Sep
30
How do I calculate mortgage payments when buying a home from a family member?
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Question by Y?: How do I calculate mortgage payments when buying a home from a family member?
We are thinking of purchasing a house from my father. Instead of using a mortgage broker or bank, he suggested using a lawyer to set up monthly mortgage payments directly to him. We would still buy the house, and it would be in our names, not renting. How are payments like this calculated? Also, it seems this gives us flexibility and saves us money, but isn’t as secure. What are the specific down-sides to this?
Best answer:
Answer by manas p
It’s true.. it is not very secure method.
Add your own answer in the comments!
Sep
29
Q&A: What happens to your mortgage if you sell your home for less than you owe?
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Question by Alick: What happens to your mortgage if you sell your home for less than you owe?
We would like to move into a bigger home. We live in a small condo that we paid a lot for. We will never get as much for it as we owe for our loan, but we have divulged grown it. We are not in a foreclosure situation because we are making the payments on time without a problem. If we sell our home for less than it is worth, can we add the balance of our mortgage onto the mortgage of a new home, or will we owe the bank the balance flop then and there?
Best answer:
Answer by wizjp
Nothing. Literally nothing. Unless you pay off the loan, you can’t transfer current clear deed; so you can’t sell.AS you deed out. all debt must be paid in full at the closing
What do you think? Answer below!
Sep
25
Your Mortgage Could be a Goldmine of Potential Savings
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Sep
19
More Canadians are Turning to Mortgage Brokers
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More Canadians are Turning to Mortgage Brokers
When it comes to mortgage financing, more and more Canadians are choosing to work with a professional mortgage broker. According to a recent study by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), 23 per cent of mortgages composed were arranged through a broker.
Canadians are just catching up with their American neighbors, who are far less likely to simply walk into their home bank for a mortgage. In 2000, almost 70 per cent of all U.S. mortgages were arranged through mortgage brokers.
If we follow the U.S. model – and it seems that we are — then we’re in for a sea of change in the way Canadians manage their most important personal asset. It makes sense. After all, investment returns aren’t as lucrative as they were five years ago, and investors are seeking out ways to make financial gains through avenues they may have overlooked.
There are some significant benefits to working with an independent mortgage broker. Firstly, let’s compare mortgage expertise: Most banks have one or more representatives who are specifically assigned to assist with mortgages. Their role is to develop mortgage business for the banks. An ontario mortgage broker, on the other hand, is a trained mortgage professional who has met standards for education. The comprehensive training of an independent mortgage broker may exceed the training of their counterparts at the bank. More importantly, the mortgage broker is independent. He or she is not an employee of a lending institution, but has access to rate and option information for a full spectrum of chartered banks and other lending institutions. Their role is to find the best possible mortgage rates and options for you.
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Let’s also look at choice: A mortgage broker offers you access to many competitive lenders, each with a range of mortgage options. It would take weeks of research, telephoning and personal visit to recreate the range of features and options that a mortgage broker has at his or her fingertips. Rate information, mortgage options and payment schedules are up-to-the-moment, so you and your broker can make valid comparisons of the options available. The result of all this choice is a mortgage which is customized to meet your needs and to save you money.
Also consider accessibility. Your mortgage broker will be available to you before and after your mortgage closes, which will be good news for those who have spent long hours on hold or in a telephone voice answering loop.
Above all, clients have turned to mortgage brokers for better rates. Access to a broad range of lending institutions is a critical advantage for mortgage shoppers. A quarter-point difference on your bond rate can add up to thousands of dollars over the life of your mortgage. Many mortgage brokers work inside a brokerage organization with sufficient mortgage volumes that they can negotiate the best possible rates for your situation. Canadian homeowners who have experienced the benefits of a mortgage broker are unlikely to ever return to a world in which they simply recognized the best posted rate at their local bank.
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Sep
17
Mortgage Security not That Costly
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Mortgage Security not That Costly
Forget everything you thought you knew about the benefits of taking a variable-rate mortgage instead of locking in for the long term.
A new study suggests the security of a five-year mortgage costs little or nothing beyond a wild variable-rate bonding, providing you get a jumbo-sized rate discount.
”Interest costs on discounted closed five-year mortgages have been close to, and often lower than, those of variable-rate mortgages since late 1996,” senior Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. economist Ali Manouchehri writes in the study.
Homeowners have made variable-rate mortgages hugely popular in the past few years in the belief that you can save on interest being by pegging your mortgage rate to your lender’s prime lending rate. As the prime rises, or as has generally happened in the past few years, fallen, so goes your mortgage rate.
The prime rate at the major banks is now 4.5 per cent, while the posted five-year rate at the big banks is 6.15 per cent. In just one year, the variable-rate choice would save you about ,700 on monthly payments toward a ,000 mortgage amortized over 25 years (assuming a level prime rate).
Historically, you would also have saved a lot. The CMHC study shows that five-year mortgages taken out from 1993 through 1998 would have cost anywhere from ,000 to ,000 in additional interest paid over the term of the loan (the example is based on a ,000 mortgage amortized over 25 years).
The flaw with this analysis is that it doesn’t reflect real-world mortgage pricing. These days, very few people take out a mortgage without a sizable discount off the posted rates at major banks.
