🏡 Navigating Higher Interest Rates: Mortgage Holder Edition 📈

Hey homeowners! 👋 With interest rates on the rise, it’s time to be proactive and ensure your mortgage game is strong. Here are some tips to weather the higher interest rate environment:

1. Review Your Budget: Take a closer look at your monthly budget. Identify areas where you can cut back or save more to allocate extra funds towards your mortgage payments.
2. Refinance Consideration: Explore refinancing options. While rates might be higher than before, locking in a fixed-rate mortgage could provide stability and protect you from future increases.
3. Accelerate Payments: Consider increasing the frequency of your mortgage payments. Switching from monthly to bi-weekly payments can lead to an extra payment each year, helping you pay off your mortgage faster.
4. Emergency Fund Priority: Ensure your emergency fund is robust. A solid financial cushion can provide peace of mind and act as a safety net if unexpected expenses arise.
5. Financial Health Check: Assess your overall financial health. Are there high-interest debts that could be consolidated or paid down to free up funds for your mortgage?
6. Professional Advice: Connect with a financial advisor or mortgage broker. They can provide personalized guidance based on your situation and help you make informed decisions.

Remember, proactive planning is key! 🗝️ By taking these steps, you’re not only adapting to the current environment but also setting yourself up for long-term financial success. 🚀 #SmartMortgageMoves #FinancialWellness

🍁Credit Scores Explained 📊

Are you curious about how your credit score is determined in Canada🍁? Let’s break it down with emojis!

1️⃣ 💳 Payment History: 🕒 On-time payments = 😀. Late or missed payments = 😖. Pay your bills on time your payment history makes up 35% of your credit score!

2️⃣ 💰 Credit Utilization: 📈 Low credit card balances = 🌟. High balances = 🙁. Keep those balances in check, credit utilization accounts for 30% of your credit score.  The lower the balance, the better your score, and the higher the balance, the lower the score.

3️⃣ 📄 Credit History: 📆 Longer history = 👍. New credit = 🫤. Maintain a good credit history over time!  Credit History forms 15% of your overall credit score.

4️⃣ 💳 Types of Credit: 💼 Mix it up! Having different types of credit (credit cards, loans) can boost your score. 🔄 Credit Type makes up 10% of your credit score.

5️⃣ 📍 Recent Inquiries:  Opening too many accounts = 😫. Limit credit applications to avoid a drop in your score.  Credit checks can decrease your score and form 10% of the overall score.  However, when shopping for a mortgage your credit score should not be adversely affected if your score is checked multiple times in a two-week period.

Remember, your credit score is like a financial report card. Aim for those top marks to unlock better financial opportunities! 💯🎓

#CreditScore #FinancialWellness #Canada 🍁

REALTORS dramatically increase their business when partnering with mortgage professionals and more specifically mortgage brokers!

🌟DLC  Mainstream Mortgages is THE ultimate mortgage partner you’ve been searching for to make your clients’ homeownership dreams come true. 🏡💫

Why choose us? 🤔

✅ Unmatched Expertise: Our team (Peter, Colten, and Derek) have years of experience, ensuring seamless transactions for your clients. 🧑‍💼🧑‍💼🧑‍💼

✅ Tailored Solutions: We understand every client’s unique needs and financial situations, crafting personalized mortgage solutions for each. 💼💰🏢

✅ Quick & Easy Process: Say goodbye to the hassles of paperwork and long waiting times. We make the mortgage process a breeze! 📑🏃‍♂️  Your clients can expect;
1. A quick online application process
2. An efficient application and documentation review with simple and easy online uploads.
3  Education about the mortgage and homebuying process

✅ Competitive Rates: Your clients deserve the best deals, and we’ll make sure they get them. 💰💲💯
Ask how our preferred partners can get even better rates for their clients, appraisals paid and legal fee rebates.

✅ Exceptional Support & Communication: We’re here for you and your clients every step of the way, providing communication, support, and guidance at each step of the process. 🤝📞

✅  Answering Your Questions:  Our entire team can be reached by phone, text, e-mail, and across all social media questions if you have financing questions that relate to a specific program, property, or situation you are facing.  We will be happy to answer it for you.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to boost your Real Estate business and provide a top-notch experience to your clients. Let’s team up and make homeownership dreams a reality! 💪🏡

Drop us a message to get started or visit our website for more information. 📩💻  If you would like to pop by our office for a coffee, we can arrange it!

#RealEstate #Mortgages #Partnership #Homeownership #MainstreamMortgages #REALTOR #mortgagebroker #teamworkmakesthedreamwork

In almost 95% of cases the services of a mortgage broker are FREE.  The Mortgage Broker is almost always paid a fee or commission directly from the lender.

