Let me tell you three good reasons why I started a new blog.

If you have been following along, you know that I am an Calgary CIBC Mobile Mortgage Advisor, finding the best mortgage rates and the best product for Albertans every day.  That is all I do.   

1) I want you to know that not having a monthly mortgage payment is a great thing.  Would you rather live car payment free or rent free or mortgage free?   Would you not want your largest monthly expense to be Savings, followed by Food, and Entertainment?   OR would you rather pay huge amounts of interest over the term of your mortgage?

2) If I show you all the tricks to demolish and reduce your mortgage principle as fast as possible would you not want to tell your friends and family about me?   That way I can help other people do the same?

 3) Most importantly, I myself have been through a rough patch, so I know what it feels like to visit the food bank, have things taken away, and afraid of the phone and people coming to the door.  I have held the hands of my clients that have been on the opposite end where foreclosure, overwhelming debt, repossession, and wondering what is the next best step is.  Sadly through the years, some have decided to end their fight against their life's problems and mountains of debt.   This is the fuel.  This is the level of octane that is burning in me right now.     

I am here to help you balance the debt, balance your life, show you all the tricks to pay off your debt as fast as possible.   What do I charge?  What do I want in return?   Two simple things.   Appreciation, and word of mouth of a job well done.    Take my experience, take my passion and share it.  Pass it on.   



A wise man once told me you should live by the three circles philosophy.     The best way to explain it is to draw it, so I drew it out for you.  I don't know where it came from originally, my apologies. That is not the point.  The point is you don't know everything, and the wisdom of age to truly recognize this fact and try to push out the two small circles as much as possible is.  That is what this blog is all about.   This is the foundation to which I am now built.  Its cornerstone of my outlook on life.  Learn something new as often as you can.   I know you know, when you work out a muscle its gets bigger and stronger.  Fact is your brain works the same way.   4 more, 3 more, 2 more, 1 more.   

Now, lets get to your mortgage paid off, and lets pass on the tricks and tips I have learned along the way.

Thanks, and stay tuned for all the great Mortgage Hacks to come.    Truth be told, they span more than just your mortgage.  It draws upon my experience, financial planning, and things that have worked better in the past with respect to your second most valuable commodity.  Your money.

What is the most valuable commodity you might be asking?   Your neural pathways connecting your left and right hemisphere of your brain.

52 words or less, the elevator speech. What do I do.

A friend of mine wanted me to sum up my job and role in a short paragraph.  Just one traditional elevator speech highlighting the features and benefits of being a mortgage broker.  I found this almost impossible without using a single picture, and using a metaphor.

I am licensed and bonded bounty hunter.  I get paid when I find what we are looking for, and you have it all locked up.  My prey?  The perfect mortgage rate, product, and privileges. They are out there sneaking around and it takes a keen tracker and insight into this culture to find them.   

Call/text as we can find you the deal you are looking for!  403-807-8779

Bonds and your Mortgage Interest Rates

Mortgage brokers watch the interest rates every day, and what effects them.  The biggest influence on the interest rates is the bond market. 

 Investors have also been closely observing changes in the U.S. and looking for signs of whether the economic situation has improved enough for the Federal Reserve to decrease the amount of financial assets it buys in the markets — so-called tapering. The quantitative easing program, involving the purchase of US$85 billion of bonds each month, has preserved interest rates low and also helped fuel a strong rally on U.S. stock markets.

Traders also observed to the start of a two-day hearing by Germany’s constitutional court on the validity of a key European Central Bank program that has been recognized with calming the 3 1/2 year-old euro debt crisis. The Federal Constitutional Court is considering arguments against the European Central Bank’s offer to buy government bonds and lower borrowing expenses for indebted countries.   Adversaries of the bond-buying program say the program oversteps the European Central Bank’s mandate, which forbids it from financing governments.


