Real Estate Blog

Mortgage Rates On The Rise

Mortgage Rates On The Rise Now that NAFTA negotiations are somewhat behind us, we can get back to focusing on the fun stuff, and we have some good news and some not as good news. Mortgage rates started going up again in early October and we will likely see the Bank of Canada bump the rates up another 1/4 point at their next meeting on October 24th. This is definitely supporting the trend towards higher rates that many are forecasting, now that our trade issues with the US are a little less volatile? Since June of 2017, the 5 year fixed rate has jumped u...

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Owning Versus Renting in Canada

Owning Versus Renting in Canada Mortgage Professionals Canada released a very interesting report today, Owning versus Renting a Home in Canada. In the report, they compare the expected costs of housing for Canadians who will choose to rent versus those who choose to own. In the 266 scenarios examined in the report, taken from a broad cross-section of regions throughout Canada, the monthly cost of home ownership is lower than the cost of renting equivalent housing in the majority of cases today and becomes, even more, cost-effective over time. “The...

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Credit Score: How does it work?

Your credit score is critical when obtaining credit these days, yet many people are unclear about what makes up their score. Credit scores range from 300 to 900 with most mortgage lenders requiring a minimum of a 680 score. Many factors go into your score but the 2 largest contributors are how you make your payments and how much of your available credit you are using. The first is easy; make your payments on time and your score goes up; have late payments or collections and your score goes down. Any late payments stay on your bureau for years and continu...

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Wildfires: Impact on Buying and Selling Real Estate

Wildfires: Impact on Buying and Selling Real Estate Once again, Kelowna finds itself in the middle of numerous forest fires. With our dryer climate and higher temperatures, it’s a natural hazard we face each year. Along with the emotional and physical damage that homeowners experience, how do wildfires impact buying and selling real estate? When there is an active fire… When there is an active wildfire in the region, home buyers may not be able to get insurance, which in turn, will prevent them from securing a mortgage. This means that real estate ...

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Increasing Awareness Of Domestic Violence in Our Community

INCREASING AWARENESS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN OUR COMMUNITY Kelowna Women’s Shelter Support and Education Programs Get Boost from Local REALTORS® Kelowna 25 July, 2018 – Broker Manager, Dave Favell of Royal LePage Kelowna presented a cheque to Executive Director, Karen Mason and Resource Development Coordinator, Kathleen Lemieux of the Kelowna Women’s Shelter. In 2017, Royal LePage Kelowna REALTORS® held fundraising events and donated part of their commissions to The Royal LePage Shelter Foundation throughout the year.  The result was more than $7,900 rai...

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Are You Falling Behind On Your Home Equity Loan?

Mortgage rates have now been on an upward trend for over a year, and this trend is expected to continue, which could create some trouble for those homeowners with Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOC). The HELOC has been a very popular product as it gives people access to the equity in their home when they want it through a revolving line of credit. The challenge is many homeowners with HELOC’s only pay the required interest portion on a monthly basis and nothing towards the principle as happens with a conventional mortgage. This keeps payments low, ...

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Interest Rates Shouldn’t Be All We Focus On

Interest rates have now been climbing for a year and have received a lot of attention in the media, but rates shouldn’t be all we focus on when choosing a lender or mortgage product? In today’s world, people change jobs and often homes more often than previous generations did, so having flexible mortgage terms can often save you more than a few points on a mortgage rate. The challenge is most people focus on the rate and pay little attention to the small print in the mortgage terms as they are not sure about what to look for and what question...

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Legalizing Marijuana – Don’t put your house at risk!

Marijuana may become legal in the coming months, but growing it in your house is still a really, really bad idea. Unfortunately, at this point lenders and insurers view one plant on the deck or out in the garden, the same as 100 plants in a moist and moldy basement, and this can cause problems with financing and insuring your home. Most lenders will not finance a home if the current owners check off on the property disclosure statement (must be completed on all sales) that Marijuana has been grown on the property (inside or out). This can dramatically af...

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Are House Prices Going to Drop?

The number one question I am hearing recently is, “Are house prices going to drop because of these new mortgage and tax rules?” First, I don’t know for sure, but based on what I see in the market and the actual stats, not the headlines, I think the market will definitely slow but not drop. Let’s remember, last year was the best year ever in the history of the Central Okanagan Real Estate Board. Yes, we are down from an absolutely crazy year but we are still having a very good year and though the number of sales is down, prices are...

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