While the temperature drops, the housing market continues to gain strength. In September, home sales in the GTA were up 22% over the same month in 2018 with 7,825 total sales. In September 2018, there were 6,414 total sales. While this represents a strong increase, it’s still far off the record of 9,800 sales back [...]
As technology continues to advance, I’m seeing more and more ads for quick mortgage approvals. Sometimes in as little as 60 seconds. But how accurate is a pre-approval if it can be done in 60 seconds? If something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. And mortgage approvals are no different. The [...]
Anytime you replace your current mortgage with a new one you are refinancing. This is not to be confused with switching your mortgage, which is when you are simply transferring your existing mortgage balance to a new lender, while keeping your remaining amortization intact. What’s the difference? Switching involves keeping your mortgage balance and remaining [...]
A common goal for many mortgage borrowers is to get their mortgage paid off as soon as they can. Who doesn’t want to be mortgage-free? Pretty much all mortgages come with prepayment privileges, regardless of the lender. They are not created equal, however, so it’s important for you to have a good understanding of how [...]
The most common term length for a mortgage is five years, and this is typically the first option quoted by banks and brokers alike. But is the five-year term really what is best for you? A few years ago, shorter-term mortgages carried lower rates than longer terms. When mortgage regulations changed in late 2016, the [...]
Earlier in 2019, it was predicted that we would see a rate drop from the Bank of Canada as late spring. Three scheduled rate announcements later and still no rate cut. Each time, the market has been closely watching in anticipation of a drop, however, the Bank of Canada remains reluctant to make any changes. [...]
The mortgage industry was watching this morning's scheduled interest rate announcement from the Bank of Canada very closely. Economists were split as to whether we would see a cut, or whether the overnight rate would be maintained. In the last couple of weeks leading up to the announcement, it was looking more and more likely that the [...]
Over the past 30+ years, people of traditionally come out ahead by choosing a variable rate mortgage, which leads many mortgage professionals to suggest for their clients to always go variable. But this blanket advice does not always work. Variable rates do not always win. This is why my advice on whether to choose fixed [...]
Around a year ago, it was widely predicted that we would see 2-3 increases to prime rate in 2019. Economists did a complete 180 on these predictions in January of this year, predicting that we would see the Bank of Canada cut their overnight rate by summer. Fast forward now to today. The overnight rate [...]
When mortgage regulations changed on November 30, 2016, mortgage borrowers were required to pass a stress test in order to qualify for a mortgage. This meant that anyone applying for a mortgage would need to qualify based on the higher of the benchmark rate set by the Bank of Canada, or 2% of the contract [...]
