Quick note before jumping in today. With the spring market heating up and our deal desk getting busier, my intended weekly news send-outs are as consistent as my beloved Calgary Flames winning record.
Starting now, I’ll set Thursday as the day of my weekly send-out, and see how that works out. There’s no shortage of interesting and useful content, so there’s no excuse!
As this is my first weekly update in over a month, there is a bit more to unpack today. Thanks for reading!
I’m IN the Office! Come say hello or let’s book a coffee.
After some time working out of my home office, I’ve decided it’s time to get back into a more central work location, and to make myself more accessible to, well, everyone!
Come and say hello, or let’s book a coffee!
Where? For now, I’m at the Uptown Spaces location, right behind Best Buy. Parking is easy, and it’s generally easy to find.
Uptown Spaces – Suite 301-3450 Uptown Blvd.
There’s so many things happening in the real estate and mortgage industry. As always, I want to ensure you – my clients, colleagues, and friends, feel welcome to call me up, email me, and now, come and see me in person. Whether we’re talking business, your mortgage, or anything else, I’d love to see you.
I’m back to the office!
Unconditional Offers: We Take The Guesswork Out of Making An Unconditional Offer
The market is heating up, and we are seeing multiple offers again, mostly on single family dwellings under 1.1 million, and town-homes too. Buyers are starting to compete, and one tactic that many employ is to make their offer unconditional.
This is the time when you or your loved ones need sound and clear advice. How do you proceed with an unconditional offer? What are the risks? How to you negate those risks? It’s my job to explain the risks, and how to ensure you are risk free when making an unconditional offer.
You might be able to, you might not be able to.
Call or email us for details and to get your own individual assessment.
Interest Rate Update
These days, there are many various types of mortgage transactions which come with different rate offerings. Your rate will depend on various factors and qualifications.
This type of rate environment makes it difficult for us to post any sort of rate sheet. Rates are also changing far too frequently. It’s a moving target on any specific day!
To add, the banks are becoming more aggressive in rate pricing, but only after they evaluate and approve the mortgage. Once the deal is approved at a bank lender, a “negotiation” of sorts can start.
So I’m moving towards trying something different and just posting suggested ranges of rates. Ultimately, I’m going to say: Call us or email us to get your individual rate quote!
Here are those suggested rate ranges as of today:
3 year fixed – Between 4.99% and 5.50%
5 year fixed – Between 4.84% and 5.45%
5 year variable – Between 6.09% and 6.80%
Pricing for rental properties is different and will vary from lender to lender. The above rates are for principal residential mortgages only.
Last Month In News
March 6th – BoC holds the overnight rate at 5%, leaving Bank prime rate at 7.20%.
This was no surprise. Inflation is still holding at 3%, which is at the top of the BoC target range. However, the BoC has determined that it would be too early for any rate drop, as inflation does still pose a risk with our economy not having fallen into recession.
More to come next week on where rates are headed.
March 27th – Canada’s weak productivity an emergency, poses inflation risk, BoC says – Globe and Mail.
This article from the Globe talks about Canada’s economic output per hour worked, and how it’s lower than the rest of the G7 countries, including the USA. Why is this important? Broken down in simple terms, it takes more hours worked to produce the same amount of economic output as our peers. The result is that businesses have higher comparative labour costs. Businesses will pass these higher labour costs to their customers, increasing prices, and fueling inflation.
What’s troubling, is that Canada has been getting worse comparatively over the years. In 1984, Canada was producing 88% of the value generated by the US economy, per hour worked. That number has since dropped to 71%. Basically, Canada’s economy is becoming less productive, comparatively.
The cause? According to the BoC, weak business investment in machinery, equipment, and intellectual property. Also, problems in the labour market of matching skilled workers to the right jobs. Canada also has a higher percentage of small businesses, which tend to invest less in innovation.
The solution? While there is no one solution, the BoC states that more business investment is needed, and better management of our workforce.
The Hybrid Mortgage. What is it, and do we offer it?
For those that invest in the stock market, there’s a saying – don’t put all your eggs in one basket. We can also apply this notion to your mortgage too. How?
The Hybrid Mortgage.
Is this new? Not really, but perhaps it’s just new terminology. Most bank lenders offer multi level mortgages, where you can have the total borrowing split up into different levels and separate payments. This type of mortgage becomes very useful when you are borrowing money to invest, as you can differentiate easier between funds that were used for one purpose or another.
Can’t decide whether to take fixed, or variable? Choose both!
One benefit of these mortgages is that you can split up your borrowing between a fixed rate mortgage tier and a variable rate mortgage tier. Then, you diversify your interest rate risk. If rates go up, you have a portion of your mortgage locked in and safe. If rates go down, you benefit by having some of your mortgage in a variable.
This type of multi level mortgage is not available with all lenders, and it is not available on certain types of transactions, such as insured mortgages.
Call or email us (just hit reply) for more details and to see if this is an option available to you.
15 Minute Rate Quotes!
To Sum it up – most of my initial conversations with potential clients takes 15 minutes.
During that 15 minute call, we talk about:
-Your financial situation, and what you are looking for
-What mortgage options you’ll have based on your situation, and
-Specific rate quotes
All this in 15 minutes!
So pick up the phone and get clarity yourself. And if you have friends or family that need a good dose of clarity, pass on my number. 250-858-7160.
I asked myself today why I write my articles. Sure, I enjoy writing, and I do get overwhelmingly good feedback. But I do have somewhat of a hidden agenda too. I want my readers (who have mortgages or are looking for a mortgage) to know that I analyze and think about economics and mortgages and […]
The USA Goes To The Polls. Not to be overly dramatic, but today’s US election really is one of those singular events that could have a huge impact on our Canadian economy, in a variety of ways. I’ve scoured over the Globe and Mail’s long Saturday article describing how the election will effect our economy, […]
Tuesday’s inflation announcement was a watershed moment for interest rates, and interest rate expectations. If you are applying for a variable mortgage, you’ll want to keep reading. What Happened? For the first time since February 2021, inflation finally came below the BoC’s target rate of 2.00%. The inflation rate actually dived well below the BoC […]