It's time for many Canadians to abandon the 20% down-payment rule

This one’s for the housing true believers out there.

You’re the buyers who keep pushing house prices higher in cities such as Vancouver, Toronto and Hamilton. Incomes are edging higher in these cities, prices are surging. If you’re primed to buy anyway, then listen up. Stop trying to save a 20-per-cent down payment and get into the market now.

A popular and sensible bit of financial advice is that you should ideally wait to buy a house until you have a down payment of at least 20 per cent and thus are excused from buying mortgage default insurance. But if it takes a few years to save that much, you may find that soaring prices more than offset the savings on mortgage insurance.

This insurance got a little more expensive in some cases this summer, so it’s time for a fresh look at the case for avoiding the cost of buying it.

Background for housing rookies: If you have a down payment of less than 20 per cent, you have to pay a hefty premium to insure your lender in case you default on your payments. The amount is usually added to your mortgage principal, which means it’s out of sight and out of mind. But it still costs you.

With a down payment of less than 10 per cent (5 per cent is the minimum), the cost of mortgage insurance rose in June to 3.6 per cent of the purchase price from 3.15 per cent. Larger down payments short of 20 per cent were unaffected and range from 2.4 per cent down to 1.8 per cent. You’ll pay provincial sales tax on those amounts in Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. More importantly, you’ll incur extra interest charges by adding these amounts to your mortgage balance.

Let’s use the average resale house price in Canada to illustrate how much mortgage insurance adds to your costs when buying a first home. The average price in August was $433,367 – acalculator from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., a supplier of mortgage insurance, shows that a 10-per-cent down payment would trigger a mortgage insurance premium of $9,361. With that amount added to the mortgage, monthly payments on a five-year fixed mortgage at 2.59 per cent would be $1,807 per month.

With a 20-per-cent down payment, monthly costs on this mortgage fall to $1,569. Total interest over the five-year term of the mortgage falls to $41,390 from $47,681, a difference of $6,291. But would it really be worth postponing your purchase by three years to put 20 per cent down? With the market rising at 5 per cent annually (less than recent increases in Vancouver, Toronto and Hamilton), the chart that goes with this column shows you’d actually end up paying more per month.

Mortgage rates also have to figure into your thinking on whether to buy now or wait and save more. If we assume 4 per cent average annual price increases over three years and a rise in mortgage rates of one percentage point, you’d have to pay substantially more than if you bought now and paid for mortgage insurance (see chart).

If you live in a city with a slow real estate market, it pays to wait and save more. If you waited three years to double your down payment to 20 per cent on the average-priced house and prices rose 2 per cent annually, you’d come out ahead by more than $140 per month.

A June study issued by the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals said the average house down payment for first-time buyers was $67,000. That represents a 21 per cent down payment on the average $318,000 spent by first-timers, and a 15.5-per-cent down payment on the overall average price of $433,367.

The CAAMP study found that 18 per cent of first-time buyers received gifts or loans from family. A thought for parents who want to help their kids get into the market: Try topping up their down payment to reach the 20 per cent threshold. Warning: Parents should avoid this type of financial help if they have to go into debt to provide it, or if it greases the way for their kids to buy a house they can’t properly afford to carry.

Down payments are one of the least strategized parts of home buying, and yet they can have a big impact on your total long-term cost of owning a house. The conventional wisdom about 20-per-cent down payments is right on the money, but not if you’re set on buying in a hot market. Either jump in now or resolve to wait and save indefinitely for sanity to return.

For a free evalaution of your home or to find out what we do to GET YOUR HOME SOLD, Call: 519-841-0559 or e-mail: roy@callcleeves.com

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/mortgages/some-housing-markets-too-hot-for-traditional-down-payment-wisdom/article26532772/?service=mobile

Six benefits to investing in real estate

The time and effort it takes to build up a real estate portfolio can test your will, but when you stick with it, the benefits are worthwhile.

1. The courage to walk away
The headaches of the corporate world: endless meetings, business travel, red tape, bureaucracy at its fullest, reorganization, hiring freezes, more cutbacks, the impact on your health.

Putting up with this for years and years isn’t always worth the upside and perks a job might offer. Even if you don’t like your job, having real estate investments to fall back on can give you the courage to walk away from it all, like I did.

I decided to walk away from that job and from higher-level positions that would have sucked up more of my time so that I could balance what’s important in my life. I think Frank (played by John Goodman) in The Gambler said it best (although with a few more curse words):

“... You get a house with a 25-year roof... you put the rest into the system at 3-5% to pay your taxes and that’s your base, get me? That’s your fortress of [f---king] solitude. That puts you, for the rest of your life, at a level of f--- you. Somebody wants you to do something, f--- you. Boss pisses you off, f--- you!”

2. The time to get healthy

You know that getting in shape and eating healthy is very important, but you constantly have other commitments in life that take up all your free time. You know that’s bad for your health in the long term. Even if your life isn’t stressful, you probably could benefit from more free time.

As you develop an income from real estate, it becomes easier to balance everything in life because it’s possible to be less reliant on a salary, and to be able to afford more time off. Examples include stepping back from your day job, building healthy habits, and placing health as a top priority. I decided to do all that, by taking extended time off to repair my 18-year-old shoulder injury and committing more time to dance and sports, rather than work.

