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!
I’m a VERICO Mortgage Advisor and I’m an independent, unbiased, expert, here to help you move into a home you love.
I have access to mortgage products from over forty 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 the VERICO Mortgage Advisor who can help you get the right financing, from the right lender, at the right rate.
Darcie B: I had an excellent experience with Shelley. She was knowledgable, informative, efficient, and easy to contact. I am happy with my mortgage and would recommend Shelley to family and friends.
Dave M: I was completely satisfied with Shelley’s expertise, knowledge, and know that our best interests were of primary importance to her. I would recommend her to family and friends. I appreciated how she researched our requirements, provided us options, and explained those options to us in a very understandable way.
Judith V: We are happily settling into our new home and we really can’t thank Shelley enough for helping us navigate such a crazy, hectic time. Shelley is well knowledgeable of the available products and processes and if she isn’t sure, she always spends the time to do the research. We appreciate that she gives us all the options available to us and is very honest, even if it means that we won’t be able to use her services at that time. We have never felt like she was trying to sell us something for the sake of selling us something. Her friendly, approachable personality makes us feel like one of the family. Shelley has taken care of our family for a number of years and we will continue to be her clients for the duration of her career. We are very fortunate to have Shelley working for us.
Margaret M: I was completely satisfied with Shelley’s service. She kept me well informed throughout the whole process and handled everything; I just showed up and signed paperwork. Shelley was very professional, knowledgeable and had my best interests in mind. I would not hesitate to recommend Shelley and her services to one and all!
Suzanne M: I was completely satisfied with every aspect of Shelley’s services and appreciate how she met all my needs!
Michael P: Overall, we were completely satisfied with Shelley’s services and would not hesitate to recommend her. She was able to get financing in place when others could not.
K Friesen: Shelley clearly understood and met our needs. We have no hesitation in recommending Shelley. She assured us that we were set up in a strong financial standing to go through the process of building, and ultimately has our dream house build in progress! Shelley was amazing and handled everything extremely fast!
Zaneta O: Shelley was able to get me the house I really wanted and exceeded my expectation in all that she did for me. I highly recommend her!
A New Year-Time for a Mortgage Check Up?
The new year is a time for making personal resolutions, writing business plans, evaluating your involvement in memberships and affiliations, and getting back on track with health and fitness. It is also a great time to book a mortgage checkup, and make sure your mortgage is working for you the way it should be.
How do you know if a mortgage checkup will benefit you? Heres a few questions to ask yourself. If the answer is yes to one or more, then its time to book an appointment with your mortgage professional:
Is my mortgage renewing this year?
In our constantly changing mortgage environment, earlier contact regular communication is always better. Keep your mortgage professional up to date on your current situation and plans moving forward so she/he can work ahead and ensure you are in the best situation for your next mortgage term.
Am I considering buying a new home, cottage or investment property this year?
Fully underwritten mortgage pre-approvals with interest rate holds are more important than ever when considering a new purchase this year, even for well qualified applicants.
What is the best source of funds to complete my home renovations/upgrades?
Cash savings, secured or unsecured lines of credit, mortgage refinance, personal loan-your mortgage professional can advise your best, lowest cost options.
How can I be mortgage free faster?
An annual mortgage review can track your progress and encourage you to make small changes that can save thousands of dollars. Your mortgage professional can play an integral part in your plan to pay off your mortgage.
How can I eliminate or reduce higher interest debt?
A review of your assets, debt, costs and cash flow can allow your mortgage professional to help with a plan to pay down debt and reduce costs with manageable monthly cash flow.
Life changes have occurred-is my current mortgage still the best fit?
Your current mortgage may no longer be the best fit if youve experienced a major life change. Even if your mortgage is still mid-term and not up for renewal, youll benefit from a visit with your mortgage professional to update your details, discuss options and formulate a plan moving forward.
Is there a better, lower cost mortgage option in the market that I qualify for?
