Meetup! You’re Invited: Foreclosures, Estate Sales, Distressed Properties and More…

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Sutton Member Program

Theresa’s Soap Box – Meetup! You’re Invited: Thursday, May 12, 2011

Today we’re here to invite you to our next meetup on Thursday, May 12th. We are going to discuss how to buy properties below the market value.

We know a lot of you out there are interested in the real estate market, but since prices have started to go up again it’s more and more unaffordable to get that dream home that you really want. A lot of people are now focusing on properties where there might be some minor deficiencies or circumstances causing it to be listed below its potential value and you’re hoping to get a really good deal so you can really get that house you need.

We’re going to be inviting an expert speaker, John Houlihan, for this session. He’s going to share with you his experience on properties that are foreclosures, estate sales, distressed properties, and divorce sales. He will go through what these things are, how to find them, how to address them when you do when you come into contact with them, what are the procedures of putting in an offer into getting one of these properties, but most importantly, what are the risked involved; what sorts of questions you need to ask and what to look out for so you don’t end up with the lemon.

Foreclosures, Estate Sales, Distressed Properties and More…
Thursday, May 12, 2011
2nd Floor – 3012 Boundary Road Burnaby, BC

Posted in Event, Personal Finances | Leave a comment

Member of the Month – April 2011

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Sutton Member Program

Congratulations to our April Members of the Month! Each month we highlight one exceptional Sutton Member from BC and ON.

British Columbia
Reza Rad
Sutton Group – 1st West Realty
778-855-2778
rrad@shaw.ca

Ontario
Zorica Grujic
Sutton Group Realty Systems Inc., Brokerage
416-704-5802
zoricasutton@yahoo.ca

Click here to read more about them.

Posted in Member of the Month | 2 Comments

You’re Invited – Upcoming Meetup: Rent vs. Buy

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Sutton Member Program

Theresa’s Soap Box – Meetup: Rent vs. Buy

Hi everyone, we want to take the time to invite all of you to our next Meetup which is happening on Thursday April 14, 2011 at 6:00 PM. The topic for this upcoming meetup is about Rent vs. Buy, so we’re going to have a little bit of a debate for those of you who are homeowners and for those of you who are renters who want to come out.

We are going to have a special guest speaker, John Houlihan, the Director of Education at Sutton West Coast Realty and he’s going to come in to talk to us about rent vs. buy, why pay someone else’s mortgage when for the same amount you could be paying your own mortgage, and how to calculate and be looking at affordability properly (how not to overextend yourself, and look at property values and don’t get overwhelmed), and finally fundamentals about financing (how much is enough downpayment, how to get pre-approvals and pre-qualifications) and what you need to do before you jump into the homebuying market.

So for all of you renters out there, this is an essential meetup to come to!

Stop paying someone else’s mortgage! Rent vs. Buy
Find out how to buy for the price of rent!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
2nd Floor – 3012 Boundary Road Burnaby, BC

Posted in Helpful Home Tips, Mortgage Tips | Leave a comment

Locking-in Your Mortgage Rate Might Not Save the Day

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Sutton Member Program

Theresa’s Soap Box – Locking-in Your Mortgage Rate Might Not Save the Day

Today we’re going to quickly go over variable rate mortgages and the convertibility or “lock-in” feature that you get with most variable rate mortgages. I personally am a huge fan of variable rates and I would take a variable mortgage myself, however I find that a lot of people who are considering a variable are actually considering it for the wrong reasons and the convertibility feature is the main one.

In a variable mortgage, as you know, the rate will go up and down with the prime rate changes meaning every month you could be paying more or less. This uncertainty means that in the future you might be paying more than you started out with and if you don’t have more income or you have been spending all of your savings you might get yourself in a bit of trouble. Here’s where the convertibility feature comes into, supposedly, save the day, you can lock your mortgage into a fixed rate at any time with no penalty. This seems to be perfect, but there are two issues with this is:

  1. You’re wasting all of your savings. – if you’re going to take a variable rate it is a really long term strategy you have to make sure you have enough money or income coming in to pay for the mortgage as your payments increase because over the long term, based on many studies, in 90% of the cases you will come out ahead versus if you had taken a fixed rate.
  2. The fixed rate you are going to receive when you decide to convert is most likely going to be higher or worse than had you just taken a fixed rate right from the beginning. There are several reasons for this; mortgage rates right now are almost at an all time low so there’s no reason not to take a fixed rate if you don’t like the risk. Secondly you’ll lose any kind of incentive, you are already committed with that particular lender and they don’t really have any incentive to give you any extra discounts if you decide to now take a fix rate from them because you still probably have 2-3 years left on your contract. Again more savings are going down the drain.

So if you’re thinking about it and you’re not sure if you’re looking at variable rates the right way talk with your mortgage broker or give us a call today!

Posted in Mortgage Tips, Personal Finances, Rates | Leave a comment

Good-bye 35 Year Amortization?

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Sutton Member Program

Theresa’s Soap Box – Good-bye 35 Year Amortization?

Today we’re going to talk about the 35 year amortization; the end of it and where you might be able to still find it. March 18th is officially the end of the 35 year amortization. For those who have watched our previous blogs, this is for people who have less than 20% downpayment, you will now be unable to get a 35 year amortization. This means you might not be able to qualify for a large of a mortgage as you wanted which results in purchase price that is now smaller than what you originally thought. You might also be paying more every month for your mortgage than you originally budgeted so it might impact you quite severely.

