30 Sep

Non-Resident, Temporary Visa & Permanent Resident Mortgage Options

General

Posted by: Adam Sale

Non-Resident, Temporary Visa & Permanent Resident Mortgage Options

Non-Resident – U.S Citizen

U.S Citizens interested in purchasing a property in Canada can purchase with as little as a 20% down-payment if the property will be the owners primary or secondary residence. Applicants must meet standard debt servicing requirements.

U.S Citizens interested in purchasing a rental property in Canada are required to provide a 35% down-payment.

Foreign Work Visa (Non-Permanent Residence)

Can purchase with a minimum 10% down-payment if:

  • Property is Owner-Occupied
  • Must have valid work-visa with minimum 6-month remaining
  • Must be mortgage insured by (CMHC, Genworth or CG)

Permanent Residents

Can purchase with a minimum 5%-10% down-payment:

  • Must be mortgage insured by (CMHC, Genworth or CG)
  • Owner must be paying income taxes in Canada
  • Property must be owner-occupied & primary residence

For more information regarding these options, please call/text me at 778-215-4121 or email at adamsale@dominionlending.ca

25 Aug

5 Benefits of a Pre-Approval

General

Posted by: Adam Sale

5 Benefits of a Pre-Approval

  • Shop with Confidence – Be certain how much house you can afford to save you time while shopping!
  • Lock-in a rate for 90-120 days – In the event rates are rising, know you have access to your low locked-in rate. If rates are decreasing, you can to take advantage of the lower rates as well – best of both worlds!
  • Prepared, Prepared, Prepared – Once you’ve been pre-approved lenders will shuffle your file to the top for underwriting once there is a live deal in play. This means your realtor can write a more competitive purchasing offer by decreasing the amount of time for subject removal.
  • Stress-Free Process – provide your mortgage broker with the required documents early during the pre-approval stage, this will keep the home-buying process flowing smoothly.
  • Credit Review – Often a credit report will have an past debt that didn’t drop off the report properly. Discovering these errors early during the pre-approval stage will provide adequate time to take the necessary actions with addressing these errors.
13 Aug

Bank of Canada Reduces the Stress Test to 4.79%

General

Posted by: Adam Sale

The mortgage stress test lowered today from 4.94% to 4.79%.

After running a quick calculation using:

  • Income of 100k
  • 10% down payment
  • Applicable Vancouver Property taxes
  • Condo fees of $300
  • Heat $50

Maximum purchase price has increased from $537,000 to $552,000.

If this same client used a down-payment of 20% (138K), the maximum amount we could qualify them for using amortization 30 years is a property worth approximately $690,000.

If you would like to more information regarding a potential mortgage situation please give me a call at 778-215-4121.

Sincerely,

Adam Sale

24 Jul

Correct Steps to Take Following a Bankruptcy

General

Posted by: Adam Sale

Steps to take following a Bankruptcy

If you’ve had a previous bankruptcy or consumer proposal don’t worry!  There are still many lenders in the prime-space which will lend to you if you follow the correct steps.

Lenders will accept a mortgage application after you’ve been discharged from your bankruptcy for a minimum of 2 years, and they you have at least 1 trade-line in your personal name (not joint) for a minimum of 2-years.

A trade-line could be a pre-paid credit card, an auto loan/lease, or a line of credit.

If you’ve had a bankruptcy, the first steps to take you should take once you’ve your “discharged from bankruptcy” letter is to obtain a  secured prepaid credit card as soon as possible, and to start using it actively.

While using this secured credit card do not exceed a balance of 50%, and don’t miss any payments for the full 2-years. During this time, try to increase your card limit from the usual $500 limit to a $2000 limit. A higher limit will provide more lenders to choose from once your credit is re-established.

After they have a gone through this 2-year process your credit will be considered re-established so you are able to qualify for high-ratio and default insured mortgages at prime banks.

If you have any questions please contact me at 778-215-4121.

Thanks,

17 Jul

Rule-of-Thumb on Qualifying Limits

General

Posted by: Adam Sale

If you’re a salary or stable income employee with minimal debt payments, here’s a quick Rule of Thumb to help you figure out your qualifying limits.

Regular salary and hourly income employees with a down-payment of less than 20%, and have minimal debts, will qualify for a mortgage amount that’s approximately 5-times their annual salary.

80k Salary = Loan amount of approximately 400k

Regular salary and hourly income employees with a down-payment of 20% or more, and has minimal debts, will qualify for a mortgage amount that’s approximately 5.5-times their annual salary.

80k Salary = Loan amount of approximately 440k

Of course there are many factors which will either raise or lower your qualifying amounts such as: consistent income, yearly bonuses, differing condo fees, property tax amounts, credit score, etc.

If you would like to do a complete pre-approval to figure out your maximum qualifying limits please contact myself at 778-215-4121 or adamsale@dominionlending.ca.

 

3 Jul

Are You Self-Employed and having a tough time getting Approved?

General

Posted by: Adam Sale

Are you self-employed and having a tough time getting approved at Your bank?

Prime lenders have made it difficult for self-employed (sole proprietor and corporation) earners to obtain financing through regular banking channels. These individuals are now forced to decide between either paying less taxes, or paying less interest.