Your mortgage professional can compare the costs of your current mortgage with what is available today (even mid mortgage term) and advise if its in your best interest to make changes. She/he can also provide peace of mind when you are currently in the best, lowest cost product in the market.
Should I consider locking in my variable rate mortgage?
If you are in a variable rate mortgage product, its important to keep in touch with your mortgage professional on a regular basis and have a plan moving forward in the event of rising mortgage rates.
How do I reduce/improve monthly cash flow?
A review of your assets and debts can allow your mortgage professional to help with a plan to ensure your monthly cash flow is manageable.
In 2018, you have the benefit of choice. Even if youve had a long-term relationship with a financial institution, seek others, get more opinions and be open to other options. Get good advice from someone you like and trust. Look ahead and start early.
For a free, no obligation mortgage checkup, please contact me by phone @ 204-479-6064 or email @ shelleys@onelinkmortgage.com.
Forecast Update: Economies Shutting Down
Rapidly evolving developments necessitate an update to the forecasts we published just last Friday. Additional quarantine or shut-down measures have been put in place in a number of countries in the last few days. As a result, we now anticipate global GDP growth to be 0% in 2020, followed by a sizeable rebound in activity in 2021 given our view that economic activity will rebound quickly once the virus is no longer a serious threat to public health. At present, we believe activity will begin to return to normal in the third quarter, except in countries where containment measures were aggressively deployed in the first quarter (essentially the Asian economies), where activity resumes in the second quarter. In Canada, the closure of non-essential business in Quebec and Ontario announced earlier this week will have large economic consequences. At present, we believe Canadian economic activity will fall by 28% in Q2 as these measures are felt. If other provinces follow, the fall in Q2 economic activity would be in the 35% range. We now assume that economic activity resumes by the start of the third quarter and that growth rebounds sharply at that time. However, the 20% drop in US economic activity in the second quarter will restrain the rebound in Canadian activity in the third quarter owing to the usual lags between US and Canadian economic outcomes. Under these assumptions, Canadian GDP would fall by slightly more than 4% in 2020 and rebound by 5.1% in 2021. Though we have not included any additional measures in this update beyond those already announced, we believe a substantial ramping up of fiscal support measures in Canada is forthcoming. There is a chance that aggressive virus management measures are required beyond Q2 to ensure the virus is truly well-contained. Evidence in Asia this week suggests that even in countries where aggressive management measures have been put in place, COVID-19 can come back quite quickly. If measures in Canada are not lifted by the end of Q2, growth would fall again in Q3, and GDP would fall by 6.3% in 2020 instead of the 4.1% we currently expect. A key question for forecasters is the length of the virus-related restrictions on firms and households. As noted above, a shift of one quarter in the resumption of normal operating conditions can have a large impact on growth outcomes. Since we do not have a good handle on the ultimate length of the interruptions, we consider it more informative to assign probabilities to the time at which virus containment measures end. At this time, we believe there is a 75% chance that activity resumes by Q3 and a 25% chance that activity returns to more normal levels by Q4. How officials manage virus containment internationally, as well as the evolution of the virus, will inform our assessment of probabilities going forward.
Source: Scotiabank Economics
Home resale market was gaining momentum prior to Covid-19
At the national level, resale home prices were gaining momentum in February. The 0.4% monthly gain in the Composite index was double the average of the previous ten years for a month of February. In particular, after 12 consecutive monthly declines, Vancouver HPI rose in each of the last five months, reflecting the fact that Vancouver resale market recently returned to balance. Sure, we still saw weakness in other regions, such as the Prairie Provinces (Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan) where markets were still favorable to buyers. But CREA just reported a rather generalized increase in home sales in February, including for Calgary and Edmonton. Unfortunately, then came the outbreak of Covid-19 and its impact on oil prices and disruptions in the supply chain. The unprecedented sanitary measures imposed by the authorities to tackle the pandemic will severely impact business activity and jobs over the coming months. In that situation, the home resale market should be heavily curtailed for the coming months.
Source: Teranet Inc., and National Bank of Canada
