Kristin Stauffer
704-2197 Riverside Dr K1H 7X3 Ottawa, ON, Canada

***New Uninsured Mortgage Stress Test*** OSFI (The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions) has proposed a tougher minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages. As planned, it will be the higher of: the mortgage contract rate plus 2%, ... or 5.25% OSFI says it will communicate final amendments to the qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages in Guideline B-20 by May 24, 2021, with a coming into force date of June 1, 2021. The Department of Finance says it is expected to make a statement about its insured mortgage stress test later today.

With the federal budget due to be announced on April 19th, there are thoughts that something related to the housing market will be included in there - more specifically a measure to slow down its growth. One thing is for certain, at this time we do not need to make it any more difficult to obtain a mortgage in this country. The rules and regulations are very strict and are already difficult for most First Time Home Buyers to get into the housing market. Do you think the Government needs to step in to make changes?

Happy International Women's Day! Let's continue to celebrate the women who have changed the world, and encourage those who want to

Want to see a ranking of which cities in Canada have the highest average credit score? Do you think you live in that City? Take a guess as to which one is currently ranked highest! Were you right?

"Canada’s major banks are making bigger profits today than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, and some consumer advocates say they should be carrying more of the cost of supporting struggling households and businesses."

"In an unprecedented move, bond yields are spiking around the world. Yields globally are now at levels last seen before the coronavirus spread worldwide. ... The surge in interest rates would undoubtedly stall or reverse if we see a third wave of new variant COVID cases in advance of a full rollout of the vaccines in Canada. However, there is enough monetary and fiscal stimulus in global markets, and oil prices are expected to continue to rally sufficiently that an ultimate rise in interest rates cannot be far off. This is indicated by the loonie moving to a near a 3-year high."

Ever wonder what the increase to property values has done to impact your mortgage affordability in Ottawa? Canada Guaranty, one of our high-ratio default insurers put together these stats to show the difference between January and December in 2020. If a house was initially worth $475k at the start of the year, by the end of the year that value will have increased over $100k, resulting in more of a minimum down payment needed ($9,477 more), an overall larger mortgage ($101,702... higher) with a more expensive insurance premium (by $3,912). It also means an additional $20k+ in income would have been required for that same property over the course of the year, and this is with a decrease to the qualifying rate.

'The Bank of Canada elected to keep its benchmark interest rate steady at 0.25 per cent on Wednesday, reiterating its pledge to keep it there "until the recovery is well underway."' Exactly as we were expecting! Prime Rate will remain as is at 2.45%

Attention all Merix Mortgage holders!

And may all your Christmases be white

I am generally not one to rely on predictions, if 2020 has shown us anything it is to always do our best to Prepare for the Worst but Plan for the Best. I do like these targets though and can see most of these taking shape if everything continues as is with covid-19. Do you think we've seen the lowest rates possible? Or that house prices will continue to increase?

There is a lot of talk about interest rates right now, and how can we not with how low they are! But like everything, the flashy interest rate is only one small part of the overall mortgage and there may be terms and conditions within that do not suit your needs depending on any changes that could be made. Before focusing on just interest rate, a full discussion to determine if the mortgage is right for you is needed. This article is just one of many, many summaries of penalty horror stories that we have heard of this year, and be prepared for this to continue for years to come with the sudden decrease in rates we have seen.

Are you planning renovations? Or have you recently completed some upgrades to your home? It's a good idea to ensure your home insurance coverage is up to date to properly reflect your house and what needs to be insured - you may not have enough coverage or you may be paying too much!

The Bank of Canada has released the dates for their Interest Rate Announcements for 2021. The last scheduled announcement in 2020 is on December 9th.

Who monitors their credit score? If you answered no, well, you should be! With so many free options to ensure your score is remaining as strong as it can be, there is very little reason to pay for any service through Equifax or Transunion but it is always important to know how your score looks to creditors. We've repaired credit scores in just a few weeks, there are many little tricks and it all depends on what you have and the history that you are starting with.

Curious as to what the recent US Election results and news about the potential COVID-19 vaccine is doing to the market? Bond Yields have increased sharply and a lot of sectors that were suffering previously have seen increases to their shares, which indicates that Mortgage Rates may be on the rise soon. While it is too early to predict when, where and for how long this increase will occur, this is the first indication of recovery that we have seen since the sudden decrease we saw in March 2020.