Sub-prime lenders calculate self-employed income differently than prime lenders and look at the persons total financial picture. The additional income discovered will often be enough to help the self-employed individual qualify for a larger loans, while keeping payments marginally more expensive.

For example:

A 500k conventional mortgage at 2.59% will have a monthly payment of $2,262

A 500k sub-prime mortgage at 3.69% will have a monthly payment of $2,546

The monthly difference is $284; and the annual difference is $3,408.

An additional $3408 in interest a year is not a cheap premium by any means! But what if our self-employed individual can’t qualify for a loan of this size because they don’t pay themselves enough income from their company?

The only way to qualify for a larger amount through a prime lending channel is to show more income – which means paying more taxes.

Depending on which tax bracket they’re in, showing an additional 10-15k in income would translate to roughly a $3,408 tax bill.

Strategy

If a self-employed individual is not able to qualify for mortgage through a prime lender, a sub-prime option may be a great alternative. Sometimes only a 1-year or 2-year term is all that’s required to set an individual up with a prime lender in the future.

19 Jun

State of Emergency being lifted June 23rd

General

Posted by: Adam Sale

The state of emergency is being lifted end of day on June 23rd and I am curious how the market will react

I’ve spoke with several clients who feel the need to put in an offer on a property before this date, and then other clients waiting until after this date because they feel there will be more inventory coming on-line.

What do you think?

The state of emergency has made it virtually impossible to evict renters – even if they can’t make their rent payments.

I am curious to see how many home-owners wanting to sell were affected by the emergency rules, and how the market reacts on 24th.

Will we see a noticeable uptick in properties for sale throughout July and August, or will the market remain unchanged?

I welcome your thoughts on this matter, and look forward to the immediate future!

 

9 Jun

CMHC Lending Changes, Will the Other Insurers Follow?

General

Posted by: Adam Sale

As I’m sure you’ve heard, CMHC is changing their lending guidelines on high-ratio mortgages as of July 1st. These changes will have a significant impact on homebuyers wishing to use CMHC’s high-ratio mortgage product. Thankfully the other insurers stated they have no intentions on aligning their high-ratio mortgage products with CMHC’s guidelines.

Canada has 3 mortgage default insurers: CMHC, Canada Guaranty and Genworth. 

Genworth and Canada Guaranty released yesterday, June 8, they have no desire to follow CMHC’s stricter guidelines, and will continue providing mortgage insurance based on the current guidelines. This is excellent news for Canada’s real estate industry.

As of lately, CMHC is predicting doom & gloom of Canada’s Post-Covid real estate market, with extreme predictions of home prices decreasing up to 20%. These predictions coupled with CMHC’s lending guidelines creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Thankfully, this is the first time the other mortgage insurers are deciding to disregard CMHC’s changes. This is great news for potential homebuyers and sellers, and should bring some confidence back to the market.

If you have any financing questions you would like to discuss please reach out to me @ 778-215-4121 | adamsale@dominionlending.ca

Warm regards,

4 Jun

Foreign Buyers Tax Strategy & Exemption

General

Posted by: Adam Sale

Did you know many non-residents are actually exempt from the foreign buyers’ tax? That’s right!

Non-residents who’ve applied for their permanent residency through the BC Provincial Nominee Program and have received confirmation, are exempt from paying the foreign buyers tax.

This is a one-time exemption, and the property must be used as a principal residence.

The BC Provincial Nominee Program is a popular way for non-residents to receive their permanent residency. Under this program there are 3 different entry options: Express Entry BC, Skills Immigration and Entrepreneur Immigration.

Foreign Buyer’s Tax Minimization Strategy

Married/common-law couples in which only one partner has their Permanent Residency may be able to minimize the amount of foreign-buyers tax charged on their purchase based on how they decide to their names registered on the property’s title.

New home-owners can request to register 99% of the property’s title in the partners name who has their Permanent Residency, and the remaining 1% in the non-resident spouse’s name.

This will subject only 1% of the property’s purchase price to the foreign buyers’ tax, and could end up saving them thousands!!

If the non-resident spouse then gets their PR within 1-year of home ownership they may qualify for a full refund of the tax.

If you have any financing questions you would like to discuss please reach out to me @ 778-215-4121 | adamsale@dominionlending.ca

Warm regards,

26 May

Reduced Stress Test & Mortgages During a Covid Job-Loss

General

Posted by: Adam Sale

Reduced Stress-Test

As you may have heard, CMHC has reduced the stress-test today from 5.04% to 4.94%. This reduction of 0.10% will help to increase your client’s purchasing power. For example, if a client is earning 100k (factoring in average condo fees, property taxes and heat costs) they will now qualify for a place roughly $506k, a $6,000 increase.

Mortgages During a COVID Job-Loss?

Did you know you may still be able to qualify for a mortgage even if you’ve lost your jobs due to COVID? With the correct documentation it is still possible to be granted a mortgage.

I’ve experienced several scenarios where a couple is looking to purchase a property, but one of the spouses has lost their job due to COVID. Each of these cases is irregular and the strength of the mortgage request is largely dependent on the client’s length of employment and industry.

In cases where banks are not willing to lend, the best thing to do is wait until you’re back working and have at least one pay-stub issued by your employer.

If you have any scenarios you would like to discuss, please reach out to me anytime 778-215-4121 | adamsale@dominionlending.ca