About South, AB

A new poll suggests more than one in three Canadians plan to take advantage of the federal government's home-renovation tax credit.

More than eight in 10 questioned in the Harris-Decima/Canadian Press survey said they were aware of the program, under which eligible applicants can receive a tax rebate of as much as $1,350 if they invest up to $10,000 in renovations on their home.

"Unlike many new tax policies, which only get noticed by accountants and actuaries, the government of Canada has successfully communicated the introduction of the home-renovation tax credit to Canadians," said Harris-Decima's senior vice-president, Jeff Walker.

"This program appears to be helping stimulate the economy as well."

Nationally, 82 per cent of respondents were aware of the home-renovation tax credit, while 17 per cent said they were unaware. Those under age 35 and those with annual incomes below $60,000 were least likely to know of the tax credit.

Overall, 35 per cent of respondents said they planned on taking advantage of the program, while 60 per cent said they would not.

The ratio of those who planned to take advantage of the program increased with income.

More than half of those earning more than $100,000 a year (51 per cent) responded positively, compared with 41 per cent of those making between $60,000 and $100,000 and just 27 per cent of those earning less than $60,000.

Respondents west of Ontario were the most likely to be taking advantage of it.

Some 1,000 Canadians were surveyed June 18-21, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times in 20.

Here are a few of my favorite past articles from my Lethbridge real estate and mortgage blog you might have missed or wish to recommend them to a friend.

WANTED: Single Women: - Single women are a hot mortgage market
Common Financial Problems - Avoid these financial mistakes
Get Your Credit Score UP - Invaluable insight into your credit score
Mortgage Guidelines Get Tighter - Harder and harder to borrow money
Is Your Mortgage Company Out of Business in 2009? - What to do when your bank goes broke
What is wrong with MLS - Is your info being abused?
Survivor - Real Estate Edition - Let's vote a few more off the island

Robert May is a Realtor, as well as the broker and owner of Rainbow Realty of Lethbridge Alberta . He is also a licensed Lethbridge mortgage broker and financing expert with Canada First Mortgage of Calgary Alberta. He has been in the Lethbridge real estate industry since 1993 and offers full MLS real estate services to Lethbridge and surrounding area, as well as Lethbridge mortgage financing, mortgage refinancing , preapprovals, and Lethbridge heloc financing to Lethbridge and Southern Alberta. He can be found online at this link: mortgage broker Lethbridge

Let me share my 15 years experience in the local Lethbridge real estate and financing market with you! It is the first step towards making a profitable real estate decision.

MERIX has launched an 18 month Fixed Rate term at the rate of 2.75% for your clients:

Deal must close by August 28th 2009

New Deals Only, No pre-approvals

Switches and transfers are not permitted

The 18-month term is convertible at any time with no penalty to a 5 year fixed rate mortgage, at published rates available at time of conversion

Available on both conventional and high ratio (CMHC)

Commission will be paid based on a 2 year term, which means after 2 years, you will start to earn 20bps each year upon renewal

15bps premium would be added to the rate for Rental or BFS applicants

Minimum amortization is 15 years

Here are a few of my favorite past articles from my Lethbridge real estate and mortgage blog you might have missed or wish to recommend them to a friend.

WANTED: Single Women: - Single women are a hot mortgage market
Common Financial Problems - Avoid these financial mistakes
Get Your Credit Score UP - Invaluable insight into your credit score
Mortgage Guidelines Get Tighter - Harder and harder to borrow money
Is Your Mortgage Company Out of Business in 2009? - What to do when your bank goes broke
What is wrong with MLS - Is your info being abused?
Survivor - Real Estate Edition - Let's vote a few more off the island

Robert May is a Realtor, as well as the broker and owner of Rainbow Realty of Lethbridge Alberta . He is also a licensed Lethbridge mortgage broker and financing expert with Canada First Mortgage of Calgary Alberta. He has been in the Lethbridge real estate industry since 1993 and offers full MLS real estate services to Lethbridge and surrounding area, as well as Lethbridge mortgage financing, mortgage refinancing , preapprovals, and Lethbridge heloc financing to Lethbridge and Southern Alberta. He can be found online at this link: mortgage broker Lethbridge

Let me share my 15 years experience in the local Lethbridge real estate and financing market with you! It is the first step towards making a profitable real estate decision.

At our annual conference this week, John Bordignon, EVP of Strategic Development with Paradigm Quest, gave an extremely informative presentation on bond yields and interest rates. Here are the main points he shared:

· Expect to see 12-18 months of yo-yo markets (the TSX, Dow, and subsequently, the Bond Market) in which we will see surges and retreats (as we have seen over the past month)

· The US will take longer to recover than initial estimates

· The economies to watch as the fastest growing nations are from BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China)

· Rates will stay relatively low as bonds continue to rise

· “Quantitative Easing” or the printing of Government Bonds and T-bills (aka money) will be watched very closely to monitor the effects of this practice on inflation

· The other main factors affecting the economy (and in turn rates) are:

o Oil prices

o Bond prices/yields

o Large market influences (such as GM going bankrupt)

o And the jobless numbers, the actual number of Canadians out of work

· Here are today’s numbers. The 5 year bond yield was up 0.03 to 2.58%. Four weeks ago, it was exactly the same. The spread today between the 5 year bond yield and the Merix 5 year fixed rate is 1.91%.

