In the Vancouver market, we often hear about the benchmark price, the average price, and the median home price. Usually that of a specific neighbourhood or municipality. However, what buyers rarely hear is the average price of the bottom 80% of listings of the Greater Vancouver Area. Y’know, the properties that the overwhelming majority of […]
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How to pay off debt faster – 25 secret tips
1. Make a double mortgage payment whenever you can. Doing this once a year can shave over 4 years off the mortgage! Sometimes you can skip a payment later on too…if you really, really need to. Try not to. If your payment is $2,000 a month, four years of no payments is $96,000!! 2. Increase […]
Property Tax Time 2016
We’ve come to the least favourite time of year as a home owner….property tax time! I generally get a lot of questions on what to do and how to do it. Below is an example of a tax notice just received. You will notice there are three columns; A, B and C. Column A is […]
Appraisals – Who Do They Belong To?
A mortgage broker’s job comes with its share of uncomfortable moments. Telling a client that you can’t provide them with the appraisal they just paid for is one of them. It’s an issue that comes up time and again, but one that’s frequently misunderstood. Appraisers and brokers cannot simply hand over appraisals to clients, despite the client being […]
Three Big Mortgage Complaints
I read this article and it’s bang on with a few main concerns I’ve noticed and seen in my lengthy career as an independent mortgage broker. I’ll touch on two up front.Penalties: The banks have penalties anywhere from 3-5 times higher than the non banks we use. Here’s the best illustration. Pre-approvals: Since pre-approvals are […]