Great New Mortgage Products for Calgary Home Buyers

Great New Mortgage Products

 

     2020 has been a challenging year for us all. Housing sales were going well pre-pandemic with modest price increases in many areas of the country. March arrived and the start of the spring housing market with people feeling optimistic until the country shut down March 15^th.

      Housing prognosticators predicted that housing would drop and take a couple of years to recover. While sales did drop by over 50% in April, no one expected house sales or prices to increase so quickly. In July CREA (Canadian Real Estate Association) announced that housing sales had increased by 26% up by 14% over last year. Prices in some areas increased by up to 10%.

      "What a difference three months makes, from some of the lowest housing numbers ever back in April to the multiple monthly records logged in July," CREA's chief economist Shaun Cathcart said of the numbers.

   While we were in the doldrums of April and May, mortgage lenders were hard at work trying to find ways to make it easier for borrowers and to encourage them to get back into the housing market when the lockdown was over.

      As a result, several new mortgage products were introduced.

 

CASH BACK -  Cash back mortgages have been around for many years . The idea is that after you have put down your savings as a down payment , many people are cash poor and can’t afford to buy window coverings, build fences or do things to improved their properties. They have to wait for their cash flow to build up again. Cash back offers a percentage of 1%- 3% back at the time of signing which can be used for closing costs, or any of the items mentioned above,  A new twist on this was that you could get a $2000 cash back without having to pay a higher interest rate. It should be noted that if you sell your home before the 5 year term is up, you will have to pay back a portion of the cash back. For instance, if you sell the home after 3 years, you would have to pay back 2/5’s of the cash back for the 2 remaining years of the term.

 PRINCIPAL ONLY TERM – Another interesting mortgage product that was introduced was the Interest Only Mortgage. For the first 3 months , the lender will allow you to pay the principle on the mortgage. As new mortgages are mostly interest payments this would save the average buyer of a $300,000 home, about $700 a month or $2100 for the 3 months. Once again, there’s a couple of thousand to pay down debts, or pay for window coverings

   Finally, one lender spotted the problem with Purchase Plus Improvement mortgages. People find the perfect house but there isn’t a garage or perhaps the basement hasn’t been developed. They want to do this so they get a Purchase Plus Improvements mortgage which pays for the house with one cheque and then a second cheque is issued when the improvements have been made. The only problem is that most purchasers put all their money down on the down payment and don’t have anything for a deposit on the building project. Large companies understand the PPI program but small contractors can’t afford to carry the costs for a 4 week project. Now we have Purchase Plus Improvements WITH a Cash Back. Now you can plan to get the garage or basement done right away because you have the funds for the deposit.

This is great news for home buyers to get the home of their dreams. If you have any questions contact me at 403-836-1201

You Don't Need to Cry

Several years ago I had a lady call me and ask me to get her out of her mortgage.  She had a fixed rate mortgage with a home equity line of credit (HELOC) that grew as she paid down her mortgage. I asked her how that was going as many people find they can pay down their mortgages so much faster and they are very satisfied. Her response was not at all happy. She was close to tears.  As her mortgage balance went down and her HELOC increased she would go out and spend more money, on vacations, furniture etc. The result was that after 5 years she had owed just as much now as she did back then. On top of that the person who put her in the mortgage never explained that there was a monthly fee similar to a bank account fee. It wasn’t much but it peeved her that she had not been informed.

  My first question was “ Did the bank rep ask you if you were a spender or a saver?

”no,” she said I’m more of a spender than a saver.”  Now I understood her problem . She was meant to have a regular fixed rate mortgage.  My next question was “ are you paid every two weeks or monthly?  I then showed her an amortization table with monthly payments and bi-weekly side by side and showed her that she could shave 3 ½  years off her 30 year amortization by switching to bi-weekly payments.  What a relief she felt when I was able to put her in a regular mortgage.

