Why Deal with a Mortgage Broker?

Brokers search for the best lender package to suit your specific financial situation, whether it’s with a Chartered Bank, Trust or Insurance Company. There is a wide variety of options and features available to homebuyers today. To find the best offer takes a lot of time and effort. The mortgage process within today’s very competitive marketplace makes many Canadian homebuyers puzzled. It truly pays to work with a mortgage professional that will represent you and ensure the mortgage you get is the one best tailored to your needs.

NOTE: Choosing the wrong mortgage can cost you thousands of unnecessary paid interest money.

Why Should You Go To a Mortgage Broker First?

A professional presentation to a lender on the first application will get the best response and save you valuable time and money. Secondary applications with previous credit bureau inquiries may be more costly.
Often the success of obtaining mortgage approval depends on the way a proposal is presented and to whom it is sent. Your Mortgage Broker is trained to present your mortgage proposal to obtain the most immediate and positive result.

Example: You don’t call an insurance company for insurance - you use an insurance broker, because of their expertise, product knowledge and rates. So remember, call your mortgage broker first!

How Do Brokers Get Better Deals Than Many Banks?

Brokers often develop professional relationships with private sources of funds, termed private lenders. These lenders can provide many various mortgage products not available at conventional sources.

Can You Still Go Through Your Bank With Your Broker?

Yes, letting a Mortgage Broker represent you to your own financial institution can often result in a better rate than you could get on your own.

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 her website or call direct at 1-800-605-6154.

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La taxe de bienvenue: C’est quoi et comment la calculer?

La « taxe de Bienvenue » est en fait le nom commun donné aux droits sur les mutations immobilières. Toutes les municipalités ont le devoir de percevoir un droit pour le transfert de titre de tout immeuble qu’il soit neuf ou usagé situé sur leur territoire. C’est à l’acheteur que revient de payer ce droit.

La « taxe de Bienvenue » est calculée à partir du plus élevé des montants suivants:

Le prix payé pour l’acquisition de l’immeuble
Le montant de la contrepartie inscrite à l’acte de transfert
La valeur inscrite au rôle d’évaluation municipale uniformisée

Elle est calculée comme suit :

• 0.5% pour les premiers 50 000$
• 1.0% entre 50 000$ et 250 000$
• 1.5% pour les montants excédant 250 000$

Exemple 1 :

Pour une propriété d’une valeur de 275 000$ :

50 000 X 0.5% = 250$
(250 000 - 50 000) = 200 000 X 1.0% = 2000$
(275 000 - 250 000) = 25 000 X 1.5% = 375$
TOTAL :
250$ + 2000$ + 375$ = 2625$

Exemple 2 :

Pour une propriété d’une valeur de 180 000$ :

50 000 X 0.5% = 250$
(180 000 - 50 000) = 130 000 X 1.0% = 1300$
(Excédant de 250 000$ taxé à 1.5% non applicable)
TOTAL :
250$ + 1300$ = 1550$

Pour obtenir plus d’informations sur les droits de mutations, contactez la municipalité concernée.

Written by Sheila Iacono. Affiliated Real Estate Agent.
Royal Le Page Habitaction. Chartered Real Estate Broker

English Version

How to repossess your income property

You found an income property you like.

The place is perfect for you; great location, in fantastic condition. It’s fully rented with good paying tenants in long term leases. The revenues are good enough to cover all the expenses; including your own part of the mortgage….Because, after all, you are buying the place to move in. Right?

Living rent free, what a dream!

But wait a minute. Isn’t the building fully rented?

“Yes, but as the new owner, I can take back one of the units whenever I decide to” - You might be thinking.

Well, it doesn’t really work that way. You see, according to the Régie du logement:

“All tenants have the right to remain in the rental unit indefinitely as long as they respect the terms of the lease…”

How can you repossess one of the units, if there’s no problem with the terms?
Do you have to wait until someone decides to leave in order to move in?

Fortunately, the law also mentions…

“(However) the landlord may terminate the lease under certain circumstances.”

Now, that’s interesting >>

Montreal’s most expensive condo. Whoa!

As you already know, Montreal’s first quarter market reports were released last week, and the average price of a condo is now $205,000, a 2% increase from last year. Well, a price like that won’t get you much in Montreal’s hottest spots.

If the average price is 205k, what’s the most expensive apartment for sale at this moment? We searched online for properties over 3 million in the metropolitan area, and came up with 3 winners. But this one gets the cake:

It’s located in Old Montreal. The asking price is over 4 million, [Read more]

Condo-Hotel Le Crystal is now open

$80 million and three years later, the new and stylish Condo Hotel Le Crystal opens its doors for business. You know you’ve been waiting to hear about it.

The building itself is quite impressive to look at, and we’re not so worried about it’s popularity; considering they are also the owners of the trendy Le Saint-Sulpice in Old Montreal, (supposedly, one with the highest occupancy rates in the City) this new Hotel will be for sure a popular spot.

But forget about the 131 suites, what really got our attention was the 53 condos built in addition to the rooms.

According to the Gazette’s article, most of them have been already sold (of course).

“The Spa and some of the top floors are still under construction” - The condos, perhaps?

“…and are expected to be complete in the summer.”

If you want to pass by and pay a visit (even if from the outside), Le Crystal is located at:
1100 rue de la Montagne, corner of Blvd. René Lévesque. You can’t miss it, is the tallest building in that corner.

More news on condo developments? Subscribe Now!