Brokerage Fees & Compensation:
Mortgage brokers typically do not have to charge you any fees. However, there are times when that may be necessary. Fees are based on the application themselves. Let’s illustrate them below:

1) Finders Fee:  This is the most typical way a mortgage professional gets paid.  A lender will generally pay a mortgage broker a percentage of the mortgage amount as a finders fee.  The amount of the fee can range from 0.5% to 1.5% with the average being about 1%.  For example, if a client borrows $300,000.00 – the mortgage professional would likely receive a gross commission of 1% or $3,000.

2). Lender Fee:  Some lenders charge a fee for the mortgage application.   These lenders usually specialize in borrowers who have bruised credit, or applications that require notable exceptions.  These lenders will charge a fee of 1%-3% and pay the mortgage professional a portion of that fee (usually 50%).

3). Broker Fee:  Sometimes a mortgage broker will need to charge a fee if they are using a private lender or a financial institution that doesn’t have a finders fee agreement with the brokerage.   For example a major bank, credit union, mortgage investment corporation, or private corporation.  These fees are set by the broker and agreed upon by the client.  Typically fees are between 1%-3% and have a minimum of usually $2,500.00.  If a broker/brokerage fee is charged, it will be fully disclosed upfront in writing.

4). Cash Back:  Many lenders have a cashback program for their clients.  Cashback is also how the mortgage professional can receive compensation instead of a lender fee or broker fee.  In this case, the lender will pay the broker 1% of the funded mortgage amount and increase the mortgage rate to the borrower by .2% or .25% depending upon their policy.   The increase in the interest rate is what compensates the broker and is paid over the term of the mortgage. With this type of mortgage, it is important to understand that the mortgage penalty will be higher and may include the cashback portion.

If you would like to know what a mortgage broker can do for you, please contact us today!

Visiting open houses is an excellent way to ease into the real estate market.   You can see which neighbourhoods appeal to you, meet and interview REALTORs and preview homes that you may want to make an offer on.

If you are actively looking for a new home it’s important to get a mortgage pre-appoval.   You can start by downloading our My Mortgage Toolbox App and contact us today!

Click the following link to be redirected to this weekend’s open houses

WINNIPEG Open Houses – Sunday November 5th, 2023

Contact us using the form below to start your mortgage application

CLICK TO START YOUR SECURE MORTGAGE APPLICATION

A rate is not a rate.  Wait, what? For the past decade, the regulatory changes in Canada have spawned different types or classes of rates.   The three classes are INSURED, INSURABLE & UNINSURED.

INSURED: This is almost always the best rate you can get for your mortgage.  The borrower will pay for mortgage default insurance from either CMHC, Sagen, or Canada Guaranty.  The cost of this is called the premium and it can range from .60% of the mortgage amount all the way up to 6.6% of the mortgage amount.  The insurance premium is added to the mortgage amount and amortized and calculated in the mortgage payments.  The amortization of the mortgage is limited to 25 years.  Mortgage default insurance is required if a borrower is making a down payment of less than 20%.  It is optional if a borrower is making a down payment of 20% or more.  Why would anyone opt to pay this insurance?  It will let them have a better rate now and usually a lower payment for the first term.  Upon renewal the mortgage will be easier to transfer or change lenders and the borrower will always get the lowest rate the math will favor the insured mortgage rate in terms 2 & 3 and come out better in the longer term.   If clients are putting down 35% or more, the insurance is quite inexpensive in comparison to other down payment levels and the mortgage application can usually be done much faster and include the cost of the appraisal.

INSURABLE:  An insurable rate is for mortgages that have a down payment of 20% or more and are limited to an amortization of a maximum of 25 years.  The insurable rate is slightly higher than the insured rate and presents a slightly higher risk and cost to the lender.  They will package up many mortgages with this time rate and pay for the mortgage default insurance in bulk.  Basically, bundled mortgage default insurance for lenders.  The mortgages can then be sold as high-quality government-guaranteed investments through the MBS – Mortgage-Backed Securities on the secondary market.  MBS offers safe investments with competitive yields and is RSP/RRIF eligible.

UNINSURED: An uninsured rate does not have any mortgage default insurance attached and the lender is lending their own cash using the property and the personal covenant/guarantee of the borrowers as security on the mortgage.   The borrower must put down 20% or more and the lender is assuming more risk.  The uninsured rate is almost always the highest of the three classes.  The borrower however can extend the amortization to 30 years and lower payments.  Some lenders in the alternative space will allow 35-year and even 40-year amortization in exchange for an application fee and a higher interest rate.

Inside of these three classes (Insured, Insurable, and Uninsured), there are 3 types of rates; Fixed, Variable, and adjustable.

FIXED:  Offers terms of 1-10 years and the borrower will pay a fixed payment at a fixed rate for the entire length of the term.

