Mortgage brokers DO NOT work for one financial institution, we are independent. More lenders are available and competing for your business introducing more features and options. We find out what service is right for you.

Allows us to offer you more choices with competitive rates.

We save you time. We can shop dozens of lenders in the time it takes you to book an appointment at the bank. We also do house calls so you don’t have to take time off to visit a bank.

Our advice is impartial. We look after your best interest. We work for you. Unbiased professionals, we offer different options that will give you the freedom to choose .

We offer fast, efficient service. Our experience serves your needs and expectation. We are not hired by any of the lenders. We only get paid upon completion of your mortgage by the financial institution you chose. We are motivated in working efficiently to get your mortgage properly completed.

Today, more and more people chose mortgage brokers over banks because of the service and rates, mostly because we are specialists in mortgages and will not try to sell you other products like some banks do. Mortgage brokers specialise in serving all types of different clients: commercial, residential, good or impaired credit alike.

OTTAWA — New regulations came into effect Wednesday that the federal government says will protect credit-card holders from unexpected costs and help them make better financial decisions.

“Our government has taken action to make financial products more transparent for consumers,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in a statement.

The rules mandate a minimum 21-day interest-free grace period on all new credit card purchases when a customer pays the outstanding balance in full.

As well, any customer payments made in excess of the required minimum must either be allocated to the balance with the higher interest rate first or distributed proportionally to each type of balance, such as cash advances or purchases.

Another changes is that credit-card issuers must inform consumers on their monthly statement how long it would take to fully repay the balance if only the minimum payment is made every month. For example, a $1,000 balance with an 18 per cent interest rate would take more than 10 years to pay off.

The new rules also require the disclosure of interest-rate increases prior to their taking effect, even if the information had been included in the contract.

Bruce Cran, president of the Consumer Association of Canada, said he agrees with everything in the regulation.

“There is a lot of benefit to the consumer. (The rules) are all things that we have been asking for,” he said.

The only concern he has, he said, is that many Canadians aren’t aware of the rules because the government hasn’t publicized them aggressively enough. He said his organization has been fielding more calls than it can handle from consumers asking about the new changes.

He also warned that any regulation can have unintended consequences and the association is adopting a “wait-and-see” attitude.

The new regulation comes after Mr. Flaherty created a voluntary code of conduct in November for credit-card companies in an attempt to help shield merchants from escalating costs. At the time, Mr. Flaherty said that if credit-card issuers didn’t comply, the voluntary code would become mandatory. The voluntary code includes the right for merchants to cancel their contracts with a payment processor without penalty.

The finance minister’s code-of-conduct proposal won immediate praise from merchant groups, which said greater transparency, enhanced competition and merchant choice will keep a check on processing fees and consumer prices.
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Read more: http://www.financialpost.com/news/credit+card+rules+take+effect/3469502/story.html#ixzz0yK9Zza00

When it comes to insurance, there are three almost universal truths: Canadians hate thinking about it, begrudge paying for it and the majority of us don’t have anywhere near enough of it.

The first two attitudes are easy to understand. Insurance is a downer. Besides that whole “death or dismemberment thing,” you are betting against the future health of yourself and your loved ones. And then you have to pay for it, when that cash flow could be put to “better” use paying down the mortgage, starting an education fund for the kids or replacing the rattling family beater.

“Nobody likes insurance. Generally when you mention insurance, people want to grab the waste paper basket and throw up into it,” said Brian Poncelet, who is an insurance specialist and independent certified financial planner based in Mississauga.

Like others in the field, Mr. Poncelet starts with the assumption that young families are seriously underinsured when it comes to covering the earnings of the breadwinners, even if they had group insurance through their employers. He also takes the approach that most twenty and thirtysomething families have limited ability – or desire – to buy additional insurance.

Because of that reality, he finds ways to pay for additional coverage within the family budget. One surprising source: existing insurance policies. A good example is raising the deductible on home insurance, as Mr. Poncelet did on his own policy, bumping it from $500 to $5,000 and freeing up $500 annually which can be put towards insurance against the loss of income. “Same thing with auto insurance,” he said, noting people generally carry a pricey low deductible on an aging vehicle that in many cases would not be worth committing to expensive repairs.

When sitting down with a “typical” young family with two kids and a house, insurance adviser Andy Hall of Mitchell Sandham looks first at the home. “First and foremost is protection of their biggest investment, which is their home.” Besides contents and property insurance, he is a big believer in mortgage insurance (more on that later).

