Real Estate Glossary: Q

Qualifying Ratios
As calculated by lenders, the percentage of income that is spent on housing debt and combined household debt. The first qualifying ratio, called the gross debt service or GDS is up to and including a maximum of 32% of the combined gross family income. The second qualifying ratio is the Total debt service or TDS is up to and including 40% of gross income.

Quit Claim Deed
A general release of all claims or rights to a parcel of land.

More Listings on the Market Slows Canadian Price Increase

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) reported Friday that the price for resale homes rose only 4% in April compared with the same month a year earlier, the slowest rate of increase in six years.

The slowdown in price increases resulted from a sharp increase in listings and a slower growth in sales, the report showed. Two new properties were listed for sale for every home that sold through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system across Canada in April.

The number of new listings of homes for sale on the MLS of real estate boards in Canada reached its highest level ever in April 2008 at 77,248 units, the report showed. Meanwhile, the number of homes sold during the month came in at 36,614 units in April

The national MLS residential average price rose 4% year-over-year to $317,619 in April 2008. This is the smallest year-over-year price increase in over six years.

Source: CEP News

Your Mortgage Broker: A Source for Financial Solutions

A mortgage broker can assist you in ways that go well beyond offering great rates.

Many people think of a mortgage broker as someone who can help them get a good rate on their mortgage. While this is certainly true, a mortgage broker can also help you with much more than that.

A mortgage broker is a licensed financial professional with whom you can form a long-term relationship that can extend to various types of financing. Here are some examples:

  • If you have an upcoming expense, such as sending your child to college or university, your mortgage broker can help you cash out equity in your home or secure a home equity line of credit.
  • If you are looking to buy a cabin or lakefront property, a mortgage broker can help you with financing for it.
  • Little-known fact: If you are having problems meeting all of your financial obligations, a mortgage broker can help you consolidate your debts by securing a debt consolidation loan, so you have just a single, manageable payment every month.
  • If you want to finance a renovation or other major expenditures, your broker can help arrange suitable refinancing options.
  • When it’s time to renew the mortgage, your broker can find a competitive mortgage program and interest rate other than your current bank or financial institutions resulting in further savings.
  • Mortgage brokers may also be able to give you information about legal services for buying a home and recommend realtors, appraisers, and home inspectors.

Written by: Danuta Levitzki.
Conseillère en Financement Hypothécaire | Mortgage Loan Specialist.
For current interest rates or to get more information on mortgage financing feel free to visit Danuta’s website at www.HYPOTHECA.net or call direct at 1-800-605-6154.

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Surestimer le prix d’une propriété: risqué!

Beaucoup de vendeurs se disent qu’ils n’ont rien à perdre à essayer de lister leur propriété à un prix plus élevé. Ils se disent que leur prix est toujours négociable ou qu’ils pourront toujours réajuster leur prix en cour de route. Avec les conditions actuelles du marché cette stratégie peut s’avérer plutôt néfaste qu’avantageuse pour l’obtention du meilleur prix possible. Voici pourquoi :

Moins de gens verront la propriété.

Il y a plusieurs moyens d’offrir de la visibilité à une propriété à vendre. La pancarte À VENDRE, le bouche à oreille, la publicité dans les journaux ou à la télévision et bien entendu, l’internet. La publicité sur internet peut se faire à travers plusieurs différents sites ex. :MLS.ca, les sites des différentes bannières de courtiers immobiliers, les sites de petites annonces et biens d’autres possibilités.

Le fait est que la plus part de ces sites fonctionnent avec des moteurs de recherche qui permettent aux utilisateurs de sélectionner leurs critères de recherche. Le prix maximal qui les intéresse est souvent le critère le plus important et fonctionne dans la plupart des cas par tranches de 10 000$ ou 25 000$. Cela signifie qu’un acheteur qui a un budget maximal de 235 000$ pour son acquisition devra sélectionner la tranche de prix allant jusqu’à 240 000$ pour les tranches de 10 000$ ou 250 000$ si ce sont des tranches de 25 000$.

