renew? I've coordinated renewal of several mortgages over the past few months (you may recall we sometimes try to time renewals for US election years because of typically coinciding rate dips), and here's what I've learned: Existing variable rates are crazy-low (as...
defer? Since March, Canadian lenders have offered borrowers an opportunity to defer mortgage payments (they're okay with this because interest continues to accrue, and they're in the business of earning interest). As one of our goals is the rapid repayment of...
exit? 2006 and 2007 were frothy years in Alberta real estate, followed by a not-unexpected collapse in 2008. We waited for things to settle down before beginning to acquire property at significant discounts to those earlier insane prices. When I first spoke with...
Canada Day, originally known as Dominion Day (until 1982), marks the anniversary of Confederation in 1867 when the British North America Act came into effect. Happy Canada Day!
I used to have a rule of thumb: I’d buy any single-family home at 20% below current market value. Now, I’m not so sure. On May 27, Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation (CMHC) released a special edition of their Housing Market Outlook. In it there’s...
What follows are notes prepared and shared by my friend John Diack on a recent web-conference. You are invited to view the full discussion and access source documents: Recession or Depression: Why What Happens NEXT Matters. Goals for this chat: prepare to be our very...