The holidays are a season of giving and often times, households can often find themselves carrying some extra debt as we enter the New Year.

If you happen to be someone currently struggling with some post-holiday debt, that’s okay! Whether you’ve accumulated multiple points of debt from credit cards or are dealing with other loans (such as car loans, personal loans, etc.), you are likely looking for a way to simplify your payments – and reduce them. Rolling them into your mortgage could be the perfect solution.

Consolidating other forms of debt into your mortgage has multiple benefits. For starters, this process can help you to pay off your loans over a longer period of time with smaller payments per month, and often at a reduced interest rate when compared to a credit card.

By freeing yourself from these high interest rates and gouging interest payments, you will not only have more money each month but have a better chance of taking back your financial control and getting your loans completely paid off!

If you’re still not sure if this is the right solution for you, here is an example… if you have $30,000 of credit card debt, you are probably paying AT LEAST $600 per month and $500 per month of that is likely going directly to interest. If you let me help you to roll that debt into your home equity and monthly mortgage, your payment to this $30,000 portion would drop down around $175 per month, with interest charges closer to $140 per month. That is huge savings!

Not only does debt consolidation into your mortgage help with reducing interest charges and making your loan more manageable, but it is also much easier to keep track of and pay a single monthly installment versus managing a dozen different loans or bills.

While debt consolidation through refinancing will increase your mortgage since you have to add the debt into your existing mortgage amount, the benefits to lowering your overall payments and management can be well worth it when it comes to cost savings, time and stress. Keep in mind, you need at least 20 percent equity in your home to qualify for this adjustment.

If you are looking for a way to simplify (or get out of) debt, reach out to a Dominion Lending Centres mortgage expert! They would be happy to take a look at your financial portfolio and current mortgage and help you come up with the best option to suit your needs.

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Your finances aren’t the only thing that has room for new resolutions in 2023! Consider these great ideas to make your home feel brand new come January:

Purge Your Space

While most people think about purging when Spring comes around, the end of the year really is no better time. While cleaning your home is common around the holidays, purging takes that a step further. Make it part of your New Year’s resolution to purge your home of all the things you don’t need. It may seem daunting at first, but most of the decisions are already made. Look around your home and really catalogue those items you didn’t use in 2022 (or 2021!) and make it your resolution to finally get rid of them. Go room-by-room to ensure the purging remains manageable and you get the most out of the process!

Donate What You Can

Following up on purging your home, this is a great time to donate old items. While purging, make two piles – one for garbage and one for items to donate. During this time of year, those in need can use your help the most! So, while you’re purging, reconsider tossing out old items and instead donate them to someone who would benefit.

Make Sure You Are Safe & Sound

A clean house is only half the battle – you also need a safe one! While your home is going to look fresh and organized after you’ve finished purging old items from the year, now you will want to put some effort into ensuring safety. Check fire detectors and fireplaces, as well as investigate radon and carbon monoxide also (the hardware for these tests are not particularly expensive). This is a good time to check ventilation as well!

Shrink Your Bills (and Your Carbon Footprint)

Some people think the only way to “go green” these days is buying a hybrid car – but your home is a great place to cut energy too! Everything from switching off the lights when you leave a room, to dialing down your air conditioner and heating, to installing LED bulbs and energy-saving showerheads or toilets, can help you save in the long run and ensure your home is more energy efficient for the New Year!

Plan Out Home Improvement Projects

Heading into the New Year is a super fun time to plan out future home improvement projects! They don’t even have to be on the docket for 2023, but this is a great time to re-evaluate your home for any changes or additions you want to make in the coming years – and to start saving for them now.

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When it comes to getting a mortgage, there is a common misperception that a low rate is the most important factor. However, while your rate does matter for your mortgage, it is not the only component to consider when higher rates can be better.

If you’re looking to get a mortgage, these are some other important factors that you should look at beyond simply the interest rate:

Term: The length of time that the options and interest rate you choose are in effect. A shorter term (5 years) allows you to make changes to your mortgage sooner, without penalties.

Amortization: The length of time you agree to take to pay off your mortgage (usually 25 years). This determines how the interest is amortized over time.

Payment Schedule: How often you make your mortgage payments. It can be weekly, every two weeks or once a month and will affect your monthly cashflow differently depending on your choice.

Portability: An option that lets you transfer or switch your mortgage to another home with little or no penalty when you sell your existing home. Mortgage loan insurance can also be transferred to the new home.

Pre-Payment Options: The ability to make extra payments, increase your payments or pay off your mortgage early without incurring a penalty.

