It PAYS to shop around.
Many Canadian homeowners pay too much for their homes because they are not getting the best mortgage financing available in the market.
The mortgage process can be intimidating for homeowners, and some financial institutions don't make the process any easier.
But I’m here to help!
As your personal mortgage consultant, I’m an independent, unbiased, expert, here to help you move into a home that you will love.
I have access to mortgage products from a multitude of lenders at my fingertips and I work with you to determine the best product that will fit your immediate financial needs and future goals.
VERICO mortgage specialists are Canada’s Trusted Experts who will be with you through the life of your mortgage.
I save you money by sourcing the best products at the best rates – not only on your first mortgage but through every subsequent renewal. So whether you're buying a home, renewing your mortgage, refinancing, renovating, investing, or consolidating your debts — I’m your personal mortgage consultant who will help you get the right financing, from the right lender, at the right rate.
Please call me today for your best mortgage solution and advice. Phone: 604.802.8193
Rates, Refinancing and Relief - The Effects of COVID19 - UPDATED March 24th
More Rate Increases
HSBC often leads the market on mortgage pricing and today it upped multiple rates:
3yr fixed (high ratio): 1.88% to 1.99% Still the lowest rate in Canada
5yr fixed (switch/purchase): 2.49% to 2.69%
5yr fixed (refis): 2.59% to 2.79%
5yr variable (switch/purchase): 2.49% to 2.74%
5yr variable (refis): 2.59% to 2.84% (P 0.11%)
Evaporating variable-rate discounts are sadly a sign of the times, even at rate leader HSBC.
Extraordinary Delays:
Extreme application volumes are leaving some applicants waiting over two weeks for mortgage approvals. Generally speaking, the better the mortgage deal, the more applications the lender gets and the longer borrowers must wait.
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Rates and Refinacing
This week has been yet another roller coaster of news, that none of us have fully been able to digest let alone fully understand. The COVID19 crisis has rocked the markets and that flight of capital has caused rates to fall. This caused a flurry of inquiries for most brokers regarding refinances to catch those suddenly lower rates. Unfortunately for the borrower who did not react quickly, just as quickly as rates fell, they popped back up again, in some cases above the levels they were at prior to their drop. This has caused much confusion in conversations with our clients. Didnt the Bank of Canada lower the rate twice? well, yes, they did. However, as the banks have watched the COVID19 situation unfold, they have become nervous of liquidity and risk issues. This has driven them to inflate their margins to potentially allow for losses such as defaults.
The net effect is that if you are looking at a purchase or refinance today, you will likely find both fixed and net variable rates at roughly the same levels as they were back in January or February. The big question is, when will these rate increases end. If the 2008 market drop was any indication, we will likely see either rates staying the course or potentially bumping upwards slightly, again depending on the investors perception of risk in government bonds.
Bottom line is the rates are, and have been at historically low levels for a long time now. With the historical rate for a 5 year, fixed rate mortgage around 6%, the current available rates around 3% are a bargain. My advice in such uncertain times would be to take a fixed rate and know what your costs will be for the next 5 years. The discount on variables has evaporated so at this point, the variable option unlikely would give the savings you may have seen in the past and should the BOC raise rates over the course of the typical 5 year term, you may actually be paying a premium. Food for thought.
Relief
Id like to leave you with some information many of us have been wondering about, Payment Relief.
Most banks and mortgage companies have now announced, that during what looks like an uncertain period ahead, should you need a break from your monthly mortgage payments, they are willing to assist. The gist of the offer is that with many lenders, you may miss up to six months of payments to offset a loss of income should you be laid off. The mechanics of this is that the lender will allow you to miss those payments and instead, add the interest portion that you would have otherwise paid into the principle amount of your mortgage. This is not free money. The interest portion will be capitalized into the amount you owe so after the six months of missed payments, you will begin to pay it back with a portion of your normal payment, basically extending the amortization of your mortgage by a little over six months from where it sits today. Dont get me wrong, this is a great deal for a borrower if you really need it. If not, it adds to your interest costs and should be avoided. In other words, dont do it just because you can.
