Sherwood Mortgage Group, Maurice Kwok, MBA MA CPA
529 Wilson Ave M3H 1V1 Toronto, ON, Canada

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem warned the housing market is not normal, as he released new research that suggests real-estate prices in some of the country’s biggest cities are being driven by a speculative frenzy. The central bank singled out the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton and Montreal as experiencing worrisome signs of extrapolative behaviour, which is the way Macklem and other policy-makers describe market dynamics they see as out of line with the fundamental...s of supply and demand. Source: Financial Post #realestate #housing #property #properties #canada #housingmarket #greatertorontoarea #hamilton #montreal #mortgagebrokers #mortgagerates #mortgages

The Bank of Canada raised concerns about rising household debt and warned that Toronto, Hamilton and Montreal are exuberant with homebuyers overpaying to get into the real estate market. The average home price in the country has jumped over 30% during the pandemic, with prices accelerating at a faster pace in the Toronto suburbs and smaller Ontario cities. The central bank warned that household vulnerabilities have intensified with the quality of borrowing deteriorating and... speculative buying increasing. The bank itself has played a role in stoking demand for real estate by holding interest rates at record lows over the past year, and promising not to raise rates for some time. Source: The Globe and Mail Our feedback: more government intervention is on the way. #housingmarket #interestrates #homebuyers #economy #mortgages #mortgagebrokers #mortgagerates #propertymarket #toronto #hamilton #montreal

It isn’t a good sign, as too strong loonie will hit our export.

Canadian home sales fell slightly in April from March’s record-breaking flurry of activity, but still accounted for the second-highest month of sales ever. The average selling price of those homes also continued to rise, though at a slower pace. Calgary and the Montreal region were the only two major urban markets that saw more sales in April over March.... Source: The Globe and Mail #homesales #realestate #mortgage #housingmarket #interestrates #mortgagebrokers #economy

Thanks to Brenda Bailey-Hughes, Senior Lecturer of Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, for teaching my 17th LinkedIn Learning Course! Inspiring!! Learning Objectives: Differentiate between unhealthy procrastination and purposeful "stalling" behaviors.... Recognize the verbal and behavioral signals of procrastination onset. Recognize the five primary reasons why people procrastinate. Explain the "pawn it" strategy for overcoming procrastination. Select appropriate strategies for overcoming procrastination, dependent on the unique motivator. #procrastination #prioritymanagement #firstthingsfirst #habits #timemanagement #performancemotivation #brendabaileyhughes #personaldevelopment

New Stress Test Rate As of June 1, 2021, homebuyers applying for an uninsured mortgagethose with more than a 20 per cent down paymentwill need to qualify as if their mortgage rate was 5.25% (increase from 4.79%), or 2% higher than their actual contract rate, whichever is higher. Do you know what would be the impact on you?... Be prepared for a similar hike on insured mortgage, Paul Taylor, CEO of Mortgage Professionals Canada (MPC) cautioned. Sources: https://lnkd.in/eUFEBYx https://lnkd.in/ee9NNiG #newstresstest #mortgages #mortgagebrokers #mortgagerates #qualifyingrate #mortgage #canada

Just finished my 16th LinkedIn Learning Course Learn Emotional Intelligence, the Key Determiner of Success What a high level thought-provoking course! - MortgageMaurice.ca LinkedIn says I exceed my maximum profile skill limit and can’t add more skills to my profile. ... Explore the four domains of emotional intelligenceself-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship managementas defined by psychologist and author Daniel Goleman. This course includes videos from: 1. Daniel Goleman, psychologist, lecturer, and science journalist 2. Amy Cuddy, social psychologist and associate professor at Harvard Business School 3. Susan David, psychologist at Harvard Medical School and cofounder of the Institute of Coaching 4. Alan Alda, Emmy-winning actor, writer, and director 5. Angie McArthur, CEO of Professional Thinking Partners #emotionalintelligence #EQ #IQ #CQ #interpersonalcommunication #relationshipmanagement #maturity #careersuccess

Happy Mother’s Day! From my garden .. Yellow tulips express joy, merriment, excitement, and the novelties of spring. ... Pink tulips are cute, playful, and speak to the joys of motherhood. Red tulips are romantic and passionate, perfect for your wife on Mother's Day. Blue tulips represent loyalty, and make great mother-in-law Mother's Day gifts. #mothersday #care #love

TED Talks My 106th TED Talk since October 1, 2017 The Antidote to Apathy, by Dave Meslin, TEDx Toronto Local politics -- schools, zoning, council elections -- hit us where we live. So why don't more of us actually get involved? Is it apathy? ... Dave Meslin says no. He identifies 7 barriers that keep us from taking part in our communities, even when we truly care. #1 City Hall #2 Public Space # #3 The Media #4 ‘Heroes’ #5 Political Parties #6 Charitable Status #7 Our Elections https://lnkd.in/eR5fhPj #TEDTalks #TED #community #nonprofit #apathy #obstacles #DaveMeslin #societyandculture

My morning read today: Five dimensions of Win/Win #1 Character 2nd trait: Maturity "Maturity is the balance between ."... I-Win-You-Lose paradigm: If I am high on courage and low on consideration, I’ll be strong and ego bound. I’ll have the courage of my convictions, but I won’t be very considerate of yours. I-Lose-You-Win paradigm: If I’m high on consideration and low on courage, I’ll be so considerate of your convictions and desires that I won’t have the courage to express and actualize my own. (My feedback: like a mom). I-Win-You-Win paradigm: High courage and consideration are both essential to Win/Win. It is the balance that is the mark of maturity. If I have it, I can listen, I can empathically understand, but I can also courageously confront. Stephen R. Covey, 7 : (New York: Fireside, 1990), 217-219. #winwin #paradigm #maturity #the7habitsofhighlyeffectivepeople #foodforthought #salestips #mutualsuccess