SLEB: The criminal scandal behind the luxury project.

The luxury condo development called Sleb on the corner of St. Laurent and Ontario was originally started by Minco Construction. In 2003 by Luciano Minicucci. Dozens of home buyers invested at the pre-construction level of this project.

The project started in 2003 to be completed in 2005 and that same year Minco Construction sought bankruptcy protection from it’s creditors, since then no work has been completed in Sleb. Last November the superior court withdrew the project from MINCO Corporation to give it to Bartolo Dalle Nogare (9170-6929 Quebec Inc.), the new owner.

Luciano Minicucci was arrested in Italy in mid January 2008, for extortion against the new owner of Sleb. [Read more]

What’s included in your Condo fees?

Condo owners pay a monthly fee to cover their portion of the operating expenses of the common property elements. A portion of this fee is assigned to the reserve fund.

The calculation of condo fees varies by province but is usually specified in the governing documents of the condo corporation. These fees are usually calculated from the annual operating cost of the entire condominium and divided by the percentage of your contribution to the common expenses (your unit factor) as outlined in the condominium governing documents and/or local legislation.
These fees may include:

• Day-to-day care and upkeep of the common property elements (e.g. snow removal, landscaping, cleaning of common elements including carpets and exterior windows, heating/cooling system maintenance)
• Contributions to the reserve fund, which is used to pay for major repairs to, and replacement of, common building systems to ensure the condominium is kept in good repair over the life of the building

[Read more]

Should your house be staged before you sell?

To Stage or Not to Stage – that is the question!
by Sveta Melchuk

Staging a Home for sale will cost you money. Is it worth spending time and effort on it? After all, once the decision to sell has been made, you just want to get it over with as fast as possible, right?

First, did you determine the «right» price for your house? It should be based on certain objective criteria, such as the location of the property, sale price of comparable homes in your neighbourhood and today’s market conditions. But don’t forget the desirability factor…
While you can’t control some of the other criteria, you definitely have a say in the way your property looks, feels and is perceived by prospective buyers. Increase the visual/emotional value of your property and you will increase its desirability, therefore the price and the urgency to buy it from potential buyers. Why?

It’s the perception of the value that counts. The first impressions make a big difference in the way we perceive a person, an object or a service and, subconsciously, the decision is taken within the first 90 seconds on whether we’ll be «buying» and what value we assign to it.

Even before the prospective buyers set foot in your house, they are probably shopping on the Internet, checking the photos of the properties available in the selected neighbourhood and within their budget. They will make an opinion about your property based on what they see in the pictures and they will decide right there whether it’s worth their time to visit in person. If you have not managed to draw them in at this stage, you might have lost dozens, maybe hundreds of visitors to your house!

Your strategy should be to make the BEST first impression possible, in the Virtual world and for all the prospective buyers who will come to your door. Once they are visiting, make them focus on the property’s best features and show them the value of what they are getting. Choosing a particular house is a largely emotional decision, so make them choose yours. Statistics clearly demonstrate that a clean, spacious and well decorated home sells faster and for more money than other comparable properties.

Staging uses some simple but highly effective techniques to make your house look its best in preparation for sale. So, by spending a few hundred dollars on preparing your house properly, you will be gaining a lot more at the sale time. And staging services cost much less than a price «adjustment» on the house!

So should your house be staged before you sell?

This article was written by Sveta Melchuk from www.Home-Staging-Montreal.com. A Montreal firm specializing in Home Staging and Interior Re-design services.

Making an Offer to Purchase

Once you have found the home you would like to purchase, you need to present the vendor with an Offer to Purchase or an Agreement of Purchase and Sale. As your home is probably your biggest investment, it would be wise to work with your real estate agent and/or a lawyer/notary in preparing your offer. Remember that the Offer to Purchase or Agreement of Purchase and Sale is a legal document and should be carefully prepared.

Any offer or agreement will typically include:

• Your legal name, the name of the vendor and the legal civic address of the property.
• The purchase price offered.
• The chattels that will be included in the purchase price (e.g.: window coverings, appliances or a satellite dish). Whatever items in or around the home that you think are included in the sale should be specifically stated in your offer.
• The amount of deposit.
• The closing day (date you take possession of the home)–usually 30 to 60 days from the date of agreement. It can also be 90 days or longer.
• Request for a current land survey of the property.
• Date when the offer becomes null and void.
• Any other conditions that go with the offer, including property inspection and approval of mortgage financing.

The process of making an offer, receiving a counteroffer and then revising it again is not uncommon. The whole process can seem like a roller coaster ride – exciting, but stressful. It’s all part of making the deal work best for you and the vendor.

Source: CMHC. Subscribe to the Montreal Real Estate Blog

Pre-approval: what it really means

Early on and even before you start home shopping , you need to determine the price range that suits you. If you plan to finance your purchase with a mortgage loan, sit down with your lender or mortgage specialist to discuss your needs and get mortgage pre-approval. That way, you know exactly how much you can spend on your new home.

• Pre-approval means that your lender commits to giving you a mortgage loan up to a specified amount at certain terms and conditions, including the interest rate.
• Pre-approval are only valid for a specific period.
• Pre-approval doesn’t lock you into the mortgage. You are still free to pursue other arrangements, including getting a mortgage loan through another bank instead.

The benefits of having a pre approval letter with you before starting the home hunting are numerous since it gives you advantage over those home shoppers who have no clue on what their factual financial limitations are.

[Read more]

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