Mr. Hall, like other experts, finds most people he sees do not carry enough life insurance to cover the loss of income of a family breadwinner. Group insurance, “usually one-and-a-half to two-times salary” is generally not enough to cover current and future liabilities. First of all, let’s look at the group policy covering someone with a $50,000 annual salary. “Everyone thinks it’s two-times $50,000, it isn’t,” he said. “It is two-times your actual [take home] pay. The other thing is that benefits paid through a work policy are taxable, benefits paid through a life insurance policy are not.” As well, that group insurance can quickly disappear with job loss.

While mortgage insurance is a valuable component of a family’s financial plan, where to buy it from is at least as important as the terms of the policies, says Mr. Poncelet. “A lot of people buy mortgage insurance through a bank which is a big No No.” While it may be convenient to obtain mortgage insurance from the same place that you obtain your mortgage, families can inadvertently cancel their insurance when they move their mortgages to a different lender. As well, the bank-offered policies are a bad deal because the payments stay the same even through the principal being insured falls shrinks over time. “If the person is healthy, it will be cheaper and they can get more coverage” with a non-bank insurer, Mr. Poncelet concluded.

When it comes to life insurance, Mr. Poncelet advises that not all policy types are created equal. He believes people should only buy Term policies which offer the option to convert to Permanent policies and that people should look to convert Term policies to Permanent insurance whenever possible because the incidence of chronic or serious conditions will make it harder to obtain insurance in a more-infirm future. “They may not be able to get any more insurance anywhere.”

While people may approach insurance as a commodity, prices vary widely so buyers are encouraged to either shop around themselves or use a broker who can quote rates from a number of insurers. “When it comes to life insurance, critical illness, long-term disability and long-term care insurance, there are more providers than most people know,” said Frank Wiginton, a certified financial planner with TriDelta Financial Partners. “If you are not dealing with an independent financial broker you may not be given the option or you may not be shown the other companies’ options.”

As a financial planner first and foremost, he believes insurance needs have to be looked at as part of an overall family financial plan that includes retirement goals, investments and education needs for children.

How much is enough?

While insurance professionals say most of us are under-insured, the reality of tight budgets and resistance to insurance makes it tough to convince families to buy more.

Mr. Poncelet gives the example of a married couple in their mid-30s with two young children as a representative example. The couple approached him about mortgage insurance for their $200,000 mortgage. Both the husband and wife, with a combined income of about $140,000, have two-times salary insurance through their employers but he convinced them to both take out 20-year Term policies with a death payout of $500,000 each. “It is still not enough,” he said, estimating that both should have taken out million-dollar policies each to maintain their current standard of living for a 15-year period if one of the main breadwinners were to die, effectively doubling their premiums to $100 monthly per person.

“For a lousy $50, if something happened [they] would have another half million dollars,” Mr. Poncelet said.

Special to The Globe and Mail

Under the terms of the initiative set to be halted on 1 February 2010, homeowners can spend up to $10,000 on qualifying items or work to earn the maximum renovation credit.

Qualifying expenditures include repairs, alterations and preventative maintenance for a home or apartment suite owned by the applicant. labour, materials and equipment rental costs are all covered under the tax credit system.

Ottawa homeowners are being urged to take advantage of the tax credit ahead of the expected increase in labour and home repair costs due in July 2010 when Ontario adopts the harmonised sales tax.

Source: http://www.mortgagebrokernews.ca/news/ottawa-renovation-tax-credit-window-set-to-close/38492
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Robert Carry

Housing starts in October were up to 157,300 units from 149,300 in September, according to the data, indicating that things could be headed towards a buyer’s market.

“The improvement in housing starts in October is attributable to improvement in the multiple starts segment,” said CMHC chief economist, Bob Dugan. “Despite a small decline in single home starts in October, the level of single home starts remains at its second highest level since October 2008.”

Urban starts were also up 5.2 percent to 139,900, and CMHC forecasts new home constructions for 2010 will also go up from 150,300 to 164,900.

Source: http://www.mortgagebrokernews.ca/news/a-recovery-in-the-making-cmhc/38556
Thursday, 12 November 2009

“Fixed rates were advantageous during only two recent periods – through the late 1970s and briefly in the late 1980s; in both cases, ahead of a period of rising interest rates, as is the case now,” the report by BMO economists Douglas Porter and Benjamin Reitzes said.

Variable rate products have proven the better option 82 per cent of the time since 1975, Porter and Reitzes wrote, and forecast that variables will continue to remain cheaper than fixed rate mortgages. This is in part due to the rising Canadian dollar, which has reduced the Bank of Canada’s short-term need to raise the key interest rate.

