With Thanks from Alisa Aragon DLC!…

When purchasing a property, it can be an overwhelming experience. Especially with the current real estate market when you need to make fast decisions and you need to get your questions answered quickly. Many think that their only option is talking to their bank where they do their daily banking to get their mortgage. The question is you’re your ever considered working with a Mortgage Expert? A Mortgage Broker?

There are many reasons why you can benefit from using a Mortgage Expert. A mortgage consumer survey conducted in 2015 by CMHC (http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/hoficlincl/moloin/sure/fihosu/upload/2015-First-Time-Homebuyers-Survey.pdf) found in that 55% of first-time buyers reported arranging their mortgage through a mortgage broker.

The survey also reported that overall, recent buyers were satisfied with their experience using a broker (79%) and almost half (47%) “totally agreed” they were satisfied and 32% “somewhat agreed” they were satisfied.

The following are some reasons why you should consider working with a Mortgage Expert:

• Mortgages are our area of expertise

When you need a mortgage or are refinancing your existing one you will have questions such as. Where do I start? Which lender is the best fit for my needs? Which lender can offer me the best value? What are the real differences between mortgages? Which terms and features are the best for my unique needs?

Mortgage Experts have the answers. They work and have experience working with up to 200 plus lenders including big banks, credit unions and other lenders that only work with brokers. They understand the benefits of the various rate options, are familiar with the different types of mortgages and find the best mortgage for your unique needs. In comparison, if you approach your bank for a mortgage, they can only offer you a limited choice of their own products.

• Mortgage Experts find solutions that fit your unique needs

They will help you navigate the confusing and overwhelming road of the different rate types, mortgage options and terms while helping you find the best solution for your current circumstance and your long term plans. Mortgage Experts take the time to understand your financial needs and situation. In addition, to all of this, they help you avoid unnecessary risks and can save you money.

• Help you save time and money

Buying a house is time, energy and emotionally consuming. Finding the right home and finding the best mortgage that is right for you can take hours, days and even weeks if you were to do it yourself. Mortgage Experts do most of the leg work for you. They will research mortgage options, process your application, obtain the required documentation requirements and negotiate on your behalf. This means less disruption to your daily life and more time to focus on your home research and enjoy the process of homeownership.

• Multiple options for every client

Since each bank and lender have their unique guideline and programs. Mortgage Experts are able to assist clients with different situations. They are able to help if you don’t have sufficient funds for the down payment or/and closing costs. If you are self-employed or own your own business making it difficult to verify their income or if you have credit blemishes.

• The services of a Mortgage Expert are free

Yes, Mortgage Experts are paid their fees by the lender, not by the person who is using the mortgage broker’s services. There is no cost for the client.

What a week this has been – game-changing policy changes from the Finance Minister for the Mortgage industry!

Here is what I know on this Friday after the changes Monday:

1) Our non-bank lender partners (mono-lines – mortgage specific lenders – that offer better rates, larger product lines, and smaller penalties to the borrowers) are in an eerie vortex where they don’t know how business will be conducted in a week’s time moving forward.

2) These changes will solidify the Big 6 Banks powerful position in the AAA lending game.

3) Any additional costs will be pushed along to the borrowers.

4) Borrower‘s buying power and borrowing options, and competition for said options have been reduced.

5) The government is very concerned on the RE market and debt levels but also may be biting the hand that feeds them (RE and related industries in construction and home improvements provide for 20% of our GDP)

6) The demand for Vancouver real estate remains very high – for every active seeker, there are droves in the wings waiting for supply or price changes.

7) Overseas demand for Vancouver real estate will remain strong – 15% Foreigners tax and the Primary Residence declarations are small formalities to bringing capital to Canada, or inversely out of where it sits.

8) Supply remains an issue in an area land-locked with strong positive migration.

9) The Mortgage Broker’s role is firmly reinforced and our industry will evolve and our services and knowledge will see even stronger demand in the Canadian marketplace.

What a roller-coaster week. That is all.

Michael James 

DLC-Mortgage Evolution

mjames@mortgageevolution.ca

604.770.4900

5 REASONS A MORTGAGE BROKER IS YOUR BEST CHOICE

*** With the recent government changes (Oct 2016), our services should see even greater demand!***

Blog provided from DLC Head Office on behalf of Pam Pikkert

So it seems that there are still Canadian consumers who have reservations or misunderstandings about why a mortgage broker is their best choice. Time to take a quick look at 5 reasons you should use a broker.

1. Almost always free to use. 41% of consumers polled for the June 2016 Mortgage Professionals Canada “The Next Generation of Homebuyers” report seem to have the misconception that they are the ones paying somehow for the mortgage broker’s services. Here are a few things you should know:

· Bank branch reps and mobile specialists are paid bonuses for being able to get you to sign at a higher rate. It’s true. Ask them.

· The banks and broker lenders avoid the costs of having another in house employee with benefits and all that when they go through a mortgage broker who pay all those cost themselves.