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For that reason, the CMHC’s Mr. Manouchehri decided to compare discounted five-year mortgages with discounted variable-rate mortgages. Incidentally, five years is the most popular term by far for fixed-rate mortgages at about 59 per cent of the total.
The size of the discounts Mr. Manouchehri applied was based on the difference between posted major bank rates and the best deals available from other lenders. For five-year mortgages, he used a discount of 1.25 of a percentage point; for variable-rate mortgages, it was .4 of a point off prime.
For five-year mortgages taken out between 1993 and mid-1996, the five-year mortgage was costlier in terms of interest costs. Since then, however, variable-rate mortgages have generally been a little bit more expensive.
Obviously, there’s nothing in this study that decides the fixed-rate versus variable-rate debate once and for all.
In fact, the CMHC study may just confuse anyone who recalls some research done for Manulife Financial back in 2000 by York University finance professor Moshe Milevsky. His research found that the extra interest charged on a five-year mortgage would have cost ,000 on average between 1950 and 2000 for a ,000 mortgage amortized over 15 years.
To make some sense of the variable-rate versus five-year question, let’s go back to the CMHC study.
It presented that five-year mortgages, discounted or otherwise, were especially bad choices for an III-year period starting in mid-1993. Rates were richly for a while supported then, but they subsequently fell.
You were a spectator to these rate declines if you were stuck in a five-year mortgage, while people in variable-rate mortgages would have benefited almost immediately.
It’s a different world now, though. Five-year mortgage rates are close to a 50-year low, which suggests they’re far more likely to rise over their term than fall.
So what’s the best choice here, variable-rate or five-year fixed rate? People who want to pay rock-bottom mortgage rates for as long as possible will probably still want a variable-rate mortgage. Remember, you can lock this sort of mortgage into a fixed term without penalty in most cases.
The case for the five-year term looks almost as strong, though. First, the CMHC study tells us there may not be a significant cost to locking your mortgage in for five years, and you might even save a little over a variable-rate mortgage.
Second, the likelihood of higher rates in the years to come would suggest that this is a good time to lock in.
If you had a variable-rate mortgage discounted to 4 per cent, the prime would have to go up by .85 of a percentage point to equal the current five-year rate. That’s not a lot of ground to cover in the span of 12 to 18 months when the economy is doing well.
Arguably, the variable-rate versus fixed-rate debate is all about risks and rewards. Right now, the five-year option offers much less risk, and almost as much reward.
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Sep
15
Mortgage “stores” are a Hit With Homebuyers
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Mortgage “stores” are a Hit With Homebuyers
Question: “What’s the biggest financial investment most Canadians will ever make?”
Okay, that may have been an easy one if you read the headline of this column. For most Canadians, their home is their biggest investment – and their most knock-down financial tool.
It’s odd – given the importance of the mortgage decision – that many homebuyers will spend much more time deciding on which mutual funds they should invest in… or even which sofa to buy… than on which mortgage will best meet their needs.
Times are changing though. Mortgage options are exploding, and Canadians have begun to want – and receive – better rates, more flexible products and more personal service than ever before. And to get a better look at their growing range of options, more homebuyers than ever are going to a mortgage “store” – and to the professional mortgage brokers who run them.
The Ontario mortgage store is a symbol of just how much the mortgage industry has changed since those days when you simply walked into your local bank to apply for a mortgage. Today, one in three first-time Canadian homebuyers choose to work with a mortgage broker, and those numbers are climbing. It’s estimated that in the not-so-distant future, up to 50% of all Canadian mortgages may go through a mortgage broker for their financing needs. Our American neighbours are far ahead of us; almost 70% of all U.S. residential mortgages are now arranged through a mortgage broker.
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Here in Canada, homebuyers are demanding choice – and they’ve been beating a path to the door of independent bond brokers to get it. Happily, that path is becoming shorter and more traveled; with attractive and inviting storefront offices, many independent mortgage brokers are now setting up “Main Street” offices… just like the banks.
It’s hard not to get excited about the options available through a mortgage store. To begin, consider that many different institutions lend money for mortgages: banks, trust companies, credit unions, pension funds, insurance companies, finance companies, etc. At a mortgage store – like those run by many independent consultants at Mortgage Intelligence, Canada’s premier player in the mortgage broker industry, homebuyers (through their mortgage broker) can access mortgage rates and information from a huge, varied group of lenders, including traditional banks, of course. The mortgage broker doesn’t represent any specific lending institution, but works to find a tailored mortgage solution. And they have information on the growing list of specialized mortgages that now cater to niche markets like the self-employed, or homeowners looking for a recreational or investment properties, for example.
For many Canadians, the family interior has been their best-performing investment in the last several years. It’s a reminder that an Ontairo mortgage is an important financial tool – and access to a broad range of lending institutions is a critical advantage. After all, a quarter-point difference on your mortgage rate can add up to many thousands of dollars over the life of your mortgage.
Ontairo mortgage storefront offices are popping up in towns and cities all across Canada. For your own financial well being, they’re definitely worth a browse!
Understanding how mortgage interest rates are quoted
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