Bien sur souvent, les acheteurs sélectionneront un montant un peu plus haut que leur budget mais il est important de savoir que dans bien des cas aujourd’hui, la marge de négociation est étroite dans le cas ou la propriété est listée au bon prix et les acheteurs qui sont de plus en plus informés le savent et limitent leurs recherches à quelques milliers de dollars au dessus de leur budget. Alors imaginez le nombre de clients potentiels qui pourraient se permettre de s’offrir la propriété mais qui risque de ne même pas la voir puisque elle est présentée à un prix qui dépasse la tranche qui les intéresse.

Difficiles d’attirer les offres.

Certains acheteurs verront tout de même la propriété car ils ont un budget plus élevé. Par contre, lorsqu’ils la visiteront ils la compareront à d’autres du même prix mais qui offrent beaucoup plus. Alors pourquoi feraient-ils une offre sur celle-ci si leur budget leur permettre d’acheter l’autre qu’ils ont vu qui est beaucoup plus grande ou qui offre beaucoup plus de luxe ou d’avantages? [Read more...]

Real Estate Glossary: P

Payment Adjustment Period
The time period where payments on an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) may fluctuate.

Payment Cap
A contractual limitation on the amount of the monthly payment of an adjustable-rate mortgage or other variable rate loan.

Penalty
In mortgage terms, a penalty is a set rate or length of time the penalty will be charged based on the remaining loan amount. The penalty is usually three months interest or interest rate differential. [Read more...]

Dropping your price a little too late?

You started out with a high listing price. It’s been a while since your property is for sale…and no offers.

What could be wrong?

The property is in a hot neighbourhood, so the location is not the problem.

The conditions are great; top-notch with lots of renovations. You even got complemented on the décor and how well maintained it was.

Then why are there no offers?

Could it be the price?

After giving it some thought, you realized that perhaps, the reason why those few visitors never made an offer is because your property might be over the market value.

And you should know what the market value is…

Before listing your property, you checked the MLS for the current listings in your area, compared to similar properties, called an agent to give you a free home evaluation (just to make sure) and got a sheet called the “” (CMA), then decided what the asking price should be – regardless of what that CMA thingy said about the suggested asking price. Did you not?

Ok.

Now your property is NOT selling. What do you do next?

You drop the price. But, by now it might be a little too late. Your property is old news.

(The Risks of) selling your home above market price.

Let’s say you finally get an accepted offer for your house, from an uninformed buyer.

Like most buyers out there, they will need a mortgage; in these situations the offer to purchase is conditional to mortgage approval. No mortgage, no deal.

When receiving the (signed and final) offer to purchase, the mortgage lender requires an appraisal of the property before they consent to the financing. If the current market conditions and the comparable sales for the last six months do not support your sales price, the banks won’t approve it.

The lender will give their own appraisal to the buyer, and the amount they are willing to lend based on that evaluation. If the buyer is putting 20% down payment, the bank will finance 80%. Not a penny more. Which means: the buyers have to get more money, so they can afford your property.

And your deal falls through.

If the buyer is still interested, you can try to re-negotiate the price or the terms. But if not, your property could go back on the market.

Remember:

The longer a home sits on the market, the harder it is to get a good offer.

Once the offer expires, your property is available for new visits, but by now any informed potential buyer who kept an eye on your property will know there were offers on the table, and if they don’t know they will ask. It is your responsibility (or your listing agent’s) to reveal the reasons why the deal didn’t go through, without disclosing the previous accepted price.

There’s nothing more frustrating than having all the ingredients for a successful sale, (pre-approved buyer, a good inspection report, etc.) and then having the bank refusing to lend the money because the property “Is not worth that amount”

New buyers interested in making an offer will think that since the property has been on the market so long; the owner might be desperate to sell by now, and making a low-ball offer will probably get accepted.

By starting out with a high listing price, you could end up selling for a much lower price.

Here are a few more reasons why you should not overprice your home

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