· A mortgage broker will only charge a fee on an alternative deal where the client has blemished credit or on a commercial deal and in both cases the amounts are very upfront and are agreed to ahead of time.

2. Professional and carefully watched. Mortgage brokers only do mortgages. That means we know what we are talking about and can advise you properly. You can also rest assured that your privacy is well protected given that we are watched carefully by governmental agencies. As we should be really.

3. Choices! A mortgage broker is exactly like an insurance broker. We have access to a large number of lenders so if your application does not quite fit with one bank we have many others we can try it through. It is our job to know that you are getting the best mortgage and rate for your situation. Often we can even get better rates for you at your own bank given the very high volume we do with them.

4. Avoiding nasty pitfalls. Do you know how your bank calculates the penalty on the mortgage? Do they use posted to discounted rates? Are you getting put into a collateral mortgage? That’s OK if you have no idea what any of that means. We know. It’s our job and that can save you a ton of money down the road.

5. Convenient. Mortgage brokers pride themselves on their exemplary service. We can work with you remotely or face to face. We use the latest technology to make things as easy as possible for our clients.

So there you have it. We are free to use, full of professional advice, offer wide variety of choices, help you avoid pitfalls and we are convenient too! Oh, and did we mention that just over 50% of first time home buyers use mortgage brokers these days? Come find out why Dominion Lending Centres is where you should go for your next mortgage. You’ll be so glad you did.

Here is an article written for the North Shore News….

Now Is The Time To Make Your House The Home Of Your Dreams!

Property values on the North Shore are at an all-time high. Borrowing money is still at an all-time low.  Combine these two economic factors – with the fact that the transaction costs to sell your home and re-buy a home of your dreams is simply rudely expensive – and you have the perfect time to renovate your existing home into the home of your dreams.

Just think about it. 

If you bought a property on the North Shore before 2015 – your increased home equity (30%+?) can now be used to get you the modern kitchen, bathroom, basement suite/laneway home or exterior finishing that you have always wanted. Plus, you won’t have all the hassle of uprooting your family, and all the expenses of selling and moving.

The best way to take advantage of your recent rise in home equity – is not to sell your home and buy a new one- it is to remortgage and renovate your existing home. 

And here’s why.

The costs of selling your home to buy a new one are rudely expensive. To do this you would have to pay costly real estate fees, and maybe your bank mortgage penalty, that could total up to 6% of the total value of your home.  On a million dollar home that’s close to $60,000 that you would be dishing out before you bought again where you would have to pay another 2% or more for Property Transfer Tax!  Instead, you could refinance and borrow that $100,000 and end up with:

• a lower overall monthly payment with better terms,
• a renovated home that you love,
• consolidate any high-interest debts,
• increased property value!

Take a look at these numbers and ask yourself these questions.

$100,000 of mortgage costs less than $392 per month* (based on 30yr amortization, rate, product and term to be decided)

What value and comfort can you add to your home for $392 per month?

What would your house be worth once you made it the home you love?

A MORTGAGE YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE

Most people hate their mortgage, so putting mortgage and love in the same sentence isn’t popular. But Michael James at Mortgage Evolution from Dominion Lending Centres is a different kind of mortgage broker.  Most of the Big 6 Banks offer mortgages that have high penalties if you want to get out of them.  Dominion Lending Centres – Mortgage Evolution does not offer just one or two types of products like traditional banks – Michael is free to shop around with over 30 different lenders.  This allows you the borrower to revolutionize your mortgage. You can get better rates and lower penalties – that’s why people love our mortgage solutions.

Don’t think of moving – Stay!

Refinance your home and use your equity to get the home of your dreams today. 

The process can be as simple as a half hour phone call.  What are you waiting for?

Learn to love what your mortgage can do for you!

Call Michael James today at 604-770-4900

Or email mjames@mortgageevolution.ca

Q2 financial update from our own Dr. Sherry Cooper.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/how-other-countries-have-tried-to-deter-foreign-real-estate-investors/article31128696/?reqid=16a8c907-8755-4b82-a698-0113d7f68337

Borrowed from the Globe and Mail!

British Columbia joins a growing list of regions around the world that are restricting foreign investment and speculation in their housing markets. Here are measures taken in six other countries to cool house prices.

Australia

Australia has barred non-resident investors from buying resale houses unless they plan to live there full-time. The country’s Foreign Investment Review Board requires international buyers to apply for permission to purchase or build new houses and charges fees to prospective investors that increase with the price of the house. Foreigners who break the rules could face jail time, while real estate agents who help clients bend the rules face steep fines.

The Australian government has also forced some foreign owners – including Canadians – to sell properties that do not qualify under the new rules. The rules temporarily slowed the housing market, but prices have rebounded, economists from Toronto-Dominion Bank wrote.

New Zealand

Grappling with a surge in prices in its largest city, Auckland, New Zealand’s central bank introduced measures late last year requiring property investors in the city to have deposits of at least 30 per cent. The Reserve Bank is now proposing to expand those rules to the rest of the country.

