Apr 30 - May 3, 2009

Los Angeles to Vancouver.

Aboard the Norwegian Sun!

Click here for details

 

Join us for some RE speakers, the restaurants, the spa, the great get-away from normal life! Cabins are still available!

How do I decide if investing in U.S. real estate is right for me?

You're reading the VREIC newsletter and see another investing opportunity about property in a far-away state, so you click on the link and there's a flood of data and images. "Is this all real?" and "How do I find out?" you may ask yourself. You go to google maps, type in the city name and up comes the street or map view. Wow! the place does exist! You zoom in and out to get some context, compare it all in your mind to your city and decide to do what?

What you do next depends on a few important factors:

• Are you comfortable with putting your money in folks' hands who are far away or do you need to see and touch properties before you buy them?
• Are you excited about this possibility or worried about missing this opportunity?
• When you look at the pictures do you see a home you could live in or a house that's rentable?
• Are you focused on your immediate cash-flow or do you see yourself making a contribution to that far-away community and its citizens?
• When you see the pro-forma data do you see a whole bunch of numbers or a clear picture of the financial possibilities?
• Do you imagine travelling there to see your property and perhaps buy more or is this place a far-off, mysterious city with crime, shysters and nothing in common with your experience in the world?
  

Answering the above can quickly help you reveal your fundamental readiness for investing abroad. The real answer ultimately lies in your heart and gut. Above is the data your head needs. Those who are RE investing focused, who use the numbers quickly and effectively to make decisions, who are optimistic and see houses as commodities will likely be good candidates for investing in those properties. So be honest with yourself. Ask yourself: can you live with your decision day in and day out? Get to the place of clearly knowing if it's right for you. Then you can let the uncertainty fade from your gut and be an effective decision maker.

Hey, don't quit looking at interesting opportunities in the U.S., you can still learn something useful from each one.

Gord

With RRSP season just ahead of us I am happy to present Shires latest Investment opportunity in Sidney BC on Vancouver Island.
 
With the volatile share market at the moment invest your money into LAND. A fixed tangible asset not just a number on a statement.
 
With a Minimum Investment of $10,000, put your money to work for you and earn a projected 41% return in 2 years.
 
Interest of 8% sheltered in RRSP and profit sharing dividend paid to you in cash on the outside.
                                        
Investment Highlights
 
Contact Joe Messina today for an appointment to learn more joem@shireinvestments.com or ph 403 681 3577

 

Not the time to lock in

With all the changes to variable rate mortgages last week, consumers may be wondering if now is a good time to be locking into a long-term mortgage. It begs the question, should someone who is currently in a variable rate mortgage lock in today?
 
The operative word here is 'currently'- for those individuals I would say no. The Bank of Canada dropped Prime last week and all indications are that they will drop it even further when they meet again on the 21st. So yes, the chartered banks did increase the cost of variable rate mortgages for new clients, but if you are in the middle of a variable rate - your mortgage just got cheaper and all indications are that it will go down even further. So I would be inclined to ride the downward trend for now. Just keep in mind - it can swing the other way in a hurry so be sure to keep a close eye on it over the upcoming months.

There has been a lot of focus on the stock market over the past weeks, but amongst all the news off bailouts and crashes, a casualty a lot of people may have missed is that of the Variable Rate Mortgage. Experts are saying that this past weeks may go down as a historical period in the mortgage industry.

It all started when some of the lenders started lowering the discount they were offering off of the Prime rate for all Variable Rate Mortgages. Soon after most lenders had gone from lowering the discount to no discount at all and then, 24 hours later,  a majority of banks had gone to Prime plus 1% and in one case Prime plus 2%.

While this was going on with the chartered banks, the Bank of Canada was participating in a global rate cutting initiative to lower rates. The Central Bank lowered the Overnight Lending Rate by a half point, but for the first time in over 10 years, the chartered banks chose not to match it, cutting Prime by only a quarter point and in fact, two lenders have temporarily suspended their Variable Rate Mortgages all together - citing the increasing market turmoil and rising cost of borrowing money as the reason.
 
Now the good news is that these changes to the Variable Rate only affect new mortgages. If you are currently in a Variable, then your mortgage just got cheaper and with the expectation of further rate cuts in the upcoming months, I wouldn't recommend rushing to lock in just yet.

DISCLAIMER: These bulletins are for information purposes only and do not constitute financial advise. Before important decisions, clients should seek the opinion of their Financial Advisor.

Thanks to Lance and his team at Canada's Best Mortgage