21 Apr

Imagine your future home – Our House Magazine

General

Posted by: Livian Smith

DLC BLOG Imagine your future home – Our House Magazine This article appears in the April issue of Our House Magazine  Looking back at predictions from 50 years ago of what a home would look like and be able to do today, it’s almost laughable. Back then, the home of the future would include rooftop […]

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18 Apr

Closing Costs

General

Posted by: Livian Smith

DLC BLOG Closing Costs Closing costs are a necessity when it comes to purchasing a home. They are not included in down payments, they are not included in monthly mortgage payments, nor are they included in the purchase price of a home, but you are still responsible for paying them, in full. Knowing they exist […]

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18 Apr

Breaking a mortgage – can you do it?

General

Posted by: Livian Smith

DLC BLOG Breaking a mortgage – can you do it? Do you have a mortgage? So do I! Looks like we have something in common. Did you know that 6 out of 10 consumers break their mortgage 38 months into a 5-year term? That means that 60% of consumers break a 5-year term mortgage well before […]

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18 Apr

Canada’s Housing Market Continues Soft Landing

General

Posted by: Livian Smith

Canada’s Housing Market Continues Soft Landing Data released today by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) show a small uptick in home sales nationally in March, their first monthly increase in three months. This comes on the heels of a more than 19% decline in the previous two months as the tighter mortgage stress-testing rules […]

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18 Apr

Poloz Holds Rates, Sees More Room For Growth and Rising Inflation

General

Posted by: Livian Smith

Poloz Holds Rates, Sees More Room For Growth and Rising Inflation The Canadian dollar fell sharply immediately after the release of the Bank of Canada’s Official Statement providing a more bullish forecast for the economy while holding rates steady. The Bank hiked its estimate of noninflationary potential growth, implying there was more room to grow […]

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13 Apr

The Flexible Down Payment Program

General

Posted by: Livian Smith

DLC BLOG The Flexible Down Payment Program One of the toughest challenges for homebuyers is being able to save money at the rate of property price increases. We know many high-income renters would like to be homeowners, but they’re just unaware of how to make the transition and are unable to save fast enough. There […]

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13 Apr

Vacant Possession

General

Posted by: Livian Smith

DLC BLOG Vacant Possession Purchasing a residential property? Two words that matter this Spring; Vacant Possession Your contract had best contain a ‘Vacant Possession’ clause. Why? Mortgage lenders will not concern themselves with your best intentions; it is not about what will be – it is purely about what is.           […]

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11 Apr

The Mortgage Insurance Market & Wholesale Lenders

General

Posted by: Livian Smith

DLC BLOG The Mortgage Insurance Market & Wholesale Lenders The Canadian mortgage market used to be very simple. We had the big banks, credit unions, and trust companies. However, almost 20 years ago, the Canadian government made three major changes to the Canadian mortgage industry. First, the government and CMHC put their weight behind Canadian […]

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11 Apr

Setting Up Your HELOC

General

Posted by: Livian Smith

  DLC BLOG Setting Up Your HELOC A HELOC, or, Home Equity Line of Credit, can be one of the greatest gifts you give yourself. Borrowing money against your home as you accumulate equity through a shrinking mortgage or an increasing property value- something almost many people in the Vancouver and Toronto markets can relate […]

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9 Apr

Top 5 Things To Consider When Building Your New Home

General

Posted by: Livian Smith

DLC BLOG Top 5 Things To Consider When Building Your New Home Building a new home – It’s something that many couples dream of. It can be an exciting, stressful, joyful, crazy time period that many walk away from saying “never again” or “bring on the next one!” We scoured the internet and sorted through […]

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