Opposition leaders have begun calling for the government to ban offshore buyers, while some of the country’s major banks said last month they had started to refuse mortgages to borrowers without New Zealand-based income.

Explainer: Everything you need to know about real estate reform in B.C.

Britain

Last year, politicians in Britain sought to close a tax loophole that gave foreign property investors an advantage over local buyers. The government now requires all investors to pay capital-gains taxes as high as 28 per cent when they sell houses that are not a full-time residence. Previously, the taxes had applied only to British residents.

Lawmakers also unveiled increases to the land-transfer tax – or “stamp duty” – on purchases of investment properties. The moves have done little to curb foreign demand, with several real estate analysts reporting that interest from Asian buyers in British properties had soared since last month’s Brexit vote.

Singapore

Singapore has long restricted real estate purchases by foreigners, making it difficult for non-residents to buy anything beyond a condo. It has also tried to curb speculation by imposing extra taxes on buyers who sell their houses in less than four years and extra fees for those buying second homes. Since 2013, foreigners have faced an extra 15-per-cent tax when they buy a house.

Switzerland

In 2013, Switzerland imposed restrictions on property investment, limiting the number of properties deemed to be second homes to 20 per cent of the housing stock in any community. Those rules are on top of existing restrictions for foreign investors from outside the European Union, who can buy only a limited number of houses in the country each year.

Hong Kong

Some commentators have referred to British Columbia’s move as a “Hong-Kong-style tax” because it echoes the 15-per-cent tax that Hong Kong introduced in 2012 on house purchases by non-permanent residents and companies. Buyers who sell within three years pay as much as 20 per cent in extra taxes.

Foreigners are barred from buying houses in certain neighbourhoods. In mainland China, foreigners must spend at least a year in the country before they are allowed to buy real estate, and are restricted to one house purchase until they have become permanent residents.

Re:  Property Transfer Tax

We just heard that the BC government is increasing the PTT by 15% tax for purchasers who are foreign entities.  Here is what we know:

1.A foreign national is one who is not a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.  If it is company that is purchasing, a foreign company is one that is not incorporated in Canada, or incorporated in Canada but controlled in whole or in part by a foreign national or other foreign corporation;

2.The increased tax only applies to properties in the Greater Vancouver Regional District, and does not apply elsewhere in the Province, or the Tsawwassen First Nations Lands;

3.The tax only applies to residential properties, not commercial;

4.This is in addition to the regular PTT to be paid, and is paid on closing;

5.The increased tax is effective August 2, 2016, regardless of when the contract is signed.  Even if the contract was signed weeks ago, if it completes after August 2, 2016 there is a higher tax;

6.We need to confirm the clients SIN number and compare it to an official government document, such as a passport or SIN card.  Prepare your clients to have such ID;

7.The additional tax is payable even if there would normally be an exemption available.  Transfers between related individuals, transmission to surviving joint tenant and other such items now attract the additional tax. 

Once we receive further details we will do our best to keep you posted.

PS. If you have a file closing over the next week or two you should try to move it up to this week. If your client’s lawyer cannot accommodate this, let me know.

Tony Spagnuolo, Barrister & Solicitor

Spagnuolo & Company Lawyers

#300-906 Roderick Avenue

Coquitlam, BC V3K 1R1

Direct Phone: 604-777-7406

Fax: 604-527-8976 

Quick Links… www.spagnuololaw.com and www.bcrealestatelawyers.com

What if Canada was heading into (or remained for that matter) in a zero interest rate, flat rate, no chance of increase for foreseeable future environment?

A recent trade article shared this view from an industry broker:

The Bank of Canada won’t let sky-high housing prices deter it from cutting rates – what would that mean for key real estate markets? One former banker and current broker weighs in.

“From a Vancouver perspective, I don’t know that that would make a huge difference,” Ric Wilson, a broker with Mortgage Architects in Vancouver, told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “They’re already at record lows; another $10 dollars a month per $100,000 [in mortgage cost] won’t change things very much.”

Further rate cuts could be nigh – despite ever-boiling real estate prices in two Canadian markets and the fact that the current overnight rate target sits at 0.5%.

“I don’t think of it as something that blocks us from changing interest rates,” Poloz recently told the Washington Post when asked whether exposures related to housing would deter the Central Bank from future interest rate cuts.

That may surprise some brokers, as record-low interest rates are often cited as a driving factor behind the historically hot housing prices in Toronto and Vancouver.

The Bank of Canada’s target rate was slashed to 0.5% in July of last year, and it currently sits at that mark. That’s the lowest it’s been since the great recession, when it was cut to 0.25%.

But it could go even lower.

“My past life is as an VP at a bank. I think the Western world is stuck in the need for heavy deleveraging and as much as central bankers talk a big game … I think we’re almost in a Japan-like cycle of decades of low interst rates to accommodate debt servicing,” Wilson said. “I can’t guarantee it, but I can’t see the room to raise interest rates without causing major economic calamity. So bankers talk a good game because it’s prudent.”