Canada’s home sales and price growth will moderate over the coming years from the unsustainable levels of 2020, but remain elevated, with housing starts expected to stabilize by the end of 2023, the national housing agency said on Thursday. While the pace of price growth is expected to ease as mortgage rates increase and buyers face already high prices, home prices could climb 14.4 per cent on average in 2021, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) forecast in its... spring market outlook. Source: Financial Post We offer 0.99% on five-year variable high-ratio insured mortgage. Pre-approve: MortgageMaurice.ca/apply #realestate #propertymarket #housingmarket #economy #mortgages #mortgagebrokers #mortgagerates #variableratemortgages

Just finished my third online instructor-led, text-based The Gale Courses on Social Media, 6 weeks, 24 hours each course, or 72 hours in total over the past 6 months. Course 1: Using Social Media in Business, completed on Dec 31, 2020. Course 2: Achieving Top Search Engine Positions (SEO), completed on Feb 28, 2021.... Course 3: Marketing Your Business on the Internet (SEM), completed on May 3, 2021. www.ed2go.com I can do my SEO now!! #TheGaleCourses #SEO #socialmediaoptimization #SEM #socialmediamarketing #digit #digitalmarketing #socialmedia

As Canadian home prices spiral out of control, long-standing realtor sales tactics are coming under fire. Blind bidding, in which prospective home buyers don’t know what their competitors are offering and winners often blow past their budget and the second-highest bid, is being blamed for driving up prices. So is the practice of setting an artificially low price to draw in crowds of hopeful buyers, increase the number of bids and pump up the offer price. They are chumming t...he water, said Andy Yan, a housing expert and director of Simon Fraser University’s city program. The issue is fairness. Was there ever any intent to sell at that price or was it just to feed the pricing frenzy. Economists and even realtors have blamed such sales tactics for helping to drive soaring prices, and called for reform. A review of local market practices should occur to ensure that a seller’s market doesn’t turn into a runaway market due to practices that can jawbone buyers, like price-baiting or gaming the lack of transparency on the bid process, said Toronto-Dominion Bank chief economist Beata Caranci. Source: The Globe and Mail https://lnkd.in/e7mC4bY Usually, if an industry does not behave properly, out of social pressure the government will step in and regulate. My two cents! #realestate #salestactics #fairness

Finished my 10th LinkedIn Learning course The Five-Step Guide for Mastering Your Money Want to gain greater control over your finances? Tune into this concise, practical course for tips on setting and achieving your financial goals. Money journalist and writer Talia Loderick shares expert tips for creating a more positive relationship with money. ... Talia steps through how to assess your current financial state and determine what you want to achieve in the future. She also provides an overview of what to consider when making decisions about debt, discusses how to track your weekly, quarterly, and annual spending, and more. #money #moneymanagement #debtsmanagement #personalgrowth #financialfreedom #mortgageadvicematters

Happy Family Day 2021 The love of a family is life’s greatest blessings. #family #love #care #innersecurity #happyfamilyday #happyfamily #home #homeismorethanahouse

Happy Valentine’s Day! Sending you lots of love on this special day! #valentines #happyvalentinesday #love #care #hope #courage

2021 Income Tax Paying your taxes in the age of COVID-19: Here's what every Canadian needs to know Jamie Golombek: Almost everyone will have something new to confront in their filings this year... Be familiar with the income tax implications on you! Depending on your total 2020 income, you may owe some tax on your COVID benefits. If you received the CRB, CRSB, or CRCB, 10 per cent tax was withheld at source, but this may not be sufficient, depending on what other income you earned in 2020. In addition, if your 2020 net income was over $38,000, you may have to repay 50 per cent of CRB payments for every dollar in net income you earned above $38,000, to a maximum of the CRB received in the year. Working from home, you may claim $400 home office expenses in an easy way. Maurice Kwok, MBA CPA MA Mortgage Broker, Lic.#M13000496 416-618-9312 (cell/ text/ WhatsApp) https://MortgageMaurice.ca [email protected] Powered by Sherwood Mortgage Group, FSCO Lic.#12176 #incometaxreturn #CERB #CRB #2021taxfiling #CRSB #CRCB #becarefulontaxfiling https://www.linkedin.com//mauricekwok_paying-your-taxes-in

Ottawa is tweaking financial support programs in place to help people through the pandemic. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says those who received emergency benefits and made up to $75,000 in taxable income won’t have to pay interest on 2020 tax debt until next year. And he says people who applied for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit based on their gross income, rather than net income, won’t have to repay the benefit as long as they are otherwise eligible.... Thousands of Canadians received letters last year telling them they’d have to pay back the CERB because they were ineligible due to the way they’d calculated their income. They’d been told that to qualify for the #CERB they had to have earned at least $5,000 in 2019 or in the 12 months before they applied. Right now, I don’t want you to have to worry about what you may owe in taxes, Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa. Our priority is to ensure that you and your family get through this pandemic and back on your feet. Interest on income taxes will be waived until April 30, 2022, according to a statement released by Canada Revenue Agency. Individuals need to earn less than C$75,000 to qualify for the relief. #pandemicrelief #CRA #incometax #justintrudeau #PM