How you helped Canada’s big banks weather the financial crisis- Ask a Vancouver Mortgage Broker

ROB CARRICK– The Globe and Mail The little-discussed safety net that helped the big banks through the financial crisis was their complete, masters-of-the-world dominance over the day-to-day financial affairs of almost all Canadians. When the banks need revenue and profits, they simply have their clients supply it. And so they did in 2007, as the crisis […]

Why there’s no reason to panic about rising rates – Consult with a Vancouver Mortgage Broker

Garry Marr | More from Garry Marr | @DustyWallet There is a simple answer to all this hysteria about mortgage rates going up. Don’t lock in your rate. I know it’s almost heresy to have a floating rate in a mortgage world dictated by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who thinks nothing about calling up the banks and telling them […]

Pick the right term, pay off mortgage faster – Consult with a Vancouver Mortgage Broker

Robert McLister is the editor of CanadianMortgageTrends.com and a mortgage planner at Verico IntelliMortgage, a mortgage brokerage. You can also follow him on twitter at @CdnMortgageNews The trick to making a mortgage disappear faster is to minimize your total borrowing cost. And nothing dictates total borrowing cost more than the term you chose. Picking the right term is even […]

Can you handle higher interest rates? – Consult with a Vancouver Mortgage Broker

Garry Marr  | @DustyWallet It may be stressful to think about it but higher mortgage rates are on the horizon. The questions for homeowners is whether they can handle a hike in interest rates. Bank of Montreal says consumers should stress test their mortgages a couple of ways, considering higher interest rates and a shorter amortization period. […]

Pick the right term, pay off mortgage faster – Ask a Vancouver Mortgage Broker

ROBERT MCLISTER– Special to The Globe and Mail The trick to making a mortgage disappear faster is to minimize your total borrowing cost. And nothing dictates total borrowing cost more than the term you chose. Picking the right term is even more important than selecting the best lender, choosing the appropriate mortgage features and finding the […]

Crush your mortgage – Ask a Vancouver Mortgage Broker

Opaque contracts. Stiff penalties. Unnecessary insurance fees. Mortgage documents are full of traps that make it extremely difficult to pay off your biggest debt. MoneySense shows you how to pay off your mortgage early and become debt-free sooner than you imagined. By David Hodges | From MoneySense Magazine,  It was a sun-drenched autumn afternoon in 2005 when Heidi Croot and […]

Mortgage rate hikes shouldn’t torpedo the housing market – Ask a Vancouver Mortgage Broker

LARRY MACDONALD- Special to The Globe and Mail Many housing bears think that the recent increase in mortgage rates is the beginning of the end for the Canadian housing market. I’m not convinced; here are some reasons why. Fixed-mortgage rates have gone up because they are tied to bond yields, which have been rising lately. That’s […]

The case for locking in your mortgage – Consult with a Vancouver Mortgage Broker

ROB CARRICK – The Globe and Mail You can’t go wrong if you respond to this week’s mortgage rate increases by locking in for five or 10 years. But at least consider the alternative: Variable-rate mortgages sound risky in today’s volatile interest rate environment, but they’re actually a quiet corner of the mortgage world right now. We’ve […]

Variable vs. Fixed Rates – The Latest – Consult with a Vancouver Mortgage Broker

By Rob McLister, Editor, CanadianMortgageTrends.com As many as 85% of newmortgagors are choosing fixed rates, says CAAMP. It makes you wonder, what is it going to take to get that number back to its historical average of ~65%? For one thing, the fixed-variablespread (i.e., difference between fixed and variable rates) needs to widen. With today’s typical 5-year fixed at 2.84% and […]

So-called “Best Rate sites” are put to the test with shocking results.- Ask a Vancouver Mortgage Broker

by Steve Garganis There’s been a surge of ‘Best Rate’ sites popping up… Chances are, you’ve probably seen one or more of their online ads…   You know the ones…‘shopping’ for the Best mortgage rates in Canada’ and ‘comparing Canada’s mortgage brokers for the best rate”.   It does sound great… and it seems to be getting lots […]

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