·

·

·

· TSX +204.21 (Reuters)

· DOW -23.05

· Dollar -.19c to 86.77USD

· Oil -$.57 to $68.67US per barrel

· Gold +$10.20 to $934.10USD per ounce

· Canadian 5 yr bond yields +.03bps to 2.58- Four weeks ago it was 2.58. The spread, based on 5 yr rate of 4.49%, is at 1.91%.

· http://www.financialpost.com/markets/market-data/money-yields-can_us.html?tmp=yields-can_us

The yield, rate of return on your bond, can be read through a yield curve, which is the pattern of yields on bonds. This increase in bond yield is something to watch. If the bond yield continues to go up, the spread will continue to shrink and this could be a trigger for interest rates to rise. Ideally lenders are looking for a spread between 1.70 and 1.80

An interesting $ fact from this week: On the threat of a summer strike, LCBO sold $60m worth of alcohol Tuesday. The highest one day sale ever.

Here are a few of my favorite past articles from my Lethbridge real estate and mortgage blog you might have missed or wish to recommend them to a friend.

WANTED: Single Women: - Single women are a hot mortgage market
Common Financial Problems - Avoid these financial mistakes
Get Your Credit Score UP - Invaluable insight into your credit score
Mortgage Guidelines Get Tighter - Harder and harder to borrow money
Is Your Mortgage Company Out of Business in 2009? - What to do when your bank goes broke
What is wrong with MLS - Is your info being abused?
Survivor - Real Estate Edition - Let's vote a few more off the island

Robert May is a Realtor, as well as the broker and owner of Rainbow Realty of Lethbridge Alberta . He is also a licensed Lethbridge mortgage broker and financing expert with Canada First Mortgage of Calgary Alberta. He has been in the Lethbridge real estate industry since 1993 and offers full MLS real estate services to Lethbridge and surrounding area, as well as Lethbridge mortgage financing, mortgage refinancing , preapprovals, and Lethbridge heloc financing to Lethbridge and Southern Alberta. He can be found online at this link: mortgage broker Lethbridge

Let me share my 15 years experience in the local Lethbridge real estate and financing market with you! It is the first step towards making a profitable real estate decision.

June 18, 2009

Pre-Approvals: A Dying Breed?

Pre-approvals are something many lenders could do without. The problem (from a lender’s perspective) is that people get pre-approved and then frequently don’t close.

One bank that recently did away with pre-approvals in the broker channel was rumoured to be losing $20 million a year on them.

Pre-approvals are pretty expensive, and the return for lenders is debateable. In most cases, less than one-third of pre-approvals actually close. Meanwhile, the lender is tying up human resources to process the applications, as well as capital to hedge the rates (if rates move adversely, the lender is on the hook, so lenders pay to lock-in the interest rates using derivatives).

In recent weeks, some very big-name lenders have halted pre-approvals--either altogether, or in the broker channel. Two of the most prominent have been FirstLine (a division of CIBC) and TD.

There are still some good lenders doing pre-approvals but their numbers are dwindling. Among the best is ING. ING has solid rates, great perks, and they do a full rate look-back (meaning: if rates fall and then rise again, you automatically get the lowest rate during the pre-approval period).

It’ll be interesting to see what the future holds for pre-approvals. If we had to guess, more lenders may eventually either:

A) Eliminate them; or,

B) Start charging rate premiums (some lenders, for example, already charge 0.10% more for pre-approvals).

Here are a few of my favorite past articles from my Lethbridge real estate and mortgage blog you might have missed or wish to recommend them to a friend.

WANTED: Single Women: - Single women are a hot mortgage market
Common Financial Problems - Avoid these financial mistakes
Get Your Credit Score UP - Invaluable insight into your credit score
Mortgage Guidelines Get Tighter - Harder and harder to borrow money
Is Your Mortgage Company Out of Business in 2009? - What to do when your bank goes broke
What is wrong with MLS - Is your info being abused?
Survivor - Real Estate Edition - Let's vote a few more off the island

Robert May is a Realtor, as well as the broker and owner of Rainbow Realty of Lethbridge Alberta . He is also a licensed Lethbridge mortgage broker and financing expert with Canada First Mortgage of Calgary Alberta. He has been in the Lethbridge real estate industry since 1993 and offers full MLS real estate services to Lethbridge and surrounding area, as well as Lethbridge mortgage financing, mortgage refinancing , preapprovals, and Lethbridge heloc financing to Lethbridge and Southern Alberta. He can be found online at this link: mortgage broker Lethbridge

Let me share my 15 years experience in the local Lethbridge real estate and financing market with you! It is the first step towards making a profitable real estate decision.

