Saturday, March 31, 2007

Rent vs Buying a home

The Government of Canada's office of Consumer Affairs website has an excellent online calculator that provides a straight forward comparison of renting or buying a home. If your undecided as to whether or not real estate is the right investment for you? I encourage you to check out the calculator.

Renting vs buying a home in Canada calculator

Affordable Condo in White Rock

A realtor has a fully renovated studio condo for sale for $155,000 in the City of White Rock. City of White Rock offers shopping, beaches, fine dining and some of the best weather in the Lower Mainland.

The following is a basic breakdown the cost of owning the above condo with a $0.00 downpayment.

Monthly Mortgage Payments $780.00 per month. (based on 40 year amortization)
Monthly Strata fee $130.00
Taxes $125.00

Based on the numbers above you can own your very own condo in sunny White Rock where you'll be within walking distance to the beach, shopping and fine dining all for less than $1,100 per month. This would be ideal for a single person that likes the thought of real estate ownership rather that paying their landlord.

To qualify for a $0.00 downpayment mortgage at fully discounted rates CMHC requires you to have good credit and job stability. If you don't meet CMHC's requirements there are alternatives that are available only through mortgage brokers like myself. :)

If you think you'll never be able to own real estate there's a good chance you haven't considered a scenario like the one above.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Vancouver Housing Market Summary First Quarter 2007

Vancouver's housing market continued to show its strength in the first
quarter, supported by sustained in-migration and growth across the city. New
inventory was unable to satiate the demand of purchasers. The market remained
firmly in the sellers' favour, with multiple offer situations occurring,
although less frequently than last year. The condominium market in Vancouver
was particularly active in the first quarter, attracting the interest of a
variety of purchaser groups such as baby boomers, first-time and move-up
buyers and investors.

MyMortgageBC.com Bottom Line: Mortgage rates continue to remain low which helps first time home buyers enter the housing market.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Vancouver Westside Homesales

Fast Fact: Did you know that there were only 137 homes sold on the Westside of Vancouver since Jan 1st below 1.3mm? The most amazing part is that only 24 of those homes sold below their listing price.

I think it's safe to say that the housing market is still going strong on the Westside of Vancouver.

CMHC announces housing starts

CMHC announced that housing starts in the month of February were down approximately 20% from a year ago. CMHC said that this drop in new starts was due to unusually strong January where most of Canada saw warmer than usual weather therefore allowing homebuilders an opportunity to get a jump on there projects. Visit MyMortgageBC.com for more information about obtaining a construction mortgage.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

This is the first entry in the MyMortgageBC.com blog. I may be adding updates at a later time so check back. Visit www.MyMortgageBC.com for Mortgage Broker information in British Columbia.