VARIABLE:  Variable rates will fluctuate when the Bank Of Canada either raises or lowers the PRIME lending rate.   The payments for this time of mortgage will remain static.  As the prime rate increases or decreases the lender will adjust the principal and interest amounts of the payment, but keep the payment the same.   The lender will also include in the mortgage contract a trigger rate which is a rate where the payments will increase if interest rates continue to increase as they did in late 2022 and 2023.

ADJUSTABLE:  Adjustable rates are also variable and will fluctuate when the Bank Of Canada either increases or decreases the PRIME lending rate.  However, with this type of rate, the lender will adjust the payments to match the current Prime Lending Rate.

If you are looking to be approved for a mortgage whether you are looking for a pre-approval, buying a new home, refinancing or renewing your existing mortgage, or looking for ways to access your home’s equity, contact us today!

For the last 15 years mortgage lending policy has become tighter and tighter. Lending and banking policies have been implemented with little to no thought put into what the consequences might be and if the policies would actually hurt or deter Canadians from homeownership.

However, a bit of good news. The banking regulator OSFI has clarified that insured borrowers, or those who have had to buy mortgage default insurance, can switch lenders without being stress tested and therefore EXEMPT! This means that if you have CMHC/SAGEN/Canada Guaranty Mortgage Default Insurance you can qualify to switch your mortgage to a new lender with the best rate a lot easier.

This is excellent news for people who are coming up on their first renewal.

Many banks have been sending VERY HIGH renewal rate offers 6.4%-6.99% for a 5-year fixed, assuming the borrowers would NOT qualify at another lender. Padding the bottom line? Maybe.

Now that the regulator has clarified the rule, if a borrower has an insured mortgage, and is looking for the best rate and terms upon renewal (with no extra funds or changes to amortization), then we can qualify them at the contract rate on not have to stress test them at 2% above the actual rate.

This means that you may once again have choices when renewing your mortgage!

The bad news? Borrowers who have conventional mortgages will still be required to be stress-tested 🙁

If your mortgage renewal is coming up in the next 120 days, contact us as soon as you can and we can start to shop around your bank’s renewal offer!

*Singing* 🎶There’s no place like home for the holidays🎶

If you would like to be in your new home for the holiday season🎁, GOOD NEWS!  There is still time!

You will need to get pre-approved by us as soon as possible and remember we will review all of your documents and application upfront to ensure a smooth home purchase and mortgage transaction.

Here is the timeline to get you home for the holidays!

🎅 Complete our secure online application 10-15minutes
🎄 We will review the application the same day or the next  and request the required document(1-day)
🤶 You will upload all of the required documents (Income, down payment, etc.)
🕯️ We will review your documents the same day or the next day.
🕎 We will submit your application for a rate hold and issue your pre-approval letter.
❄️ You can contact your REALTOR or we can recommend one for you to start shopping!
🌟 Once you find a home, contact us to enter the details in your application and make a conditional offer with 3-days for a financing condition and possession date before the holidays!
☃️We will submit your application and have a decision in 24 hours.  The lender may have a few more questions or require more documents.
🎁Once approved and all conditions are met, we will issue your FINAL APPROVAL!!!j

And congratulations we can have you home for the holidays!

Dr. Sherry Cooper is Dominion Lending Centre’s Chief Economist.  We love to share her insights!  Hou can click on the video to watch the full update and the link to read her latest article.
DR SHERRY COOPER’S UPDATE – “HAWKISH HOLD BY THE BANK OF CANADA”

Our economy has slowed, parts of the world are in turmoil, and interest rates are still high.  Here are some of my hilites from Dr. Sherry’s Update.

🐌 The Canadian economy has slowed
📈 Inflation is holding at approximately 3.7%/3.8%
⬇️ Mortgage originations are down
⬇️Job vacancies are down
⬇️Food inflation is down (The prices are still high, but at least not increasing, much)
⬇️ Home sales are down 3 months in a row (nationally)
⬆️ 35% increase in listings (nationally)
⬆️ Consumer insolvencies are up
⬆️ Business insolvencies are up.
⚡Energy prices are the main contributor to inflation since June 2023
🔥 The US economy is hot and as always affects Canada.
💪 Employment in Canada remains strong
💸 Government budget deficits mean more interest is being accrued

🔮 What does it all mean?  No one has a crystal ball and everyone’s situation is unique.  The best thing to do is be informed and prepared.
✅ Contact us for a review of your existing mortgage
✅ Contact us for a 2nd opinion regarding a mortgage pre-approval
✅ Know your numbers and do your household budget
✅ Try to eliminate as much consumer debt as possible
✅ Eliminate unnecessary expenses
✅ Lower necessary expenses (shop around, clip coupons, watch for sales)

Watch and enjoy the presentation below.

DR SHERRY COOPER’S UPDATE – “HAWKISH HOLD BY THE BANK OF CANADA”

Contact us today for your next mortgage