Why Use Mortgage Brokers? Mortgage Brokers are independent, trained professionals licensed to represent and provide you with the best advice for your mortgage needs. Mortgage Brokers primary expertise is locating funding for mortgage financing. They know where the best rates can be found. What's more, they have the knowledge required to present a proposal for financing to lenders in the best way possible to successfully obtain mortgage financing.

Why deal with a Mortgage Broker? Mortgage Brokers represent you, the customer, not the lender. Because they are not employees of a lending institution, Brokers are not limited in the product they can offer you. Brokers seek out the best lender package to suit your specific situation, whether it’s with a Chartered Bank, Trust or Insurance Company, or Private Funds. There is a wide assortment of options and features available to homebuyers today. Shopping around takes a lot of time and effort. The mortgage process within today's very competitive marketplace intimidates many Canadian homebuyers. It pays to work with a mortgage professional who will represent you and ensure the mortgage you get is the one best suited to your needs. Choosing the wrong mortgage can cost you thousands of extra dollars. Mortgage Brokers are trained professionals who can help you save on your mortgage dollar.

10 Reasons to use a Mortgage Broker Access to over 40 different lenders, banks, trust companies, investors and financial institutions. Fast credit and loan pre-approvals with no cost or obligation. Up-to-date on all the mortgage rates, terms and re-payment options available on the market. They only specialize in mortgages and are knowledgeable on current trends. They are experts at matching you with the best-suited mortgage. Get mortgage rates at wholesale, guaranteed up to 120 days. They work for YOU, not the bank. They increase competition in the market place, thus keeping rates low. They save you time and money! Brokers have vested interest in satisfying your needs since they rely on referrals and repeat business. Other than rates, why should I use a Mortgage Broker? In addition to rates, because mortgage-based financing is the broker's primary business, he or she has developed expertise in what type of mortgage financing each lender prefers to pursue. This kind of knowledge not only results in the most favourable rates for each project, but often whether a project is funded at all. How do Mortgage Brokers Find Superior Rates? Interest rates are a concern to borrowers. Because of their daily contact with lenders, brokers know which project or home attracts a favorable interest rate from one institution, but a higher rate at another. Some institutions, in fact, will only accept mortgage submissions from mortgage brokers. These rates, and preferences for types of mortgages, can change daily, depending on economic circumstances or based on the size of an institution's portfolio in a particular type of mortgage. Your Mortgage Broker keeps current and knows which lender to approach first. As a result, mortgage rates obtained by Brokers are among the best available at the time of placement. Why should I go to a Mortgage Broker first? A professional presentation to a lender on the first application will get the best response and save you valuable time and money. Secondary applications with previous credit bureau inquiries may be more costly. Often the success of obtaining mortgage approval depends on the way a proposal is presented and to whom it is sent. Your Mortgage Broker is trained to present your mortgage proposal where and how it will get the most immediate, positive result. You don't call an insurance company for insurance - you use an insurance broker, because of their expertise, product knowledge and rates. So remember, call your mortgage broker first! How do Brokers get better deals than many Banks? The lenders who work with mortgage brokers include traditional sources, such as chartered banks, trust companies, as well as corporate and private pension funds. In addition to these sources, brokers often develop professional relationships with private sources of funds, termed private lenders. These lenders can provide many various mortgage products not available at conventional sources. Here are a few of my favorite past articles from my Lethbridge real estate and mortgage blog you might have missed or wish to recommend them to a friend. WANTED: Single Women: - Single women are a hot mortgage market Common Financial Problems - Avoid these financial mistakes Get Your Credit Score UP - Invaluable insight into your credit score Mortgage Guidelines Get Tighter - Harder and harder to borrow money Is Your Mortgage Company Out of Business in 2009? - What to do when your bank goes broke What is wrong with MLS - Is your info being abused? Survivor - Real Estate Edition - Let's vote a few more off the island Robert May is a Realtor, as well as the broker and owner of Rainbow Realty of Lethbridge Alberta . He is also a licensed Lethbridge mortgage broker and financing expert with Canada First Mortgage of Calgary Alberta. He has been in the Lethbridge real estate industry since 1993 and offers full MLS real estate services to Lethbridge and surrounding area, as well as Lethbridge mortgage financing, mortgage refinancing , preapprovals, and Lethbridge heloc financing to Lethbridge and Southern Alberta. He can be found online at this link: mortgage broker Lethbridge Let me share my 15 years experience in the local Lethbridge real estate and financing market with you! It is the first step towards making a profitable real estate decision.