News

In today’s world of ever-increasing prices and introduction of new taxes, most families’ budgets are already stretched to the max. Though most banks I work with allow 15% or sometimes even 20% prepayment and even doubling your payment option on top of it, for most Canadians putting 30K or even 10K towards their mortgage every year, may not be quite possible at this time.

I have some ideas that will still allow you to take proactive measures to pay your mortgage out faster:

1. Choose Accelerated Bi-weekly payments:

Instead of paying your mortgage every monthly, select accelerated bi-weekly payment schedule.

Your accelerated bi-weekly payment will be exactly half of your monthly payment, but since there are 52 weeks in a year, you will make 26 bi-weekly payments. This puts two extra bi-weekly payments towards your principal every year.

For instance, on a 400K mortgage, the monthly payment @ 2.59% and 25 yr amortization is 1,810. Accelerated bi-weekly payment will be exactly half of it or $905.

Non-accelerated payment will be less or $835/biweekly.

Non-accelerated bi-weekly payment is calculated using the following formula:

Monthly payment x 12 months / 26 payments in a year.

By choosing bi-weekly accelerated payment, you will save 17,061 in interest and take 3 yrs off your 25 year amortization.

Non-accelerated payment of $835 will give you no such benefit.

2. Round up your payment.

Your monthly mortgage payment is $1,810 but rounding it up to $1,900 will save you 10,102 in interest and take 2 years off your amortization.

Round up your payment and select accelerated bi-weekly – 33,029 in savings and 5 years off your amortization.

The extra amount will go directly towards your principal. You can also always revert back to the original amount if you choose to.

Please feel free to drop me a quick email or call me if you have any questions. If you know of anyone else who could benefit from my services, please pass my contact information to them. I will be happy to help!

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

You possibly heard on the news that the Government is introducing new mortgage rules on October 17th. These rules affect home buyers who are applying for a mortgage with less than 20% down.

To sum it up, now all homebuyers with less than 20% down will have to be qualified for a mortgage at a much higher rate. This rate (benchmark rate or 4.64%) is for qualification purposes only.

It is the so-called “stress test” to ensure the buyers could handle possible rate hike when the mortgage comes to maturity 5 years from now.

We have been already using benchmark rate to qualify for a term less than 5 years and for a variable mortgage.

Starting October 17th, banks will have to use the same benchmark rate to qualify for a fixed rate on a 5-year closed term.

The new rule significantly reduces the mortgage amount homebuyers could be approved for.

In some cases by 20% from the original amount!

For instance, if a person is making 70,000 per year and has no debts, prior to October 17th, with 5% down his maximum purchase price is approximately 384,000. After October 17th, the price drops to 304,000.

New rules possible outcome:

1. In my opinion, we will see real estate price reduction. Cheaper homes, starter homes, and condos will benefit the most from these rules, since this type of real estate will be more affordable.

More expensive homes, estate homes, move-up homes will most likely see less demand.

2. First-time homebuyers will be affected the most. In other words, your grown up children will most likely stay at home longer.

3. Single income families, newly divorced buyers with less than 20% down will be forced to settle for a much cheaper home than they could originally afford.

4. Higher demand on rental market with rent possibly going up

These measures may be necessary to address affordability issues in Canada’s hottest real estate markets, like Vancouver or Toronto, but they could have a very detrimental effect in the markets that are already very sensitive to any new changes due to the current economic downturn.

It is already tough to qualify for a mortgage these days, but things just got even tougher! Starting on October 17^th, 2016, home buyers with less than 20% down will have to qualify for a mortgage based on Canada benchmark rate or 4.64%.

Qualifying at benchmark rate has been the rule for mortgage applications for variable rate and terms under 5 yrs. On October 17^th, the same rule will now apply to 5 yr fixed rate which could be anywhere between 2.29 to 2.49% depending on the lender.

This will significantly reduce the mortgage amount and in turn affect the purchase price. This rule will force a lot of homebuyers to look at homes costing significantly less than they were planning to purchase and in turn apply downward pressure on home values.

Here is the link to the official Department of Finance announcement.

I enjoy working with people who are buying their first home! The process of buying your first home is always very exciting and intimidating at the same time. First time home buyers have a lot of questions. They are looking for advice and guidance that they can trust. I appreciate the privilege I am given me to help them with their mortgage financing. I always make sure that they are well looked after.

But what does the term “A First Home Homebuyer” actually mean in the “mortgage world”?

Most people think that it means that you can buy your first property with the down payment of only 5%. In fact you can buy your second home with only 5% down as long as you are buying it for yourself and your family to move in.

The term “First Time Homebuyer” in the mortgage world means that that you are eligible to participate in the Home Buyer Plan and withdraw your RRSP savings tax-free to use towards your down payment.

To sum this program up:
– You are a first time homebuyer if you have never owned a home before or if you owned a home prior but sold it and didn’t own a property in the last 4 yr period. The countdown of the 4 yr period stars on January 1st.
– If you are a first time homebuyer you can withdraw up to $25,000 tax-free. Typically, you cannot withdraw funds from locked-in RRSP or a group RRSP, so check with your financial institution or employer first.
– You can only withdraw the balance that has been in the RRSP account for the last 3 months. In other words, if you had $15K in the RRSP account 3 month ago and now have $18K because you kept contributing over the past 3 months, you can only withdraw $15K tax free.
– You are buying a property for yourself or a disabled relative to occupy.
– You will have 15 years to replenish your RRSP account
How to withdraw RRSP?
You will need to make an appointment with the financial institution that holds your RRSP savings. They will provide you with a special form to fill out to withdraw your RRSP funds. The form has to be accompanied by a copy of the Real Estate purchase contract that will serve as proof that you are buying a property.

It typically takes 2-4 days to have the RRSP funds transferred to an account that you assign.

If you have any questions, please send me a quick email at lena@conexia.ca and I will be happy to help.