Penalty Calculations: Where variable rates typically charge three-months interest, a fixed rate mortgage uses an Interest Rate Differential (IRD) calculation. This can add up quite quickly! In fact, in some cases, penalties for breaking a fixed mortgage can sometimes be two or three times higher than that of a variable-rate.

Variable versus Fixed: For fixed-rate mortgages, the interest rate does not fluctuate over time. For variable-rate mortgages the interest rate fluctuates with market rates, which can be great when rates drop but not so great when rates are rising.

Open versus Closed: An open mortgage is similar to pre-payment options, allowing you to pay off your mortgage at any time with no penalties. A closed mortgage, on the other hand, offers limited to no options to pay off your interest in full despite often having lower interest rates.

When considering your mortgage, the above components all have a part to play in your overall mortgage as well as your homeownership experience.

It is easy to think that a low-interest rate is good enough, sign on the dotted line… but you may be overlooking important options such as portability, which allows you to switch your mortgage to another property should you choose to move. Or pre-payment options, which give you the choice to make additional payments to your mortgage. Without looking deeper at your mortgage, you may find yourself being forced to pay penalties in the future because you wanted to make a payment or a change to your mortgage structure. In some cases, agreeing to a higher rate to have more options and flexibility is better in the long run than the savings received from a lower rate.

Before agreeing to any mortgage, it is best to talk to your Dominion Lending Centres mortgage expert about the contract, as well as your future goals and any potential concerns you have to ensure that you get the best mortgage product for YOU.

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If you are in the market for a home or a new car, you are probably very familiar with your credit score. Lenders are one of the primary users of credit scores and it can have a huge impact on whether you get approved for a loan and just how much interest it is going to cost you. What isn’t well known about credit scores is where they come from, what makes them go up (or down!) and who else besides potential lenders uses them to make decisions? Your credit score is going to be with you for life, so why not take a couple of minutes to get the facts.

1. There are two credit-reporting agencies in Canada: Equifax and TransUnion. Your credit score may vary between the two. Lenders may check one or both agencies when you apply for credit.
2. Your credit score is actually derived from the data in your credit report — which can be had for free once per year from Equifax and TransUnion. Some banks, credit unions, and other financial services companies provide your credit score for free as part of their services.
3. Credit scores range between 300 and 900 with the Canadian average being 650.
4. Your credit score is used for a lot more than just borrowing money; insurance companies, mobile phone providers, car leasing companies, landlords and employers may all require your credit score to make decisions.
5. Five factors affect your credit score: length of credit history, credit utilization or how much of your limit you have used, the mix/types of credit you hold, the frequency you apply for credit, your payment history.
6. Mistakes and omissions are not uncommon and is a good idea to check the details of your credit report. Both agencies have a process to report errors and get them corrected.
7. Credit scores of 700+ are considered “good” and offer a higher chance of loan approval, greater borrowing limits, and lower or “preferred” interest rates and insurance premiums.
8. Credit scores are continuously evaluated and adjusted. If you have “errored” in your past, the damage is not permanent! Your score can be raised/rebuilt by using credit responsibly (see #10).
9. Checking your credit score regularly is a good idea and will help detect errors, monitor improvements, and identify fraud. This is a “soft” enquiry and will not affect your score.
10. To increase your credit score: make payments on time, pay the full amount owing, use 35% or less of your available credit, hold a variety of credit types, apply for new credit sparingly.

Don’t make the mistake of ignoring your credit score. Even if you aren’t looking to borrow money anytime soon, there are a lot of reasons to keep an eye on it.

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When it comes to getting a mortgage, one of the more overlooked elements is the option to be able to port the loan down the line. This article will inform you about what to know about porting your mortgage.

Porting your mortgage is an option within your mortgage agreement, which enables you to move to another property without having to lose your existing interest rate, mortgage balance and term. Thereby allowing you to move or ‘port’ your mortgage over to the new home. Plus, the ability to port also saves you money by avoiding early discharge penalties should you move partway through your term.

Typically, portability options are offered on fixed-rate mortgages. Lenders often use a “blended” system where your current mortgage rate stays the same on the mortgage amount ported over to the new property and the new balance is calculated using the current interest rate. When it comes to variable-rate mortgages, you may not have the same option. However, when breaking a variable-rate mortgage, you would only be faced with a three-month interest penalty charge. While this can range up to $4,000, it is much lower than the average penalty to break a fixed mortgage. In addition, there are cases where you can be reimbursed the fee with your new mortgage.