Have you ever thought about purchasing the lot next door to one that you already own? Do you know what would happen to title if you did purchase that house? If the ownership on title is the same for two or more abutting properties, the titles could end up merging together all into one which can create quite the headache in the future if you ever want to sell individually or finance those properties.... This is always something I recommend we discuss with your lawyer beforehand to see what the rules may be for your specific properties you are looking at so that we have many options available for your financing!

Genworth Canada has changed its name to Sagen (pronounced say-gin). Sagen is one of three high-ratio default insurers in Canada, with the other two being CMHC (also soon to be changing their name to Housing Canada) and Canada Guaranty.

Wishing all of my family, friends and clients a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. While not the same as it has been in the past, I hope you can all find something to be thankful for this weekend and celebrate in a way that makes you happy

It looks as though 26% of Canadians are planning on renovations/upgrades to their home - are you one of those people? General rule of thumb is that you should be investing at least 1% of your homes property value into it each year in order to properly maintain the house, it sounds as though these renovations will end up being for substantially more than this! Refinancing to obtain those funds may be worth it and is typically an option we review. With lower interest rates if we can decrease the rate that you have with your current lender or move to another one that may be even more beneficial than borrowing from an unsecured source or withdrawing from investments!

CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) is going to be changing its name. The front runner right now - Housing Canada.

While this study was done on Edmonton condos, pretty interesting findings that are likely to translate across most of Canada!

Despite what some may be reporting in the media, while some mortgages may have been deferred over the last 6 months, arrears were still at our typical lows across Canada that we are used to for the first half of 2020. Great news!

Do you know how your mortgage penalty is calculated? While this is a topic that I discuss with every mortgage that we arrange for our clients, it is even more important right now given how low interest rates have decreased to over the last few months. Just this past week alone we have seen penalties ranging from $6k with Mortgage Finance Companies to one penalty at $33k with a major bank, all for fixed rate mortgages that need to be broken before the end of their term for va...rious reasons. These penalties can be devastating and can impact what can be done with a mortgage or a property. In times of uncertainty it is imperative that all scenarios be accounted for, and while this does not mean that fixed rates should be avoided it means that the type of fixed rate and/or the lender chosen should be fully reviewed so that you can be aware of what may be payable in the future. It is great to have a long term plan but we do want to ensure we are prepared just in case those plans change - life is unpredictable so protecting yourself by ensuring you have the proper mortgage that suits your needs now and in the future is imperative. Kristin Stauffer, AMP Mortgage Broker Dominion Lending Centres Integrity Financing 10933 2197 Riverside Dr, Suite 704, Ottawa On, K1H 7X3 Tel: 613-759-2157 Fax: 613-238-3523 Email: [email protected] Web: www.krmortgages.com

Did you defer your mortgage payments? If you did and you need an extension, or if you had started paying your mortgage payments and need to defer again, please do reach out to review all of your options before missing a mortgage payment. There are a lot of options that can be reviewed in order to ensure that there are no defaults on payments, as missing a mortgage payment can make future changes incredibly difficult.

The mortgage qualifying rate (stress test rate) has decreased to 4.79%, which allows for slightly more borrowing power for purchasers. What does this translate to? Well, a buyer earning $70,000 a year and purchasing with the minimum 5% down would be able to afford roughly $4,000 more home, or about 1.2% in additional purchase price.

Evan Siddall from CMHC has been voicing a lot of opinions lately that have not been supported by anyone else in the mortgage industry - not lenders, other insurers, mortgage brokers or even other Government entities such as the Bank of Canada and OSFI (Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions). To do something as irresponsible as call the mortgages that CMHC refuses to insure 'risky' is so unnecessary and dangerous, those mortgages have been proven time and time... again to have very low default rates and allow many families to buy homes while comfortably affording the payments. All lenders are required to perform their due diligence to ensure a mortgage meets all requirements for repayment and for responsible lending - despite what CMHC says mortgages are not being provided to those who do not qualify or deserve to obtain them.

While we saw a large demand for mortgage deferrals in the first few weeks of the shutdown across the country, for the most part those who took the deferral are back on track and paying their mortgage regularly as before. A mortgage deferral is a good option when there are no options left to explore, as the last thing that lenders and insurers want to do is proceed with a foreclosure, they all want to see Canadians stay in their homes. If a deferral is a consideration and you ...are not sure how it will impact your future borrowing ability, my team and I are here to discuss this with you! Kristin Stauffer, AMP Mortgage Broker Dominion Lending Centres Integrity Financing 10933 2197 Riverside Dr, Suite 704, Ottawa On, K1H 7X3 Tel: 613-759-2157 Fax: 613-238-3523 Email: [email protected] Web: www.krmortgages.com

I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday weekend!