Now how do these two items effect you?    Well when the appetite for bond purchases from governments "tapers off" that send the price down, which sends yields upwards.  I would appear we could expect bond yields to continue to rise over the coming weeks/months ahead. If bond prices go up, so do mortgage rates as they are correlated.   Less bond purchases, equals higher mortgage rates.  Which means more finding the lowest mortgage rate become increasingly important.   Call or text your Alberta Mortgage Broker soon to lock in a rate 403-807-8779

What did the bond rate do now? Down Down Down!

Source: Bank of Canada

A Calgary Mortgage Broker  has to watch the bond rates every day to see what is going to happen next to the Mortgage Rates.  They are heading down, and if they stay that way, the Mortgage Rates will go down to.  Read on for an explanation!

Questions:

How Do Bonds Affect Mortgage Interest Rates?
How Do Government Bond Yields Relate and Affect Mortgage Rates?

Answer:

Bonds are eye-catching to investors who want a fixed and established return on their investment. Most lenders and Banks fall into the classification.  In a typical market, the average "spread" or mark-up above the government bonds is about 120 basis points, or 1.2%. That mark-up widens and contracts with a variety of market circumstances, investor appetites, and amount of available product -- as well as the presence of rival investment opportunities.

Government bonds are 100% guaranteed to be repaid, but mortgages are not; therefore mortgages carry more risk of default or early payout, which could potentially disturb the return on the investment. Therefore, mortgage rates must be priced higher to compensate for that risk.

I bet you are trying to figure out if you should lock in your mortgage with a fixed rate or go Variable?

Traditionally I would always recommend a variable.  But with rates so low and the bond rates going down and the 10 year rate being within 1% of the 5 year rate I would say lock it in for 10 very soon!

If you are still apprehensive you don't necessarily want to choose. A couple of lenders have programs where you can have one mortgage charge and multiple terms.  Which means it will eliminate your stress with a solution to split your mortgage into chunks and diversify your borrowing across variable and fixed terms.   A format that has proved to be very popular from my days investing clients’ money into GIC’s and Term Deposits.  Diversification of your interest rate risk can minimize your interest rate risk and potentially lower your interest charges.   

Give your friendly Calgary Mortgage Broker a call to see how we can help you.

Are the lowest mortgage rates going lower?

Mortgage Wars!

With a slowing market how does one attract new clients?  A CalgaryMortgage Broker will by improving customer service to be better than the competition of course.  As for the banks, one would hope they improve the features and benefits of the mortgage products and make sure the rate is competitive.
Sadly in this hyper competitive market place caused by the slowing of the housing market, the providers are attempting to undercut each other by offering just the lowest rate possible.

What is the problem with just offering the lowest mortgage rates you may ask?  

The whole Canadian system is designed around smart lending, and you naturally see in spring a more competitive market.  However much speculation is that the cooling of the market the government of Canada is trying to create is causing less buyers, which in turn creates more of a feeding frenzy for those who are in the market, as they are all hungry to keep their numbers where there were last year. 

Additionally if rates are so low that is causes the clients who should not be in the market place to enter the market.  The negative repercussions of that down the road when rates go up may place undue financial burden for many first time home buyers, or home owners who are at the top of their allowable ratios.   What happens if they opt of a shorter term, and the rates decide to go up, they could be in trouble.   With the 10 year being so incredibly low, I would often recommend this term to those who may not like the thought of the rate going up and their payments going up to a point that it is no longer comfortable.  For a calculator that may help you click a mortgage calculator

Today most of the big banks have followed BMO after they dropped their 5 year rate to 2.99 and reducing their rates even further, and we are getting further into a scenario the banks are trying their best to undercut the next lender.  It was cautioned today that if the sole focus of the banks is to drive down the cost of borrowing to entice more clients to enter the market then the history of the US may be repeated here in Canada.

Lower mortgage rates are available on the market, and there are hundreds of products so if you would like some reassurance that you are getting the best deal, fill out the form below. 

Or call a Calgary Mortgage Broker