If you already have the existing option to port your mortgage, or are considering it for your next mortgage cycle, there are a few considerations to keep in mind:

• Timeframe: Some portability options require the sale and purchase to occur on the same day. Other lenders offer a week to do this, some a month, and others up to three months.
• Terms: Keep in mind, some lenders don’t allow a changed term or might force you into a longer term as part of agreeing to port you mortgage.
• Penalty Reimbursements: Some lenders may reimburse your entire penalty, whether you are a fixed or variable borrower, if you simply get a new mortgage with the same lender – replacing the one being discharged. Additionally, some lenders will even allow you to move into a brand-new term of your choice and start fresh. Keep in mind, there can be cases where it’s better to pay a penalty at the time of selling and get into a new term at a brand-new rate that could save back your penalty over the course of the new term.

To get all the details about mortgage portability and find out if you have this option (or the potential penalties if you don’t), contact me today for expert advice and a helping hand throughout your mortgage journey!

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There was good news today on the housing front. Home sales surged by a record 56.9% in May from April’s unprecedented collapse. Data released this morning from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) showed national home sales recovered roughly one-third of the COVID-induced loss between February and April (see chart below). On a year-over-year (y-o-y) basis, sales activity was still down almost 40%, but the jump in sales and an even larger surge in new listings shows pent-up demand remains for housing as buyers wish to take advantage of historically low mortgage rates.

Transactions were up on a month-over-month (m-o-m) basis across the country. Among Canada’s largest markets, sales rose by 53% in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), 92.3% in Montreal, 31.5% in Greater Vancouver, 20.5% in the Fraser Valley, 68.7% in Calgary, 46.5% in Edmonton, 45.6% in Winnipeg, 69.4% in Hamilton-Burlington and 30.5% in Ottawa. Not surprisingly, the cities with the smallest gains posted the smallest declines in prior months.

More importantly, anecdotal data suggest that housing activity has been steadily rising from the middle of April until the first week in June.

NEW LISTINGS

The number of newly listed homes shot up by a record 69% in May compared to the prior month with gains recorded across the country.

With new listings having recovered by more than sales in May, the national sales-to-new listings ratio fell to 58.8% compared to 63.3% posted in April. While this statistic has moved lower, the bigger picture is that this measure of market balance has been remarkably stable considering the extent to which current economic and social conditions are impacting both buyers and sellers.

There were 5.6 months of inventory on a national basis at the end of May 2020, down from 9 months in April. The temporary jump in this measure recorded in April reflected the fact that sales were expected to fall right away amid lockdowns; whereas, other variables like active listings would be expected to fall at a much slower pace. The CREA report suggests many sellers who already had homes on the market before mid-March may have left the listings up for now but drastically curtailed the extent to which they were showing their homes during the lockdown. With many of those now coming off the market, overall active listings have fallen by about a quarter as of the end of May, bringing them down among the lowest levels on record for that time of the year.

HOME PRICES

Home prices were little changed in May compared to April across Canada. Of the 19 markets tracked by the MLS Home Price Index (HPI), 18 recorded either m-o-m increases or smaller decreases than in April. Five markets posted price gains in May following a decline in April (see the table below for local details).

In general, since the pandemic crisis began small declines in prices have been posted in British Columbia while declining trends already in place in Alberta have accelerated. With the recent surge in oil prices, however, sales activity has actually improved across the Prairies, and price trends have been stabilizing.

Despite the pandemic, home prices in the Greater Golden Horsehoe area around and including Toronto have fallen very little and remain well above year-ago levels. In Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton, prices have continued to climb, albeit at a slower pace than before.

BOTTOM LINE

CMHC has recently forecast that national average sales prices will fall 9%-to-18% in 2020 and not return to yearend-2019 levels until as late as 2022. I continue to believe that this forecast is overly pessimistic. Firstly, average sales prices are highly misleading, especially on a national basis because they vary so much depending on the location of the activity, as well as the types of property sold.

There is no national housing market. All housing markets are local. A glance at Table 1 above shows a wide variation in regional sales price action, but if anything, trends appear to be converging on moderate positive pressure on prices. Today’s economic recession is like no other. The record stimulus introduced by the Bank of Canada and the federal government will assure that the housing markets will continue to function, even with social-distancing measures in place, and those who enjoy steady employment will proceed in due course with regular housing decisions.

Those who permanently lose their jobs are the real concern. Many of those people will be in the hardest hit and slowest-to-recover sectors of our economy, such as hospitality (accommodation and food), non-essential retail trade, and the leisure industry (arts, entertainment, and recreation). Statistics Canada census data for 2016 in the table below, shows that the homeownership rate in these sectors is relatively low. Unfortunately, most of those who will be hardest hit by the pandemic can least afford it. This is an issue that fiscal policy must address, investing in retraining programs and universal income guarantees.

