Ajax Pickering Real Estate Blog

With so many new mortgage features being introduced in the Canadian marketplace, the choices for the consumer are immense. Perhaps the most anxiety-ridden part of house hunting is figuring out how much you can afford. Your real estate agent or a specialized Mortgage Consultant offers the expert, impartial mortgage advice you need, and can educate you on the range of mortgage types which are now available.

The formula used to be simple. For decades, the thinking was that your monthly mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance, should not exceed 28% of your gross pay, and that all your loans, mortgage included, should not exceed 36%. Lenders used that formula to qualify people for loans, and people relied on lenders to tell them what they could afford.

Today, lenders rarely use this cookie-cutter method. Some focus more on how much of a person’s monthly income goes toward paying off debt. Some do not use ratios at all. But whatever method lenders use, borrowers should play it safe and stick to the old formula, even if it means scaling back expectations.

You may need to start with a condominium or a small house, look at your purchase as the first investment, and then move up. Do not assume that because a lender is willing to loan you a certain amount of money, you should take all of it. Instead, assess your financial situation, make a budget and decide how much you can afford to sink into a mortgage each month.

Start by figuring out how much you now pay for housing. Do you have to pay the same amount on a home loan? Can you afford to pay more? If so, how much?

Below is some of the Mortgage options currently available in the Canadian Market:

Fixed Rate vs. Variable Rate Mortgages
With a fixed rate mortgage, the interest rate stays the same throughout the term of the loan, providing a measure of stability that some prefer. A variable rate mortgage can allow the borrower to take advantage of low rates as it typically has an interest rate that is calculated on an ongoing basis at the Bank of Canada prime lending rate minus a set percentage.

An Open or Closed Mortgage?
Open mortgages allow the borrower to pre-pay, renew or refinance at any time before maturity without penalties. A “closed” mortgage, on the other hand, usually allows for a set percentage of the principal to be prepaid without penalty. A “closed” mortgage may also be renegotiated or refinanced in most cases with the payment of a penalty which varies from lender to lender.

High-Ratio Mortgages
While a conventional mortgage is a loan for up to 80% of the purchase price of a property, a high-ratio mortgage allows you to borrow up to 95–100% of the purchase price. This type of mortgage must be insured.

The above-mentioned options are just a starting point – there are numerous other mortgage features to be explored, a specialized Mortgage Consultant will work with you to determine which mortgage best meets your individual needs and objectives.

————————————————————————————————————

Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960

========================================================

For any bank home loan 2nd mortgage is quite a popular option. However, the mortgage calculators reveal that the deals that claim to be the best remortgages are never trustworthy, leading to piling up debts. The mortgage brokers reveal that most of the mortgage leads generated are the ones going for 2nd mortgage and hence return back due to reliable service earlier.

========================================================

Chestnut Hill Homes offers a limited-time sports equipment gift package with each purchase at San Francisco By The Bay

San Francisco By The Bay is making a big splash on the shores of Frenchman’s Bay in Pickering. The community offers an appealing selection of condominium suites and townhomes from an award-winning builder, value-packed prices, innovative designs, fabulous features, parkland and greenspace, along with an incredible location. For the next few weeks, there are six more reasons to choose San Francisco By The Bay as your home – a raft of toys to help you start enjoying life here right away. Chestnut Hill Homes invites buyers to “Live Where You Play” by offering a special sports equipment gift package. With each purchase (upon occupancy), receive his’ and hers’ pairs of inline skates, two mountain bikes, a kayak for two, plus the opportunity to enter to win a Sea-Doo.

The package celebrates the recreational opportunities in this outdoor-lover’s haven, which is handy to walking and biking trails and is just steps from the bay. Master-planned, pedestrian-friendly San Francisco By The Bay is located at Bayly Street, just east of Whites Road, close to the Pickering Town Centre, Pickering GO station and Hwy. 401. The prices are so reasonable, that in many cases it would cost more to rent an equivalent space elsewhere – a fact that is attracting everyone from first-timers to young families and empty-nesters.

A great selection remains in the 16- and 18-ft. condominium towers, which share a two-storey podium that will include 25,500 sq. ft. of retail-commercial suites including live-work units. Active residents will appreciate the 12,500-sq.-ft. amenity area, where they can work out in a fabulous fitness room, take a dip in the indoor pool, entertain friends in the party room that opens onto a deck, host gatherings in the multi-purpose room, or just unwind with the latest best-seller in the quiet reading lounge.

In the suites themselves, owners will reap the benefits of individually controlled heating and air conditioning, a stacked washer and dryer, four kitchen appliances, ceramics, engineered laminate hardwood flooring and much more. These one- and two-bedroom designs, many with dens, start from the $160’s.

