Geese

Have the courage to change the things you can

If you are a seller, there are plenty of buyers in the market for a home they consider priced correctly. You have to decide what the correct price is for your home if you truly want to sell. If you want your house sold, you must list it at a price a buyer will pay for it. Not a buyer from 2006 but today’s buyer who has plenty of homes from which to choose. It will take courage to sit with a real estate professional and honestly decipher the true value of your home. If you want to sell, you must have that courage.

If you are a buyer, and you believe now is the right time for your family to purchase a home – DO IT! Prices are back to pre-bubble prices and interest rates are at historic lows. That means that your monthly housing expense will be lower than any time in the last 50 years – and probably lower than your current rent payment.

The wisdom to know the difference

We all realize that the economic situation will take some time to correct. The question is whether or not it makes sense to delay moving on with your life until everything gets ‘better’. Should you not sell your home and delay reconnecting with friends and relatives that have all moved to another part of the country?

Should you not buy a house and enable your kids to attend the school you have already decided is best for them? Should you spend another winter up north even though your doctor recommends you move to a climate better suited to your current medical situation?

This is where your wisdom must kick in.

You already know the answers to the questions we just asked. You have the power to take back control of the situation by moving forward. The time has come for you and your family to move on and start living the life you desire. That is what is truly important.

10 Questions to Ask BEFORE Renting Your Home

1.) How will you respond if your tenant says they can’t afford to pay the rent this month because of more pressing obligations? (This happens most often during holiday season and back-to-school time when families with children have extra expenses).

2.) Because of the economy, over ten percent of homeowners can no longer make their mortgage payment. What percent of tenants do you think can no longer afford to pay their rent?

3.) Have you interviewed a few experienced eviction attorneys in case a challenge does arise?

4.) Have you talked to your insurance company about a possible increase in premiums as liability is greater in a non-owner occupied home?

5.) Will you allow pets? Cats? Dogs? How big a dog?

6.) How will you actually collect the rent? By mail? In person?

7.) Repairs are part of being a landlord. Who will take tenant calls when necessary repairs arise?

8.) Do you have a list of craftspeople readily available to handle these repairs?

9.) How often will you do a physical inspection of the property?

10.) Will you alert your current neighbors that you are renting the house?

OUR annual HO HO HO SHOW will be this FALL - NOV. 17  at our Town & Country Hall.

visit:  airdriewomen.ca

for more information -

Table Rentals and Memberships are available.

Will be a Spectacular SHOW -  

160 Acres inside NE Calgary, newly annexed

 Quarter Section located within the city limits of Calgary. This parcel of land is located within The City of Calgary boundaries and is presently in the Northeast Regional Policy Plan.

The new airport expansion lies directly to the south and west and will create thousands of jobs.  As well, to the north is Rocky View County.  There is the Cross Iron Mills Mall, Costco, proposed Horse Race Track, Wagon Wheel Industrial Park, where Wal-Mart has their Western Regional food distribution warehouse. As well there is the Highfield Industrial Park and Target is presently building their western regional warehouse there with much more growth on the books.

Price: $17,600,000

Rule Changes - The Ugly

Hope you are all enjoying the summer and getting ready to get back to normal routines.

Back in July, the Canadian Government made changes to the mortgage lending rules and I would like to review four financing situations that highlight how much impact these changes have going forward.

1) Nullified Switch

The Facts: Your existing mortgage with a remaining amortization of more than 25 years is up for renewal. You have less than 20 percent equity. You have found another lender with a great rate but your gross debts exceed 39% of your income.

The new reality: Kiss the better rate goodbye. Only your existing lender with the higher rate can re-lend without re-qualifying you.

2) Consolidation Blues

The Facts: You have an existing mortgage and would like to increase it to consolidate some high interest debt or to make improvements to your home. However, the additional needed funds push you above the 80% refinance limit.

The new reality: No can do. You will have to continue paying the high interest debt as is. As for the home improvements, you might have to forget them or obtain a higher interest loan elsewhere. All this comes at a higher interest rate than it would have under the old rules.

3) Moving up!

The Facts: You have outgrown your existing home and would like to buy a bigger and more expensive one. You want to increase your existing mortgage to do this but have less than 20% equity.

The new reality: You will have to qualify under the new rules on your entire mortgage, even on the existing part. This means that your gross debts will need to be less than 39%, you are capped at 25 year amortization and the purchase price will need to under $1 million.

The Facts: You have an existing home equity line of credit (HELOC) and want to make some changes such as change the lender, increase the borrowing amount or add a new mortgage portion to the HELOC.

The new reality: Any of these changes could limit your HELOC to 65% of the value of your home.

These are only four examples which hopefully show the implications of these new rules. I am sure there are many others but at least this will get you thinking. The Government’s objective to reduce Canadian household debt is a good one. However, I question whether some of the new rules do this. Also, studies show that mortgage debt is not the big issue. It is credit card and other debt that needs controlling.

http://www.cmhc.ca/newcomers/

Here is a wonderful link to CMHC to help NEWCOMERS to Canada learn more about owning a home in Canada.

Apart from setting money aside for Calgary mortgages, more city residents – as well as those living countrywide – may want to increase their emergency savings fund.

