Fixed versus Variable Penalties
I sat there with tears in my eyes and a lump in my stomach and felt like a complete and utter failure.
My husband and I were parents to a beautiful one year old and we had decided for me to stay home since daycare was going to cost more than 3/4 of my income. We were young and we were in debt.
The value of our house had risen significantly and we wanted to use some equity to pay off our debt and sleep better at night. Everything was fine, we were approved without problem, then the bomb was dropped on us .
.we found out that we would have to pay almost $8000 in penalties to break our mortgage! $8000!!! We didnt have that kind of money! We were doing our best but had not realized how expensive a baby on one income was (oh, how naive we were). How did this happen? Were smart people who read all of the paperwork before we signed it (so we thought).
If wed had a variable rate mortgage, our penalty and administrative fees would have been less than $1000. We chose a five year fixed rate because thats the smart thing to do, interest rates are always changing, and you dont know what the rates are going to look like next year.
Ive since found out that interest rates are not as scary as the news portrays them. The Bank of Canada meets 7 - scheduled in advance -times each year to look at the prime rate. The prime rate has increased by more than 0.25% only ONE time in the last ten years. Were Canadian! We dont like shocks! Slow and steady could be our motto! Thankfully the Bank of Canada likes to be boring, dependable, and stay the course.
#BoringIsSexyInCanada
I never want anyone to feel like I felt that day. Understanding your options is a top priority for me. I translate industry speak into regular English so that my clients understand ALL of their options and the possible outcomes of their choices. Ill ask you lots of questions to fully understand your needs and meet those needs with a loan from one of the many lenders I deal with.
Straight answers, no surprises, an expert on your side.
Canada: Residential sales reached a new record in September
Seasonally adjusted home sales rose 0.9% in September to a monthly record of 56,422 units. Sales in Ontario missed Augusts record by a hair due to a 5.3% monthly decline in Toronto. Records were nonetheless registered in Ottawa and Hamilton. In the Province of Quebec, sales were at a record level in the Quebec CMA and in Gatineau, and close to August records in Montreal. In B.C., transactions reached a record outside the three main markets of Vancouver, Fraser Valley and Victoria. There were also sales records in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The active-listings-to-sales ratio indicates that the Canadian home resale market was favorable to sellers in Ontario Quebec, the Maritimes Provinces and marginally so in B.C. The market was balanced in the four other provinces.
PROMISES, PROMISES AND MORE PROMISES
Canadas Parliament re-convened today with a ceremonial Speech from the Throne delivered by the Governor General.
Canadas continued response to the COVID-19 pandemic took centre-stage, while providing a lens for a plethora of broader promises: an extension of the wage subsidy, expanded employment insurance, investments in childcare, reaffirmed commitments to universal pharmacare, and green infrastructure investments among many others.
Given the exhaustive list of priorities, this Speech is unlikely to bring the minority government down as it provides plenty of hooks for negotiations in the lead-up to a Fall update where details will be laid out.
It clearly signals more fiscal spending ahead for Canada leaving the question not if but how much. But this was largely channeled ahead, so the market reaction has been mutedor more likely, it is eclipsed by broader US and global developments.
There is little beyond lip service by way of fiscal restraint. This will be left to the Finance Minister to make inevitable trade-offs in her first budget this Fall, particularly as she may need to reserve some firepower for second waves.
Source: Scotiabank https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/about/economics/economics-publications/post.other-publications.fiscal-policy.fiscal-pulse.federal.federal-budget-analysis.federal-throne-speech--september-23--2020-.html