If you need to discuss possible payment relief with your mortgage lender, below is a partial list of major Canadian lenders for your convenience. If youd like to discuss potential refinances, equity take-out or other mortgage related issues, I am always available to assist you as well.
Feel free to reach out directly by phone or text to: 604.802.8193 or email me at robert@robertmogensen.com
Stay safe and stay well.
Robert Mogensen Mortgage Consultant
ATB 1-800-332-8383
B2B 1 800 263 8349
BMO 1-877-895-3278
Bridgewater 1-866-243-4301
CIBC 1-800-465-2422
CMLS 1-888-995-2657
Optimum 1-866-441-3775
Equitable 1-888-334-3313
Connect First 403-736-4000
Chinook Financial 403-934-3358
First Calgary Financial 403-736-4000
First National 1-888-488-0794
Haventree 1-855-272-0051
Home Trust 1-855-270-3630
HSBC 1-888-310-4722
ICICI 1-888-424-2422
Manulife 1-877-765-2265
MCAP 1-800-265-2624
Merix 1-877-637-4911
Marathon 1-855-503-6060
RBC 1-866-809-5800
RFA 1-877-416-7873
RMG 1-866-809-5800
Scotia 1-800-472-6842
Servus 1-877-378-8728
Street Capital 1-866-683-8090
TD 1-866-222-3456
How to tell between a real CRA call and a scam
(NC) Many of us have heard of scammers pretending to be from the Canada Revenue Agency. You may have even received a call or email yourself. But how do you know what you can trust?
Avoiding this common scam is easier when you know what the agency will and wont do. The agency will never threaten you with immediate arrest or jail for a tax debt, and never uses text or instant messaging to communicate about taxes. It will never demand that you settle tax debt by buying gift cards or prepaid credit cards, or using cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, or offer to pay you a refund by e-transfer.
Remain vigilant when you receive communication from someone claiming to be from the CRA, especially when asked for personal information such as a social insurance, credit card, bank account or passport number. If you are unsure that the person on the phone is a legitimate agency employee, ask for the agents phone number and badge number and call 1-800-959-8281 to validate the caller.
If you receive a call demanding immediate payment, take time to think it over. If you believe it was legitimate, you can check the status of your account online.
If you use online or telephone services, you can further protect yourself by keeping your access codes, user ID, passwords and PINs secret, and changing them frequently. Enabling email notifications for online CRA accounts will notify you by email of changes to them, warning you of potentially fraudulent activity.
Finally, suspicious phone calls or messages can be reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online or by telephone. If you think you have fallen victim to a scam, contact your local police.
Find more information at canada.ca/taxes.
www.newscanada.com
Home prices accelerate in February
In February the TeranetNational Bank National Composite House Price IndexTM was up 0.5% from the previous month, an acceleration from the January increase after three consecutive months of slowing. The advance was led by four of the 11 constituent markets: Halifax (2.3%), Hamilton (1.1%), Vancouver (0.8%) and Quebec City (0.7%). Rises of less than the countrywide average were reported for Montreal (0.5%), Victoria (0.4%), Calgary (0.4%) and Toronto (0.4%). The index for Winnipeg was flat on the month. Down from the month before were the indexes for Edmonton (0.1%) and Ottawa-Gatineau (0.5%). After three months, from September to November last fall, in which all 11 markets of the composite index were up from the month before, February was a third consecutive month in which one or more markets were down on the month.
The February rise is consistent with the increase in the number of home sales over the last several months reported by the Canadian Real Estate Association. For a sixth straight month, the number of sale pairs entering into the 11 metropolitan indexes was higher than a year earlier. The unsmoothed composite index, seasonally adjusted, was up 1.1% in February, suggesting that the uptrend of the published (smoothed) index could persist.
Source: National Bank