According to a poll conducted by CIBC, approximately half of Canadians don't have adequate savings for emergencies. The most likely to be prepared for emergency situations are residents in the 45-to-64-year-old demographic; three in five of these residents have emergency funds.

Christina Kramer, CIBC's executive vice president of retail distribution and channel strategy, indicated having extra money set aside for unforeseen circumstances related to one's home is vital, and many Canadians are recognizing that.

"Our poll shows an opportunity for more Canadians to start building up an emergency fund, to help get them through an unexpected expense and avoid dipping into long-term savings to pay for a short-term problem," she said..

Prospective homeowners may want to focus on conserving enough money for a down payment and a mortgage prior to worrying about emergency home savings.

When debt repayment becomes unmanageable, one of
the unfortunate options is to declare personal bankruptcy.
Thankfully, the number of people having to file has been
falling since the peak of the 2009 downturn.
In April there were 523 personal bankruptcies in Alberta,
down from 568 in the previous month. The level of
personal bankruptcies has been stable in recent months
but has trended downward slightly over the last two years.
Total personal bankruptcies over the past 12 months
ending April 30, 2012, were down 15.4 per cent compared
to total bankruptcies over the previous 12 months.
Statistics on personal bankruptcies—also known as
consumer bankruptcies—are tracked by the Office of the
Superintendent of Bankruptcy, which is a federal
government agency of Industry Canada. The agency also
tracked business bankruptcies, which are down 23.6 per
cent compared to the previous 12 months.
Tracking the number of personal and business
bankruptcies is another helpful measure of the
general health of our provincial economy. Currently,
Alberta’s strong labour market and rising wages helps
households manage debt levels. Business
bankruptcies are lower because of healthy books and
sales when the economy is growing.
But another major factor preventing personal or
business bankruptcies is the environment of low
interest rates. Borrowing rates are at near-record lows,
helping households and businesses manage debt
levels — and given the fragile global economy
interest rates are almost certain to remain low. This,
along with Alberta’s healthy economy, suggests
bankruptcies are unlikely to spike higher anytime this year. 

180 Fairways Drive today Saturday June 23rd - 1pm to 3pm - stop by say hi

MLS C3526868

29 Coopers Close SUNDAY June 24th - 1pm to 3pm - stop by say hi

MLS C3523165

HOSTED by CIR REALTY 

MAKE IT AIRDRIE   

Make sure you check out the link below, new mortgage ruleson the way.

Ottawa’s new mortgage rules save us from ourselves.

The federal government is keenly interested, and for good reason.Although today’s buyers are meeting banks’ borrowing standards,many are taking on excessive debt.

Both Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Bank of Canada governor MarkCarney have talked a lot about the risk that rising interest rates will makecurrent debt loads unmanageable for some. They should be so lucky as to haveinterest rates rise. That would require a turnaround in the global economy, andright now, the big worry is a new recession.

Rising rates are a longer-term worry, then. In the near term,there’s the problem of people taking on mortgages that demand too much oftheir financial resources. Sure, they can cover off their regular mortgagepayments. But what about saving for retirement or their kids’ universityor college education? And what about their ability to withstand a financialshock like a job loss?

The government has decided to thin the herd of buyers by loweringthe maximum amortization period to 25 years from 30 for people who requiremortgage insurance because of a small down payment. This means higher monthlyor biweekly mortgage payments, which will keep marginal buyers on the sidelinesuntil they either save more or make more. Most first-time buyers go with anamortization of 30 years today. Moving to 25 years isn’t draconian– that was the unquestioned standard for the decades that preceded theincreased amortization periods introduced several years ago.

The government is also curbing use of home-equity lines of creditby capping borrowing at 80 per cent of a property’s value, down from 85per cent. The government could have been tougher here. Enthusiastic use ofthese credit lines has been a big contributor to high levels of indebtedness.

Don’t be angry with Ottawafor making it tougher to get into the housing market. You’ll get yourmortgage paid off sooner with a 25-year amortization and, if you can no longerafford to buy, you’ve been saved from borrowing trouble

Selling a house with un-permitted renovations or developments?

We have the solution.

By pulling a Concealed wiring permit we can permit electrical work previously completed as long as we get it up to the current codes.

Equinox Electric Ltd has been offering Concealed wiring permits for 2 years with 100% of those jobs passing inspection and getting the Stamp of approval from the city.

This solves a problem many homes have, people often develop basements, renovate bathrooms and kitchens without pulling Electrical permits. It also clears up all of the issues people have with insurance claims on un-permitted work

So how does it work?

Ø First we inspect the previous work

Ø Then we will inform the client of the electrical code issues

Ø Then we explain how we intend to fix any issues and discuss a price

Ø We then come in at a convenient time and do the work discussed

Ø Last step, a city inspector comes in and checks that it meets the code requirements and signs off on the job

This Service is Fast, proven and affordable, minimum cost is $400 (permits included) and average cost for a basement in $900. We are in and out in most cases in a day and can schedule the work in within a week of the initial meeting.

This Service provides not only an easier sell for an agent but peace of mind for buyer and seller.

Calgary Company offers this Service

Would like More Information - please let me know.

Terri