On the other side, the report argued the economic recovery – and the expected rise in interest rates next year – has potentially caused “one of those rare periods when a fixed rate turns out to be the superior choice.” It also pointed out that negotiated rates (as opposed to posted rates) make fixed and variable products closer to call.

Source: http://www.mortgagebrokernews.ca/news/38117/details.aspx
Monday, 26 October 2009

Canada’s housing market will rebound strongly in the second half of this year and into 2010, the federal housing agency said yesterday. Housing starts will reach 141,900 this year and increase to 150,300 for 2010, said Canada

Mortgage and Housing Corp. “Improving activity on the resale market and lower inventory levels in both the new and existing home markets are expected to prompt builders to increase residential construction,” CMHC said.

Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist, said, “Economic uncertainty and lower levels of employment tempered new housing construction in the first half of this year. In the second half of 2009 and in 2010, we expect housing

markets across Canada to strengthen.”

OTTAWA — Analysts appear to be unanimous in believing the Bank of Canada will hold its record-low policy rate steady at its meeting Thursday, and maintain its commitment to keep the rate at 0.25% until June 2010.

The only item to look for in the pending rate statement, they indicate, is any change in nuance or tone, and possibly further concern about the rise of the Canadian dollar.

“The fact that the major economic data has largely evolved in line with the Bank of Canada’s forecasts suggests (the central bank) is likely to reiterate its conditional statement to keep the overnight rate at 0.25% until the end of the second quarter of 2010,” said Charmaine Buskas, senior economics strategist with TD Securities.

“And with no expected change to the overnight rate, all the focus will be on the nuances in the statement. It is likely to be very similar to the July 21 statement.”

For the record, 21 economists in a Bloomberg News survey anticipate no change in the Bank of Canada rate, nor do the 11 members of the C.D. Howe Institute’s monetary policy council.

The C.D. Howe said the Bank of Canada should stick to its mid-2010 commitment, adding that growth prospects remain uncertain as council members questioned how sustainable Canadian exports growth abroad will be, with “the dependence of U.S. and Chinese growth on government stimulus being a particular point of concern.”

September 15, 2009

It was a little less than a year ago that the global financial crisis began to hit home, which is to say that mortgage rates spiked higher.

Now, the cost of mortgages is coming down. If you’re buying a home or renewing a mortgage, it’s time to review your options.

Fixed-rate mortgages declined a little last week, but the most dramatic changes can be seen in variable-rate mortgages. For the first time in almost a year, it’s possible to get a variable-rate mortgage at the prime rate used by most major financial institutions, which is currently 2.25 per cent.

Pre-crisis, variable-rate mortgages came with discounts that ranged from 0.75 percentage points to as much as 0.9 points off prime. By late last fall, crisis conditions prompted lenders to start charging prime plus a full percentage point or more. Now, some lenders are starting to unwind their crisis-rate premiums.

“Variable-rate mortgages are all over the map right now,” said Gary Siegle, regional manager with the mortgage brokerage firm Invis Inc. in Calgary. “We’re seeing them right in the area of prime with some lenders.”

An example of a variable-rate mortgage at prime: ResMor Trust, a small player that deals through mortgage brokers, is offering four-year variable-rate mortgages at prime in all provinces except Quebec. The catch: You have to have your mortgage approved by Sept. 30 and close the purchase within 45 days.

Can variable-rate mortgages fall back to their pre-crisis lows any time soon?

“Definitely, 100 per cent, no,” said Robert McLister, a mortgage broker and author of the Canadian Mortgage Trends blog (canadianmortgagetrends.com). “Could they get a little below prime? Definitely.”

Okay, it’s strategy time. With prime at 2.25 per cent and fully discounted five-year fixed-rate mortgages going for something in the area of 3.9 to 4.1 per cent, you’re got some thinking to do if you’re buying a home or renewing a mortgage.

The variable rate looks tempting. Sure, the prime is going to rise in the medium term, but it’s expected to stay put until next spring at least. Even when prime does move higher, it will have to increase by roughly 1.75 percentage points to get to where today’s five-year mortgages are.

“The risk is obviously that rates go up a lot more,” Mr. McLister warned. “Rates went down four percentage points from December, 2007, through April, 2009. They could easily go up four – why not?”

Variable-rate mortgages allow you to lock into a fixed-rate mortgage, so there’s no reason why you have to ride interest rates all the way up. Still, you have to recognize that fixed-rate mortgages could be significantly more expensive by the time you decide to lock in.

