Elizabeth Blair

Anxious Canadians have waited to see how our government would tackle a monstrous world economic crisis and its spill-over effects into Canada. It was a year ago, in January 2008, that some economists optimistically announced Canada would experience some pain however we would be immune to any kind of recession here. As the mouse slept beside the elephant, the elephant did roll over and we were also smothered by its weight.

It was in the last quarter of 2008, that the story changed. The housing market continued to slow down, vehicle sales fell and Canadian exports to the USA dropped. Many Canadian companies began to see a decline in their own business and forced many to downsize. As companies began to cut back on their workforce, the overall job losses in Canada have continued to climb. It is estimated that Canada will lose approximately 170,000 jobs, this year alone.

Canada is most certainly in a recession and desperately awaits an injection of hope. In response to this economic crisis, Canadians must now place their faith in the new federal budget which was tabled in the House of Commons, by the Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance on January 27, 2009.

This very detailed 360-page report entitled: “Canada’s Economic Action Plan – Budget 2009” is available for review at the following link:

http://www.budget.gc.ca/2009/pdf/budget-planbugetaire-eng.pdf

Recognizing that the Canadian housing industry is a significant contributor to our economy and its growth and stability, a swift move to stimulate the housing industry was critical. Canada’s housing industry has experienced a drop in new building permits, housing starts, and a decline in housing sales and home prices. Along with the slow-down has come stricter lending and financing guidelines which have also resulted in many mortgage defaults and foreclosures. The Economic Action Plan promises to provide a total of $7.8 billion in tax relief and funding. The objective is to give much needed support and stimulation to this very important industry where thousands of jobs in real estate, financing, construction, trades, and housing industry suppliers are in jeopardy now.

As the Action Plan is now official, here are some highlights of the Economic Action Plan, of interest to Canadian home owners:

1. Canadians who want to make their homes more energy efficient are able to receive grants from the Federal and Provincial governments. These grants can total, up to $10,000 for energy-saving approved and compliant upgrades. The Action Plan outlines an additional $300 million that will be allocated to this program, over a 2-year period. The program is already known as the “ecoENERGY Retrofit” initiative. You may visit the government website at ecoaction.gc.ca and follow the links to the ecoENERGY Retrofit, or call 1-800-622-6232 to find out how you, as a homeowner, can apply to receive available grants through the program.

2. First time home buyers, will be able to receive a $750 tax credit to offset closing costs. The tax relief will be extended to those first time buyers who acquired a home after January 27, 2009. This is a great incentive especially considering that the Ministry of Revenue extended a refund on the Land Transfer Tax, to buyers of resale homes, back in December 2007. This allowed first-time home buyers to apply for a refund, for up to a maximum of up to $2,000 on the land transfer taxes paid. Details on this previous notice can be found at the following link: http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/english/taxes/ltt/

3. A Home Renovation Tax Credit is being introduced. For eligible home renovation expenses, performed after January 27, 2009 and before February 1, 2010, individual home owners may claim a tax credit up to a maximum of $1,350. The credit must be claimed on your 2009 income tax return and the renovation expenditure must be greater than $1,000 but not more than $10,000 to receive the maximum credit of $1,350.

4. The Canada Revenue Agency Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP) will also be revised to allow first-time home buyers an opportunity to withdraw from their Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) avoiding the requirement to pay tax on the withdrawal but at a new higher amount. The new withdrawal limit is $25,000 compared with the previous limit of $20,000. An individual, or an individual and their spouse, or common-law partner can combine their maximum limit to make a total HBP withdrawal of $25,000 each, thus bumping the maximum allowed HBP withdrawal to $50,000 for the pair.

This article was written by Elizabeth Blair, a Licensed Mortgage Agent with Mortgage Edge in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Elizabeth services mortgage clients in Mississauga and all over the Greater Toronto area. You can contact Elizabeth directly by phone at (905) 510-5785 by email at eblair@mortgageedge.ca or you visit her website at: www.missmortgage.ca Elizabeth is licensed with the Financial Services Commission of Ontario and is also a Member of IMBA (the Independent Mortgage Brokers Association of Ontario) www.imba.ca Lic # M08005880 Brokerage Lic # 10680 Head office is located at: 15 Wertheim Court, Suite 210, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.

I tried to post my blog tonight, but continued to have problems with the formatting of the text so I posted it elsewhere.

Please cut and paste this link, into your browser:

http://themortgagebroker.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/the-financing-clause/

This blog was written by Elizabeth Blair, a Licensed Mortgage Agent with Mortgage Edge in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

Elizabeth services mortgage clients in Mississauga and all over the Greater Toronto area.

You can contact Elizabeth directly by phone at (905) 510-5785

by email at eblair@mortgageedge.ca

or you can visit her website at: www.missmortgage.ca

Elizabeth is licensed with the Financial Services Commission of Ontario and is also a Member of IMBA (the Independent Mortgage Brokers Association of Ontario) www.imba.ca

Lic # M08005880 Brokerage

Lic # 10680

Head office is located at: 15 Wertheim Court, Suite 210, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.