Those who choose a townhome will enjoy luxurious interiors framed by brick, stone and/or stucco exteriors, most with a rooftop garden. Each townhome includes two parking spots, vinyl casement windows, engineered floor systems, nine-ft. main-floor ceilings, designer-imported ceramics, custom-styled kitchen cabinetry, and more. Prices start from the mid-$200’s.

If you’d like to Live Where You Play, act soon to take advantage of the limited-time gift package. (Qualified purchasers will have the option of accepting the cash equivalent of any of these prizes if they wish. Some restrictions apply.

San Francisco By The Bay buyers come out for a specialized banking seminar

For a first-time purchaser, buying a condominium suite or townhome means an exciting new lifestyle – and possibly some financial questions.

Recognizing that, developer Chestnut Hill Homes recently hosted an event for their San Francisco By The Bay community in Pickering, popular with a range of buyers, including those making their first home purchase. With a selection of tasty summer refreshments on offer, the team at Chestnut Hill welcomed some VIP guests, as well as their VIP buyers, to discuss the banking aspects behind buying a suite or townhouse in the community.

The Condo Guide Magazine is an excellent source of housing information for those looking for information on new condos in Ontario, Canada. We offer the most up-to-date information on new condominiums across the greater Toronto area.

————————————————————————————————————

Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960

Cottages, condos will be hot real estate buys of the future: report

Anne Howland, CanWest News Service

An aging Canadian population and increasing immigration will bring significant changes to the country’s real estate market, a report released Monday suggests.

Short-term cyclical factors will slow Canada’s hot real estate market over the next several years, according to the latest Real Estate Trends from Scotia Economics, while long-term fundamentals, including slower population growth, will dampen demand.

According to the report, the average annual rate of population growth will slow to just 0.8% over the coming decade, reflecting an aging society and historically low fertility rates.

“This less favourable demographic trend does not in itself pose a major risk to the housing outlook,” said Adrienne Warren, senior economist with Scotia Economics. “Real household income growth and the level of interest rates have a statistically more significant influence on real estate sales and price appreciation.”

Yet the moderation in housing demand comes as affordability is at a cycle low, supply conditions are better balanced and pent-up demand has largely been met, potentially reinforcing the industry’s more subdued prospects, the report suggested.

A slowdown would follow a booming real estate market that has shown little signs of abating for several years. The Canadian Real Estate Association recently reported that the average resale price for agent-listed homes in Canada surpassed $300,000 in April for the first time ever, with record highs in seven provinces. The seasonally adjusted sales rate in April was also a record, up 0.6% from the previous record set in January, CREA said. Year-to-date sales were also at a new high, 6.7% more than last year, it added.

“Demographic shifts will also influence the type of housing in demand,” added Warren. “In particular, the changing age structure of the Canadian population and the growing significance of immigration will likely favour certain forms of housing and certain geographical areas.”

The Canadian population aged 25 to 44 years - those with the highest probability of buying a home in any given year - is projected to increase by just two per cent between 2006 and 2016, the report noted. All of the growth will come from the youngest in this cohort (aged 25 to 34), reflecting the maturing of the baby echo generation, it added.

“These buyers, many of them singles or young professional couples, should support continuing moderate demand for entry-level homes and condos, particularly in urban centres close to employment opportunities,” said Warren.

The population aged 35 to 44 years (the smaller baby bust generation) is expected to decline in absolute numbers over the same period, the report said. This group encompass both first-time buyers and households in their early “trade-up” years, it added. They are more likely to have young families and favour larger suburban homes, a real estate segment that could underperform, the report noted.

The number of Canadians aged 45 to 64 years is projected to rise by 15%, while Canadians 65 and over will jump by 65 per cent, the report said. Even with the higher level of housing market activity of younger Canadians, the number of sales involving late-stage “move up” buyers and “downsizers” could dominate those of more traditional homebuyers, it added.

“While the lifestyles and housing needs of these more mature homeowners vary widely, an aging population should favour new construction over resales, lower maintenance options such as condominiums, second homes and vacation properties, and urban areas with greater amenities,” said Warren.

“Immigration will also play an increasingly important role in shaping housing demand,” Warren added. “Immigration has been the dominant source of household formation since the early 1990s, a trend that will accelerate over the coming decade as the rate of natural population growth continues to slow.”

Net international migration is expected to account for over two-thirds of Canada’s population growth between 2006 and 2016, something not seen since Wilfrid Laurier was prime minister, the report noted, adding immigration could be Canada’s only source of population growth by about 2030.

Relatively weaker earnings growth compared to native-born Canadians is a possible factor behind the difficulty faced by some recent immigrant households in making the transition from renter to homeowner, the report said. Immigrant families are also more likely than native-born Canadians to locate in major cities where homeownership rates in general are lower and home prices higher, the report said.

“More than one-third of foreign-born residents in Canada’s largest urban centres have been in Canada for 10 years or less. This suggests a significant pool of potential homebuyers ready to enter the Canadian real estate market,” said Warren.

————————————————————————————————————

Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960