10 things to check before you buy a new home The process of buying a new home—especially if it’s your first time—is incredibly intimidating. And while there are certain things you may know you’re going to want to change upon moving in (like paint colors or retiling), if you’ve never gone through this before you may not know what else to watch out for before you sign the dotted line (just because a home is gorgeous on the outside, it’s not impervious to having a bunch of costly-to-fix issues that go way beyond the surface—remember The Money Pit?). Here, via apartmenttherapy.com, a handy checklist of all kinds of things a potential buyer should be mindful of: Read the rest of this entry »

RBC has introduced new rate specials for their 3, 4 and 5 year fixed term mortgages. To be eligible for these rates the new mortgage must advance within 30 days of the application date.  No extensions are permitted.

       3 year fixed – 3.60%
       4 year fixed – 3.99%
       5 year fixed – 4.14%

Please call Roberta & Tony with RBC at 780-418-7208 if you would like to take advantage of these special offers.

Roberta Melik I Mortgage Specialist I  Royal Bank of Canada
T. 780-418-7208  F. 780-418-7219
Edmonton & Area
Website:  http://mortgages.rbcroyalbank.com/roberta.melik

**For additional ADVICE YOU CAN BANK ON, please visit:  www.rbcadvicecentre.com       

Affordability erodes again in the first quarter of 2010…  RBC has released their latest quarterly Housing Affordability study pinpointing cross-country trends in housing affordability in provincial and major metropolitan housing markets.   Canada’s housing market started 2010 the same way they ended 2009: firing on all cylinders.  While a boom to sellers, the resulting strong home price increases, however, have hurt housing affordability across the country.  To read the complete article, visit the RBC website at: 
 http://www.rbc.com/economics/market/pdf/house.pdf

This article was forwarded to us by Roberta Melik and Tony Kovacic, Mortgage Specialists with Royal Bank of Canada.  Mortgage Specialists, RBC
780-418-7208
roberta.melik@rbc.com
tony.kovaci@rbc.com

Roberta Melik & Tony Kovacic

Article presented by Joe Bernardo, Mortgage Consultant, with i-Mortgage Solutions inc.  
5 Great Reasons to use a mortgage broker…
1)  No cost to you.    There’s absolutely no charge for our services on typical residential mortgage transactions.  How can we afford to do that?  Like many other professional services, such as insurance, mortgage brokers are generally paid a finder’s fee when we introduce trustworthy, dependable customers to a financial institution.  These fees are quite standard and nearly industry-wide so that the focus remains on you, the customer.
2)  Save time with one-stop shopping.    It could take weeks for you to organize appointments with competing mortgage lenders and we know you’d probably rather spend your time house-hunting!  We work directly with dozens of lenders, and can quickly narrow down a list of those that suit you best.  It makes comparison-shopping fast, easy, and convenient. Read the rest of this entry »

coming sooner, Carney says

Bank of Canada governor worried about inflation

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney gave his most explicit warning to date that higher interest rates are coming, and perhaps sooner and higher than previously thought.

The bank governor has always maintained that his promise to keep interest rates at historic lows was contingent on inflation remaining tame, but Wednesday issued a clear alarm that he is worried about prices.

And in a speech before the Ottawa Economic Association, he underlined just how qualified his commitment to keeping the policy rate at 0.25 until at least July has become.

“This commitment is expressly conditional on the outlook for inflation,” he stressed.

Carney also noted that core inflation, the measure the bank uses to judge underlying price pressures, has been “slightly firmer” than projected.

Last week’s Statistics Canada report that core inflation — which excludes volatile items such as energy — had peeked above the bank’s 2% target to 2.1% in February likely was the last piece of evidence Carney needed to start publicly worrying about inflation. Read the rest of this entry »

February 16, 2010

Jim Flaherty, Canada’s Minister of Finance, announced new lending guidelines for CMHC backed mortgage loans in an announcement earlier today.

The new rules are as follows:

1. All borrowers must qualify for a mortgage using the five year fixed rate regardless of the term chosen.  Example:  if you wish to take out a 1 year mortgage at 2.65% you will still need to qualify at the 5 year closed rage of 3.89%.

2. When refinancing a home, Canadians will only be able to refinance up to 90% of the value instead of the previous 95%.

3. If you want to purchase a revenue property, CMHC will no longer insure you.  You’ll need to put 20% down to take out a convential mortgage.

These changes come into effect April 19, 2010.

What HAS NOT change:
-> You can still purchase a property with 5% down!
-> You can still do a 35 year amortization!
-> You can still have GDS/TDS ratios up to 44% if you have a credit score over 680!

All information presented in this notice is believed to be true and accurate at the time of printing but is not guaranteed to be so.

Special rate on new Homeline Plan lines of credit still available…

Just a quick note from Tony and Roberta of RBC to let you know about RBC’s Special Homeline Plan Credit Line Rate.

The RBC Homeline Plan is at Prime + .50%. Effective (Nov 2, 2009) the rate would be at 2.75%. (RBC Prime is at 2.25% today).

Call Roberta Melik or Tony Kovacic at 780-418-7224 for more information and let them show you how the RBC Homeline Plan Lines of Credit can benefit you.

Imagine purchasing your dream home only to discover after you’ve moved in that there are serious problems that will end up costing you thousands of dollars to repair.  Sadly, that is an all-too-common occurrence.  Spending a few hundred dollars on a quality home inspection can help give you added peace of mind before you invest in your new property.   

  Read the rest of this entry »