first home, Cody Rowe - Mortgage Broker has written down a Beginner’s Guide to buying a home.

Once you’ve decided to buy your first home, there’s a good chance that you’re planning to obtain a mortgage to finance the purchase. Acquiring a mortgage can seem intimidating and complicated to most first-time homebuyers, but it doesn’t have to be. When you prepare appropriately and have the right professionals to assist you, applying for a mortgage is pretty easy.

Applying for a mortgage is never simple, but it’s even trickier when you don’t know what to expect. There are different aspects that you need to consider before settling on a mortgage product. You need to consider the mortgage term, conditions, down payment, etc. But most importantly, you need to consider what kind of interest rate to choose for the term of your mortgage.

Original Article Source Credits:   Better Dwelling , https://betterdwelling.com/

Article Written By:  Daniel Wong

Original Article Posted on:  JULY 2, 2021

Link to Original Article:  https://betterdwelling.com/canadian-real-estate-brokers-see-a-big-cut-in-revenue-pushing-the-gdp-sector-lower/

Original Article Source Credits:   Financial Post , https://financialpost.com/

Article Written By:  Clayton Jarvis

Original Article Posted on:  Jul 02, 2021

Link to Original Article:  https://financialpost.com/moneywise/mortgage-debt-in-canada-is-soaring-thats-no-reason-to-panic

Original Article Source Credits:   Better Dwelling , https://betterdwelling.com/

Article Written By:  Stephen Punwasi

Original Article Posted on:  JUNE 30, 2021

Link to Original Article:  https://betterdwelling.com/bank-of-canada-is-quietly-updating-forecast-models-to-include-debt-and-real-estate

Original Article Source Credits:   Financial Post , https://financialpost.com/

Article Written By:  Clayton Jarvis

Original Article Posted on:  May 25, 2021

Link to Original Article:  https://financialpost.com/moneywise/canadas-high-unemployment-may-help-low-mortgage-rates-stick-around

Original Article Source Credits:   Dominion Lending Centres , https://dominionlending.ca/

Article Written By:  Sherry Cooper

Original Article Posted on:  May 17, 2021

Link to Original Article:  https://dominionlending.ca/economic-insights/housing-market-slowed-in-april-as-renewed-lockdown-took-its-toll

Original Article Source Credits:   Better Dwelling , https://betterdwelling.com/

Article Written By:  Daniel Wong

Original Article Posted on:  APRIL 20, 2021

Link to Original Article:  https://betterdwelling.com/canadian-real-estate-is-moving-from-pent-up-demand-to-pent-up-supply/