I remember when 5 year fixed mortgage rates first broke below 4% around 10 years ago. It was unreal to see rates this low, and many thought they couldn’t possibly get any lower. Especially considering they were in the 5-6% range just a year or two earlier. Who knew how much lower they would become? [...]
You’re purchasing a new home and all your conditions for your mortgage approval have been satisfied. That is… all except for the appraisal. If the appraisal were to come in lower than the purchase price, then this could present issues with your mortgage, regardless of how solid your qualification is on paper. Let’s take a [...]
There are many people, both mortgage professionals and borrowers alike, who will swear that variable rate mortgages are always the way to go. Their reasoning is that variable rate mortgages have historically beat out fixed rates, or that variable rate mortgages have always worked out for them in the past. Everybody’s situation can be a [...]
This morning, the Bank of Canada announced that they will be maintaining their overnight rate at 0.25%. No big surprise here, and any movement from the BOC this morning would have been shocking. The overnight rate is what financial institutions use to set their prime rate, which is currently 2.45%. Prime rate does not influence [...]
With all the pent-up demand for real estate, and with mortgage rates at record lows, the Greater Toronto real estate market is hot. We have been getting more requests for pre-approvals than any other time in the past. It seems as though all of a sudden, everyone wants to buy a home. With all this [...]
Canada Day in the middle of the week! Woohoo! Not quite as convenient as having it on a Friday or a Monday, but look at it like this… It’s like a mini weekend packed in between two short two day work weeks! Now, that I can handle! As everyone celebrates Canada’s 153rd anniversary (of course [...]
2020 has been an interesting year, and definitely one that we will never forget. When everyone started to realize the severity of the pandemic back in mid-March, people started to panic. Businesses started shutting down, and literally millions of people were either laid off, or experienced significant cuts to their income. We had no idea [...]
The past few months have been a roller coaster for mortgage rates. In early March, they were falling faster than we could keep up with. We would quote a rate, only to see a lower rate the next day…. then again the next. This made mortgage shopping a little more difficult. You would get [...]
Last week, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) announced that they will be adjusting some of their policies effective July 1st. The most notable change is the lowering of their maximum qualifying limit. When most people hear the name CMHC, they think of mortgage default insurance, which is what borrowers require if they are [...]
Unlike the past few interest rate announcements by the Bank of Canada, their announcement this morning was not as highly anticipated. Everyone pretty much knew the outcome, so no surprises here. As expected, the Bank of Canada maintained their overnight rate at 0.25%, which is what mortgage lenders use to set their prime rate. The [...]