    The morale of the story – mortgage brokers ask lots of questions in order to avoid problems in the future. Answer their questions true fully  and you will be happy with the results. 

for more information contact David Cooke - http://davidcooke.ca 

 

99 Year Mortgages and the Power of Amortization

Back in the late 80’s, the Japanese housing market came to a grinding halt. Homes were no longer affordable for your average Japanese consumer. The government came to the rescue with a novel idea: 99 year mortgages. You could buy a house, pay lower more affordable payments, your son or daughter would take over and pay the mortgage down and finally your grandchild at some time close to retirement age would finally pay off your mortgage. Who would want to do this? This was a short term solution. In 2007, we had 40-year amortized mortgages which allowed a great number of people to buy homes who normally would have continued to rent. This created a housing boom, but it made the banks nervous and terms were cut back to 35 years, then 30 and finally back to where they were in 2005 at 25 years. While longer amortizations mean lower monthly payments, the flip side is that you end up paying a lot more interest over time.
Calgary mortgage professionals use amortization as a tool to help their clients at various stages in their lives. Often we use the maximum 25 years to help people get into their first homes. The idea is to get them into home ownership regardless of the cost. Later when they renew we often suggest a shorter amortization if it’s possible.
For example, after paying down a mortgage for 5 years, a couple with a $300,000 mortgage renewing today would be offered a 20-year amortized mortgage with monthly payments of $1659. In 5 years the couple will have paid $40,356 in interest $59,214 in principal and have a balance of $240,785 left on the mortgage.
If the amortization was shortened to 17 years the payment would go up to $1,874.95, an increase of $215.95. but at the end of 5 years they would have paid  $39,365 in interest, $73,131 in principal and have a balance of $226,868.11. In addition, they would now only have 12 years instead of 13 years on their mortgage.
Now, if they are at a stage in life where their twins are going to be going to university or if they need to build a granny suite for aging parents, they may need to lower monthly payments in order to pay for renovations. If they have 20% equity in their home, they could extend their amortization to 30 or even 35 years with some lenders.
Now their monthly payment drops to $1,260 with a 30 year amortization.
And it drops to $1,149 with a 35 year amortization.
Amortization is only one tool that yourCalgary mortgaeg broker can use to save you interest, help you to pay off your mortgage quicker or to lower your mortgage payments. Be sure to call and ask them for help.

Brokers make a Difference

While many people will go to their bank to obtain a mortgage or line of credit they often feel betrayed by their favourite bank if their application is rejected. One big advantage that we have over banks is that we can send underwriter notes along with the application. Our questions and speaking at length with the borrower give us insight that the underwriter will never get from the facts and figures on the application.

 A while ago, I had an application at a lender for a young man who wanted to buy his first home.

He worked in the construction trades and his income history was up and down over the past 3 years. He needed overtime to support his application and the two year average wasn’t there.

I went back with 3 years of Notices of Assessments, his recent pay stubs and pleaded the case for my client. The underwriter finally asked for an exception based on my confidence in the client. She trusted my judgement and the mortgage was approved.

     This leads me to the idea that underwriter notes are very important and can mean the difference between an approval and a decline. If you have a chance, ask your underwriter how they like their notes; in point form or in paragraphs . Do they prefer emails or phone calls?

   When a successful mortgage broker writes notes they start by stating what product they are asking for and giving their contact information. I put my contact info at the top of the notes and at the bottom so they don’t have to go searching for it if they have a question or need clarification.  I then state what my client is trying to do; purchase their first home, refinance, a renewal or if it’s’ a switch, that they want to benefit from lower interest rates.

I then list the areas I want to highlight: Income, Credit, Property , Down payment and start with it their weakest link first and explain their situation. I had a client who had her down payment in a joint account with her father in Japan. I started with that knowing that a paper trail would be important. If the credit score is low, is it due to a past illness, divorce or job loss? I tell the underwriter right away. As  a result, underwriters trust me and have given my clients a second look or asked for an exception.  Finally, I finish up by summarizing the strong points in the file and thanking them for their consideration of my file. 

     I never yell or give my underwriters a blast if they decline a file. I will , however, ask why the file was declined so that I can better prepare my client for the disappointment and plan on how we can remedy the situation.  Just as a FYI,  a manager at a major bank told me that at one bank he worked for after hitting the send key he received a simple message back – either APPROVED or DECLINED with no explanation.  Now who do you think mortgage clients should deal with? A bank or a broker? 
 Contact David Cooke at http://davidcooke.ca