An academic study of rates between 1950 and 2007 found variable-rate mortgages were the money-saving choice over five-year fixed-rate mortgages 89 per cent of the time. If you’re willing to ride rates higher for a while in hopes of longer-term savings on interest costs, then consider a possible approach suggested by Mr. McLister.

Instead of arranging a variable-rate mortgage now, go for a one-year fixed-rate mortgage. Then, when you’re renewing in one year’s time, you’ll move into a variable-rate mortgage that will ideally have a rate that is discounted below prime.

Fully discounted one-year closed mortgages today go for about 2.55 per cent, so you’re not paying much of a penalty at all compared with what variable-rate mortgages are pegged at right now.

Another suggestion from Mr. McLister is to consider a three-year mortgage, which offers an attractive blend of low rates and security against interest rate surges. Three-year mortgage typically go for around 3.39 per cent on a fully discounted basis, but he knew of one small lender offering 2.9 per cent through the mortgage broker channel.

The case for going with a five-year fixed rate is that rates are very cheap by historical standards. Rates were a little bit lower last spring, but they’re not as high as they were a month or two ago thanks to a pullback in bond yields that has trickled down to fixed-rate mortgages.

Mr. Siegle said over half of his firm’s clients are locking into a fixed-rate mortgage right now. “You can’t ever time the bottom of the market, but are these good rates that you can be comfortable with? A lot of people are saying, ‘yeah, they are.’ ”

KEVIN CARMICHAEL

From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail

March 4, 2009 at 3:25 AM EST

OTTAWA – Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney is rearming to fight a recession that is proving tougher than the central bank anticipated.

Mr. Carney cut the benchmark mark lending rate by half a percentage point yesterday, dropping the target for overnight loans to 0.5 per cent, the lowest ever.

By taking borrowing costs so close to zero, Mr. Carney effectively fired his last round of conventional monetary stimulus, forcing him to consider taking a more aggressive approach to easing credit markets.

The Bank of Canada said in the statement explaining its interest rate decision that it is “refining the approach it would take to provide additional monetary stimulus, if required, through credit and quantitative easing.”

Such a strategy amounts to creating money, a radical thought for an institution that has spent much of its modern history trying to earn its credentials as a committed inflation fighter.

But inflation isn’t a threat at the moment.

The Bank of Canada said yesterday that consumer price decreases are accelerating even though the bank has dropped the overnight target a remarkable four percentage points since December, 2007.

Canada’s gross domestic product contracted at an annual rate of 3.4 per cent in the fourth quarter, marking the biggest collapse since 1991 and one that was worse than the central bank had predicted in January.

“The central bank is doing the right thing; they have to be aggressive,” said Barry Schwartz, vice-president of Toronto-based Baskin Financial Services Inc., which has about $275-million under management. “People are freaking out. No one is spending money, so the government has to do it.”

The Bank of Canada didn’t provide details of what a quantitative easing or credit easing strategy would look like, saying those will come in the central bank’s next quarterly monetary report on April 23.

Pierre Duguay, a deputy governor at the Bank of Canada, could elaborate on the central bank’s plans tomorrow in testimony at the House of Commons finance committee, which is studying credit conditions. More details also could come when David Longworth, another deputy governor, speaks to the Financial Markets Association of Canada in Toronto on March 12.

Generally, quantitative easing would see the central bank expand its reserves to buy a wide range of assets, while credit easing describes an effort to target specific markets.

Other central banks already are deploying these strategies.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is running several programs that swap cash for illiquid assets, such as securities backed by mortgages and student loans, and is considering buying government debt to lower market lending rates.

News reports out of London yesterday suggested British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government is poised to give the Bank of England permission to print money. The Bank of Japan is buying corporate bonds.

“One way for the monetary authority to show its long-run confidence is to buy some of these assets,” said John Helliwell, an economics professor at the University of British Columbia and former adviser at the Bank of Canada. “That will drive down the price of those assets, and hopefully people will go out and buy some more.”

The Bank of Canada hasn’t ruled out cutting the overnight target all the way to zero, saying the rate “can be expected to remain at this level or lower at least until there are clear signs that excess supply in the economy is being taken up.”

That means rock-bottom borrowing costs for at least a year, said Sébastien Lavoie, an economist at Laurentian Bank of Canada in Montreal.

In the statement, the central bank said the effects of its previous interest rate cuts will start to show up in the second half of the year.

At the same time, policy makers conceded that a rebound is contingent on calmer global markets and an end to the U.S. recession. “The Bank of Canada is going to keep the overnight rate at a very low level for a very long period,” said Mr. Lavoie, a former Bank of Canada economist.