Hang in There Baby!



Buying a Home…it’s still sorta fun, depending on your perception anyway.

I have been providing mortgages for people for over 13 years now.  That seems like a lifetime to me.

In that time I’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of people become homeowners.

For some, the process is fun and exciting, for others it’s like getting a root canal…and the latter is unfortunately growing more and more common.

Over the past few years we have seen our industry get “flipped turned upside down” (that’s for all you cool 90’s kids out there…and you are welcome.  Long live the Fresh Prince!!).

Not to bore you, but the industry is completely different from what it was even just 3 years ago.  It certainly is not the industry your parents remember. 

With CMHC being put under the watchful eye of OSFI (Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions) and the Bank of Canada being scared of it’s own shadow…I fear we’ve still got a way to go before we get back to business the way it used to be. 

Those were the days –  we wish we could jump in a time machine to go back to when things were a bit simpler…at least simpler than they are today.

We’ve seen amortization’s (life time of loan) reduced from 35, to 30, and then again to 25 years.  We’ve seen the “Zero – Down” mortgage options go out the window.  We’ve seen the rules for Self Employed people change half a dozen times making it harder and harder for them to qualify, and my personal favorite – we’ve seen affordability calculation’s get so complex that most people just can’t be bothered to even consider it.

There are so many other changes here and there – but when will enough be enough?

Buying a home should be a good experience.  It should be funIt should be a positive memory.  It shouldn’t be so stressful that it makes you want to bang your head against the wall.

Well – thanks to a dismal World Economy, a deflated Canadian Dollar, plummeting Oil prices, increased Mortgage Fraud and Identity Theft…all the good guys are the ones that have to endure the consequences.

Remember that old saying, “One bad apple spoils the bunch”?  Well, it couldn’t be truer for anyone currently trying to get a mortgage these days.  

All we can say is hang in there – you’re not the only ones going through it.  There are many more people going through the same agonies.