For those of you who still want a 35 year amortization, if you got more than a 20% downpayment, it is still available if you know where to look. Most the large banks have already said they will not have 35 year amortization, but some non-bank lenders and financial institutions still have it available. It may be in your best interest to still look for one because it may help you cash flow your mortgage and your property better. With a little more downpayment you might be able to qualify for a larger mortgage and the benefits go on from there.

Definitely talk to your mortgage broker about this and decide if it’s really right for you and if you don’t know who to talk to call us here at Finder Financial Services and we’ll be able to help you out.

Posted in Mortgage Rules, Rates | 2 Comments

Member of the Month – March 2011

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Sutton Member Program

Congratulations to our March Members of the Month! Each month we highlight one exceptional Sutton Member from BC and ON.

British Columbia
Nat Dhaliwal
Sutton Group – Medallion Realty
604-351-6044
ndhaliwal@sutton.com

ONTARIO
Diana Roman
Sutton Group – Incentive Realty Inc., Brokerage
705-345-2082
romand@sutton.com

Click here to read more about them.

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Trade-off: Rising Mortgage Rates and Falling Home Prices

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Sutton Member Program

Theresa’s Soap Box – Trade-off: Rising Mortgage Rates and Falling Home Prices

Today we are going to discuss the trade-off between rising mortgage rates and falling home prices.  We know a lot of you want to buy a home, and have dreams of home ownership, maybe a year down the line or maybe more than that. You are hoping home prices will fall so you can afford to buy a bigger place, so you get more value for your money.

We came across this Globe and Mail article where an analyst looked into this situation and he actually found out that in most scenarios you will end up coming out behind!  The reason for this is that a higher mortgage rate would actually end up eating up all your savings.  Per month your mortgage payments would still end up costing you more because of a higher interest rate and if you had to deal with that higher interest rate to begin with you would qualify for a smaller mortgage amount and a smaller purchase price, so you might not even be looking at the same properties that you are looking at right now.

This might be of concern to you, if you have time we encourage you to speak with your mortgage broker and your REALTOR® to see if your financial strategy is appropriate, and also if this plan is appropriate for the area you are looking in because you are counting on home prices falling, which may not happen.

If you have any questions for us please feel free to give us a call or email us at 1-866-521-9557 or email us at mortgage@suttonmember.com.

Posted in Mortgage Tips, Rates | Tagged | Leave a comment

Meetup! You’re Invited: How to avoid “lemon” properties

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Sutton Member Program

Theresa’s Soap Box – Meetup! You’re Invited

You’re invited! Today we’re just updating our blog to extend everyone an invitation to a new event that we are hosting for next month.

On March 10th we will be hosting a gathering of people who are interested in purchasing a property, whether you are a first time homebuyer, or a repeat homebuyer and you wanted to hear about the Greater Vancouver real estate market. We will be talking about what types of properties to look out for, leaky condos, or any other pit falls that are out there.

You will be hearing from a special guest speaker, Kevin Grainger, with Sutton Group West Coast Realty. He’ll be letting you know what kind of things you should be looking out for and what to do when you come in contact with one of the topics of discussion.

Anybody who is looking to buy a property within the near future should really attend. If you want more information on the event or how to contact us about this event please visit: http://www.meetup.com/vancouverhomebuying101/.

Again the event is on March 10th and we hope to see you there!

Posted in Mortgage Tips | Leave a comment

CMHC Rule Changes – Refinancing Limit

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Sutton Member Program

Theresa’s Soap Box – CMHC Rule Changes – Refinancing Limit

Today we’re going to finish up our series about the CMHC rule changes.  The last topic we are going to cover is the refiniancing limit.  You may know that the refinancing limit will be decreased from 90% to 85% of your home’s value and that takes place March 18, 2011.

What this means for you is that if you are considering refinancing and pulling out some of the funds from the equity of your home then you may be limited in what you think you can draw out.  So if you were planning to renovate, get a car, or anything like that the limit is 85% of your home’s value.  That 85% is going to include your current mortgage balance, so what you still owe on the mortgage, any lines of credit that are secured to the property, and then everything you are trying to take out in excess of that.  All of those things combined now cannot be in excess of 85% of the current value of your property.

If you are looking to purchase a property, don’t worry, you’re still allowed to purchase using only 5% downpayment with CMHC or mortgage loan insurance, however it just means that you will not be allowed to refinance your mortgage in the future until you have paid off a certain amount on your mortgage or your property has appreciated so significantly in value that your mortgage is now less than 85% of the total value of your property.

If you wanted to speak to a mortgage coordinator prior to the deadline (March 18, 2011), give us a call or email us at1-866-521-9557 or mortgage@suttonmember.com.

Posted in Mortgage Rules, Mortgage Tips | Leave a comment

SMP: 2010 Member of the Year – Brian Vidas

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Sutton Member Program

SMP: 2010 Member of the Year

Congratulation to Brian Vidas for winning SMP’s Member of the Year award (awarded to 2010′s top producing member).   We presented this award to Brian earlier this week and we  had a chance to sit down and catch up with Brian in an interview.  Hear what Brian has to say about our program and how it has helped his business and clients!

If you would like to inquire about Brian or Brian’s services:

www.brianvidas.com

Cell Phone: 604-671-5259
Office Phone: 604-435-9477
Fax Number: 1-888-562-3518
Email: Brian@BrianVidas.com

If you have questions about our program or our rates you can contact us by email mortgage@suttonmember.com or call us at 1-866-521-9557

Posted in Member of the Year | Leave a comment