Bank of Canada Hold Overnight Rate at 0.5% The Bank of Canada’s decision to hold rates steady once again was very much as expected, even though first-half growth was well below the forecast in the July Monetary Policy Report. US growth in the first half of this year was also disappointing, reflecting weakness in […]

  When you purchase a property, you may be a little overwhelmed by all the insurance offers related to purchasing a new property that come your way. Mortgage Insurance, Condo Insurance, Mortgage Default Insurance, Earthquake Insurance; the list goes on and on. It can be confusing and it is important to know what insurance covers what. […]

  A short time ago Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) changed the rules on how much down payment buyers have to have in place to buy a home worth more than $500,000. The new rules stated that you have to have 5% on the first $500,000 and 10% on the remaining balance up to […]

  There has been much hand-wringing about the overheated housing markets in Vancouver and Toronto. Accelerating price gains in the past year are indicative of a buying frenzy, especially in Vancouver, which is clearly unsustainable. New listings are way down, new supply is constrained, and buyer euphoria seems to be suggestive of panic fear of […]

As a Dominion Lending Centres mortgage broker, I often see in the lender’s conditions sheet a request for the lawyer to obtain title insurance. We all know that this is a measure to protect the lender and to allow for the deal to proceed if there is a delay with the title or the other […]

  When considering buying your first home, I am sure you will have many questions. I hope to give you some insight to what lenders are most importantly looking for when qualifying for a mortgage. 1. What’s the best rate I can get? The rate that you receive depends on a number of things. I get […]

  In today’s market, variable and fixed rates are not too far apart. This makes most people think that the fixed rate is the way to go as it’s often viewed as the safest option. Many believe that variable rate mortgages are for the daring and at any time your rate could double leaving you […]

Another woeful jobs report in Canada for the month of July triggers further pessimism.Following three consecutive months of stagnant employment, payrolls fell by a much-worse-than-expected 31,000 in July as the unemployment rate increased 0.1 percentage point to 6.9 percent. Gloomily, all of the loss was in full-time employment, which fell by 71,000 from June to […]

  On a hot summer Friday morning, Canadian and U.S. data gatherers posted GDP figures.  The numbers look pretty bad and both countries, but fortunately, digging deeper, they were not as bad as at first glance. CANADIAN GDP DATA The May figure for Canadian Gross Domestic Product by Industry posted a decline of 0.6 percent, […]

  1. Cash back at closing, while not illegal they lender will usually reduce the mortgage by that amount. 2. Furniture included in the contract, lenders consider this to have a value and if it is zero then it needs to state that in writing. Better yet have the seller and buyer write it in […]