The pandemic shutdown has put every sector of the economy into a medically induced coma, so, of course, the housing sector is no exception. Data released this morning from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) showed national home sales fell a record 56.8% in April, compared to an already depressed March, in the first full month of COVID-19 lockdown (see chart below). Transactions were down across the country.

Among Canada’s largest markets, sales fell by 66.2% in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), 64.4% in Montreal, 57.9% in Greater Vancouver, 54.8% in the Fraser Valley, 53.1% in Calgary, 46.6% in Edmonton, 42% in Winnipeg, 59.8% in Hamilton-Burlington and 51.5% in Ottawa.

The residential real estate industry is not standing still, however. Technological innovation is creating new ways of buying and selling homes. According to Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s Chief Economist, “Preliminary data for May suggests things may have already started to pick up a bit for both sales and new listings, in line with evidence that realtors and their clients have adopted new and existing virtual technology tools. These tools have allowed quite a bit of essential business to safely continue, and will likely remain key for some time.”

I have heard agents discussing software that virtually “stages” properties, allowing potential buyers to see the possibilities of existing and renovated floor plans and options in decor and design. The software replaces the need for expensive “physical” staging and can be far more creative. Where there is a challenge, there is an opportunity, and the people that create and adopt these innovative virtual solutions could be big winners.

Keeping the lid on price pressures, the number of newly listed homes across Canada declined by 55.7% m-o-m in April. The Aggregate Composite MLS® Home Price Index declined by only 0.6% last month, the first decline since last May. While some downward pressure on prices is not surprising, the comparatively small change underscores the extent to which the bigger picture is that both buying and selling is currently on pause.

At this very important, crucial and confusing time for us humans in the modern post-industrial world, now a digital/information global economy which is in BIG trouble, our duty as spouses, parents, and friends is to make sure that our financial health is protected.

None of us know where COVID – 19 will leave us. Just know this. This is the time to do everything we can to survive financially, to keep our lives and well being intact, to recognize that this once in a lifetime calamity/threat represents a time in which we can, should, must, keep positively thinking that we will survive/get through.

And so, whatever happens, I want to encourage all of you to believe that our lives will go on and we will prosper once again.

What it will look like after, will be a transformation to a new better, kinder world where individuals come together as a global people for the good of man/womankind.

The magnitude of this adversity has a flip side, which is an opportunity not only to survive and recover but to help others.

Tracy and I are ‘all-in’ to help anyone we can, to restructure debt, to give you strategies to eliminate bad debt, and to assist you in finding your best financial footing you can, going forward.

Please understand. It is crucial to act now, as lending parameters continue to tighten, perhaps to the point where too many people no longer qualify, whether it be to refinance, or move and be stuck.

Do not end up on the ‘slippery slope’ or finding your financial health going down the proverbial rabbit hole.

Many of you are in peril whether you realize it or not. We all are really, aren’t we?

Do not look to your bank for helpful advice anymore. With all the reasons in the world not to trust anything or anyone, please recognize that our insatiable big banks are out for themselves period.

Those days are gone, believe me, or should be gone because the banks do not care to earn our trust and loyalty, nor do they deserve it.

They do not care about me or you. Their business ‘culture’ is now the opposite of helpful and caring.

Rather it is to maximize profit, at all costs, however, they can without integrity, ethics…both long gone.

Capitalism has stopped working and is now structured and manipulated to make the one percent richer.

One bank who shall not be named, even has to audacity to the moniker ‘YOU ARE RICHER THAN YOU THINK’. REALLY. What a crock right of b-s.

Understand that there is another, much better option, which is to find an expert, independent mortgage professional to guide and help.

Life has gotten very complex as has mortgage financing and my message to you is to do absolutely everything you can to create a solid financial plan, and cash flow/budget which includes emergency funding, etc., for once with a more open, positive mindset to try the alternative.

More and more each day, I read and hear it said ‘The status quo will be over’ and the new will take over.

Many people will get very desperate. Don’t allow yourself to be one of them if you can help it. Because financial stress leads to nothing positive, only despair and break up.

We are here for you. Check us out. Look at our reputation and years in the business.

So talk to your spouse, partner, others to make the call.

We won’t disappoint you.

God Bless.

Ron Price – Founder, HomeBuyDFY.ca

Tracy (Luciani) Price – Co-Owner, Price Team Mortgages/DLC