3. The opportunity to take a sabbatical

Imagine a big dream vacation, one that takes you away for several months. It’s difficult, isn’t it, because you don’t have limited vacation time or the funds to pay for it? Having a real estate portfolio that pays you might be the push you need to take a break from work and go on a sabbatical. You might want to travel for an extended period of time, experience other cultures, and naturally wake up without an alarm clock, an agenda or a plan.

After enjoying a sabbatical where I was able to recharge, travel and spend more time with family, I decided to permanently leave my engineering career with the government.

4. Time to pursue interest-based work

Maybe you’ve wondered what it would be like to do something different, like going back to school, trying a new career or starting up your own business. It’s very liberating to know that you have options and you can choose work that balances with your values/beliefs, such as family and personal goals, rather than work that is driven by money.

I left engineering for good more than a year ago and decided to pursue interest-based work. My motto is to work as long as it is fun, rather than work because of the security, benefits or pension.

5. Early retirement

Dedicating time to building a nice nest egg in real estate can afford you extra time later in life. The best thing about early retirement is having more time to do what you want to do. You can afford a less structured life, such as waking up without an alarm clock and penciling in more fun activities, like volunteering or staying at home with the kids.

I haven’t gotten to this point (yet) but I’m actively working towards it. Life is too short to spend 40 years at your peak working so that you can ‘retire’ for the last 30 years.

6. The ability to pay for your kids’ education

If you are one of those people who hates volatility (as experienced in the stock markets) and likes steady returns and lower levels of risk, then investing a bit of capital to buy a property might be the easiest and most stable solution. It is almost impossible to get significant returns without taking a significant risk in paper assets. However, buying property works best when you have time to wait while a tenant pays down a mortgage.

For a free evalaution of your home or to find out what we do to GET YOUR HOME SOLD, Call: 519-841-0559 or e-mail: roy@callcleeves.com

Source:http://www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca/expert-advice/six-benefits-to-investing-in-real-estate-196280.aspx

Seller Property Information Statements: What you need to know

While seller property information statements (SPIS) are not required by law, there are certain legal implications that investors and real estate agents should be aware of. Commercial lawyer Matt Maurer answers a range of questions about the statements

While seller property information statements (SPIS) are not required by law, there are certain legal implications that investors and real estate agents should be aware of. Commercial lawyer Matt Maurer answers a range of questions about the statements.


1. What is a seller property information statement?

A SPIS is a standard form document that was drafted by the Ontario Real Estate Association. It will contain information relating to defects, renovations and other pertinent property information based on the seller’s knowledge and experience.


2. Is completing a SPIS mandatory?

No. Sellers are not required by law to complete a SPIS. However, according to the Real Estate Council of Ontario, once a seller has completed a SPIS their broker or agent is required to tell all potential buyers of its existence. Additionally, if the buyer makes their offer conditional on a SPIS, then from a practical perspective the seller either has to complete one, or not sell to that particular buyer.


3. What are the legal implications?

SPIS have attracted significant judicial consideration in recent years.
The law in Ontario relating to SPIS was settled by the Court of Appeal in 2011. In short, where the seller completes a SPIS it is assumed that the seller intends that the SPIS will be disclosed to prospective buyers to use to inform their decisions respecting the purchase. This creates the relationship necessary in law to hold a seller legally responsible if the information contained in the SPIS is wrong, either through negligence (carelessness) or fraud (deliberately), notwithstanding the large disclaimer that appears at the beginning of the SPIS.
In a recent decision, the transaction was made conditional on a home inspection and financing (but not a SPIS). The agreement also contained a standard entire agreement clause. However, two days after the agreement was signed the buyer asked the seller to complete a SPIS and the seller obliged. The SPIS created an obligation on the seller not only to disclose existing information but also to notify the buyer of any changes to the information contained in the SPIS prior to the closing date.
The seller indicated on the SPIS that the house had not experienced any flooding. After the SPIS was delivered, but prior to the closing, there was flooding in the house. The seller failed to inform the buyer and the buyer ended up suing the seller after the closing when the buyer discovered the flooding issue. The court ruled in favour of the buyer and held that the SPIS and the obligation to make ongoing disclosure trumped the entire agreement clause found in the agreement itself.


4. What are the implications for agents?

Agents representing the seller are under an obligation to guide the client through the form and to provide specific warnings about the implications of completing a SPIS and the importance of ensuring that answers are complete and accurate. These warnings are to include the fact that by completing a SPIS the seller may be providing information to potential buyers that they are not legally otherwise required to provide.


In conclusion

Prudent buyers should, at the very minimum, ask the seller to complete a SPIS, and prudent vendors should avoid voluntarily completing a SPIS without the buyer specifically asking for one. If the buyer makes the request, the seller is under no obligation to do so. The seller’s decision as to whether or not to complete a SPIS at that point will likely depend on the condition of the house and the state of the local market.


For a free evalaution of your home or to find out what we do to GET YOUR HOME SOLD, Call: 519-841-0559 or e-mail: roy@callcleeves.com

Source:http://www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca/expert-advice/seller-property-information-statements-what-you-need-to-know-195166.aspx