What Kind Of Mortgage Client Are You?

Conservative, Balanced, or Risk Tolerant?

Conservative

- Prefer certainty on mortgage

- Meet new qualifying rules

- First Time Home Buyer

- Limited budget for payment increase

- Minimal equity in property

- Need to know exact monthly payment, interest rate & interest cost & principal balance outstanding at maturity

- Concerned with rate increase

- Will pay higher rate for long term mortgage stability

- No plans to sell in next 5 years

- Candidate for 4 - 7 years fixed rate

Balanced

- Prefer best of both worlds: variable and fixed rates

- Some equity in property

- Monthly budget not stressed

- Could tolerate fluctuation on some portion of mortgage: monthly payment, interest rate, & interest costs

- May sell within 3 years

- Short term plans with property

- Candidate for short term fixed rates, variable rate with fixed rate conversion option, Hybrid or split mortgage

- Fixed rates 1 - 3 years

Risk Tolerant

- Prefer lowest market rate

- Could tolerate interest rate fluctuation

- Monthly budget not stressed

- Prepared for potential monthly payment increase

- Understands long term savings with variable over fixed rate

- May sell within 1 year

- Short term plans require mortgage flexibility

- Rate instability for potential higher interest cost savings

- Candidate for variable closed or open, could convert to fixed rate anytime

- Variable rate mortgage or short term fixed rate 6 mos - 1 year.   

Identity Theft and Credit Reports 

Once yearly I log onto Equifax.ca to review my credit report.  This is one of the most effective ways to protect your identity and take charge of your credit.

New accounts opened with your identity will appear on your credit report, revealing identity theft to you. If you don't check your credit report, it could be months before the credit grantor, fed up with nonpayment, turns the account over to a collector who tracks you down and demands payment for a loan you've never even heard of.

Your credit report can have a dramatic impact on your financial stability. With good credit, you can obtain benefits of all kinds - a home mortgage or lease on an apartment, an auto loan, low interest credit cards and more - with ease. But if your credit history is poor, many of these financial options may be unavailable to you. Either way, you have a right to know what to expect when a lender runs a credit check on you.

It is essential that you check all of your credit reports - and monitor your credit regularly - to protect your good credit standing, even if you always pay all your bills on time.

And if your credit is less than perfect now, checking your report will help you identify lingering problems so you can deal with them effectively and move on toward an improved credit standing. Whatever your situation, reviewing your report regularly is the only way to be sure that you will go into any credit conversations knowing everything lenders will know.

Check out these Websites! 

MY BLOG    

Virtual Banks  

As a mortgage consultant I have access to a number of lenders: chartered banks, local credit unions, as well as some financial institutions who only deal with mortgage brokers.  These financial institutions fund their mortgages through Canadian Mortgage Bonds and these funds are insured through the Government of Canada.

Traditional banks such as RBC, CIBC and BMO and major companies such as Merrill Lynch saw an opportunity to expand their services into new divisions which specialized in mortgages.   

These new "virtual banks" did not offer full branch networks, therefore lowering long-term operational costs.  Their overhead was much lower than traditional banks, allowing them to offer better interest rates and mortgage terms.   

Fortunately with the addition of these new entries into Canadian mortgage market, lenders have become more competitive, resulting in more options for borrowers.  

Macquarie Financial, MCAP and ING are examples of financial institutions who offer access through email, telephone or mortgage brokers.   

Local Talent!  

Lisa Riehl is a landscape and pet portrait artist from Sooke, BC.  Her landscapes are based on the photos that she takes when she is out and about in some of the amazing locations here on the West Coast.  One of her recent paintings, "Little Red Run", is a view of one of Whistler's ski runs.  Lisa's pet portraits are mostly commissions, although she has done quite a few of her own dog Lucy (black lab cross).  "Nostrildamus" is a close up of Lucy's nose, from a photo she took using a fish-eye lens.

Lisa's next art show will be at Serious Coffee in Sooke for the months of June and July.  For more information, please visit her website.

Here is the fabulous painting Lisa did of my dog Sonny.