October 15, 2020
I have been absent from writing the “Nuggets” portion of our monthly newsletter this year, but now that I am back to work it’s back on my work agenda plate again.
October 15, 2020
Generally in our Money Machine seminars and related articles we concentrate on residential rentals. The reason is that for the novice investor it’s both easier to understand and easier to get into the residential investment market than it is commercial. Having said that, however, Commercial is a very valuable avenue for real estate investment and needs to be considered.
October 15, 2020
Did you know the biggest difference between getting your mortgage from a bank vs. a mortgage broker is that the bank only has access to their products, while I, your mortgage broker, have access to hundreds of different lending institutions and mortgage products to fit your unique needs?
September 15, 2020
Who would have ever forecast back in March that this COVID-19 virus would have been lingering on throughout the spring and summer months and right on into the fall. But that is certainly what has happened. And while the economy is struggling to its feet, a lot of sections of the economy have yet to rebound, and some never will.
September 15, 2020
Getting pre-approved can be a vital step to the home-buying process! But don’t confuse this with pre-qualification; you can get a pre-qualification through the My Mortgage Toolbox app to determine what you might qualify for. Pre-approval, on the other hand, means that a lender has stated (in writing) that you do qualify for a mortgage and what amount, based on your current income and credit history. A pre-approval usually specifies a term, interest rate and mortgage amount and is typically valid for a brief period of time, assuming various conditions are met.
September 15, 2020
Whenever you purchase a property, you are essentially buying the land and improvements. That includes any trees or landscaping. It includes, of course, the bricks and mortar. But it also includes an intangible element. Something we call the “bundle of rights”. The right to occupy. The right to quiet enjoyment. And subject to the laws of the land, zoning etc, the right to remodel, to expand the footprint or demolish it for that matter.
September 15, 2020
As of this writing the actual sales figures are not in from the Niagara Association of Realtors. The sense however from being immersed in the market is that August continues strong both in number of sales and in average residential sale price. Normally the market tends to moderate slightly as summer comes to an end, and that may be the case again, but if so, the numbers I suspect will not show much of a slowdown from July and will certainly be up from August 2019.
September 15, 2020
It is typical when making an offer for purchase of real estate to include a period of time where your offer is ‘irrevocable’. What this means is that a purchaser leaves their offer open for acceptance by the seller for a set amount of time – sometimes as short as 24 hours. If the seller fails to accept within that time, the offer becomes null and void. A purchaser would then be free to make an offer for another property without the risk of having two accepted contracts. There are a few reasons why irrevocability periods are standard in real estate. It shows a purchaser is motivated. If the offer is accepted without revision it becomes a binding contract, although there may be further conditions within the offer such as those regarding financing. A seller can also make a counter-offer that is open for acceptance during an irrevocability period. There may be competing offers for a property and an irrevocability period is useful for giving structure to negotiations in the fast-paced and competitive real estate market.
August 16, 2020