In times of economic difficulty, business can usually slow down. As business slows down, it is often a good time to organize, clean up, reflect, downsize and even restructure our business. I have realized that partnerships between business people are critical during slower times. Those partnership businesses have contacts and can provide business leads that we may not ever be able to get on our own.

I live and work in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, with a population of about 700,000 people, there are exactly 1,037 licensed mortgage brokers/agents in Mississauga and there are many more mortgage development officers who work for banks. Based on these numbers, I would have to say, the competition to find and secure mortgage business is getting very tough. With this tougher market, with less business, many businesses will dry up and close up their business as there just is not enough business to go around.

If you are a local Realtor, who might be looking for a reliable mortgage financing person to help your clients OR perhaps you have aligned yourself with a mortgage financing person who you are not very happy with, I would appreciate the chance to sit down with you and show you how I can provide excellent service to your clients.

Please visit my website, and select “About Elizabeth” to read more about me and at the very bottom you can see a link to many customer testimonials.

This blog was submitted by Elizabeth Blair, a Licensed Mortgage Agent with Mortgage Edge which is located in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

Elizabeth services mortgage clients in Mississauga and all over the Greater Toronto area.

You can contact Elizabeth directly by phone at (905) 510-5785

by email at eblair@mortgageedge.ca

or you visit her website at: www.missmortgage.ca

Elizabeth is licensed with the Financial Services Commission of Ontario and is also a Member of IMBA (the Independent Mortgage Brokers Association of Ontario) www.imba.ca

I read this today, in our local paper, and almost fell out of my chair.

You may have heard about the recent criminal activites of Bernard Madoff who was operating a sophisticated ponzi scheme. No doubt that Mr. Madoff has been living a very wealthy lifestyle in his Manhattan apartment. The ponzi scheme, named after "Charles Ponzi" from Italy who also operated a similar type of financial fraud.

Charles Ponzi got 5 years in a FEDERAL PRISON, only serving 3 and 1/2 there and another 9 years in a STATE Prison and his offences were nowhere near the amount that Mr. Madoff managed to dupe investors.

Bernard Madoff has wiped out the investments of many people, totalling US 50 BILLION dollars and can you honestly believe, that Mr. Madoff is now under "house arrest" with nothing but electronic monitoring.

So how did Mr. Madoff get only house arrest for stealing 50 Billion dollars?

This blog was submitted by Elizabeth Blair, a Licensed Mortgage Agent with Mortgage Edge in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

Elizabeth services mortgage clients in Mississauga and all over the Greater Toronto area.

You can contact Elizabeth directly by phone at (905) 510-5785 by email at eblair@mortgageedge.ca or you visit her website at: www.missmortgage.ca

Elizabeth is licensed with the Financial Services Commission of Ontario and is also a Member of IMBA (the Independent Mortgage Brokers Association of Ontario) www.imba.ca

Protecting our environment and reducing the amount of energy we use has become a very important priority to many Canadians. With the added pressure of rising energy costs, assessing our own use of energy, around the home, is a great way to obtain much needed savings.

As I began to explore my own use of energy, I decided to find out what resources, tools, and financial assistance was available to start this "energy efficiency" journey.

I began this journey through a local company called, "The Energuy". I discovered that they provide an easy to navigate, one-stop service, for homeowners who want to improve their energy efficiency by showing homeowners how to obtain savings and following through to also show them how to get money back, for those improvements, all under one roof.

The first step would be to contact The Energuy to arrange a personal home visit, from an experienced advisor, so that they can document their recommendations on where energy efficiency can be optimized, in the home. A detailed report would then be provided, to the homeowner, which would outline what changes or upgrades could be made to obtain those energy savings. The homeowner would then use this report to carefully consider their options. Some examples might be, a recommendation to change older windows and doors, install new improved heating and cooling systems, upgrade insulation, etc. The homeowner can then decide when they would like to proceed with some or all of the recommended energy improvements.

I also discovered that homeowners can receive grants, from the Federal and Provincial Government, after following through with the recommended energy upgrades. These grants can total, up to $10,000! The Energuy will then substantiate compliance with energy upgrades to help you complete the overall application process. Finally you would then be able to receive up to $150, for that initial assessment cost.

For complete details and how you can begin your own energy efficiency journey, please contact The Energuy at (905) 824-4922 or you can also visit their website at: www.energuy.ca for more details.

This blog was written by Elizabeth Blair, a Licensed Mortgage Agent with Mortgage Edge in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Elizabeth services mortgage clients in Mississauga and all over the Greater Toronto area.

You can contact Elizabeth Blair directly by phone at (905) 510-5785 or by email at eblair@mortgageedge.ca

or you can visit her website at : www.missmortgage.ca

Elizabeth Blair is licensed with the Financial Services Commission of Ontario and is also a Member of IMBA (the Independent Mortgage Brokers Association of Ontario) www.imba.ca