Archive for the ‘Home Buyers’ Category
5 Hotspots for First Time Homebuyers in The GTA
Yesterday, I attended a conference held by one of the mortgage industry's governing bodies, the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP). There were several sessions throughout the day on subjects from Social Media Marketing to the Canadian mortgage securitization industry. One of the most informative sessions in my opinion was the talk CMHC economist Shaun Hildebrand gave on the housing market in the GTA. I took away quite a bit of information from his presentation and my next few blog posts will cover the key points. So where are the top 5 affordable neighbourhoods for first time home buyers in Toronto (GTA)? As you can imagine, the central corridor of Toronto is the most expensive and probably out of reach for most first time home buyers. However there are a few areas in the "C's" that Shaun felt were still fairly priced and accessible to most. Those areas were C7 and C15. They are a little further north, but still within an easy commute via transit. Surprisingly there is still some opportunity in C1 for first time buyers in the condo developments going up.
Homebuyer Tip – Bully offers
A Realtor that I work with has a video blog that is quite informative and I recommend checking it out if you are a home buyer. He recently did a post on what a "Bully Offer" is and how you can use it to your advantage when buying a home. Check out the video below. Let me know if you have any questions.
Mortgage Pre-approvals may not be around much longer
As a mortgage broker one of my primary roles is to get a mortgage pre-approval for my clients before they start their house hunt. This accomplishes two things for homebuyers. First, it let's them know exactly how much they can afford so they don't waste their time or their Realtor's time looking at houses out of their price range. Second, it locks in their interest rate for 120 days and protects them from increases in mortgage rates. Both of these functions are very important in the home purchase process. Unfortunately, although this is a great service for home buyers it is not so great for the banks lending the money and many of them are taking steps to change the process. Why are the banks against pre-approvals? Well, it costs the banks a significant amount of money to hold your rate for 120 days. Canadian Mortgage Trends reports that it costs the banks between $900-$1200 to hold (hedge) a $100,000 mortgage for 120 days. Obviously the higher the pre-approval the more it costs. So before you even sign the mortgage papers, the bank has already spent about $1,000 on you. This wouldn't be so bad if you actually used that bank ...
Plan Your Mortgage
Most people will take the time to develop a plan with their financial planner to ensure financial success for their family in the coming years. Likewise, most people spend a couple of hours with their realtors describing the features of their dream home before they actually start their house hunt. However I find most people do not see beyond the interest rate when it comes to their mortgage and do not ask their broker some very basic questions regarding the terms of their mortgage. I usually need to initiate the conversation with my clients about the plans they have for the future. Are you planning on growing your family? Will you have any large expenditures coming up in the next few years? Do you expect to receive any large sums of money in the near future? Do you have plans to renovate your property? These are a few of the questions that need to be addressed before you sign up for your next mortgage. Too often I have clients who are 2 years in to a 5 year mortgage and need to access more money or make a ...
Canadians Optimistic About Purchasing Homes
A recent survey conducted by RBC finds that almost 2/3 of Canadians feel it is a good time to purchase a house despite the continuing global recession. 65% of Canadians surveyed felt we are now in a "Buyers Market" and were considering purchasing a house within the next 2 years. This is promising news, however we are still not seeing this sentiment showing up in home sales statistics. The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) reported 2,670 home sales in Toronto in January of 2009 compared to 5,075 home sales for the first month of 2008. Although the study conducted by RBC is promising I do not think we will see people's apparent eagerness to buy a home materialize anytime in the near future. The survey itself states people were considering buying a home within the next TWO years. Well, 2 years is a long time frame. It is understandable people are nervous about purchasing a home given the current financial climate. The fear of losing your job and not being able to make your mortgage payments or purchasing an asset that could possibly decrease in value before the end of the ...
