Own Your Life

This afternoon while I was enjoying a coffee with a business associate, a homeless man walked up and politely interrupted our conversation using the opening line "I promise I am not asking for money". We were in a rush and allowed him to continue with his sales pitch as long as he was quick about it. I was happy to hear that he was just honestly hungry and wanted us to buy him some food for him and his wife.

Were we going to turn that down? Of course not. We suggested that he come back in 30 minutes so we had time to finish our meeting and then we would be happy to take him for bite to eat. Not even 10 minutes later, he was back to ask if we were ready to buy him food. Of course, now we were getting a little frustrated but again politely suggested he come back in 20 minutes like we initially requested.

What is the most important thing you are ever going to purchase in your life time? A home. So who cares what Equifax considers a good credit score, it's what the lenders think that counts. Your beacon score aka credit score ranges from 300 (low) to 900 (high). There are two governing bodies who monitor your credit scores. The first is called Equifax and the second is Transunion. We are going to focus on Equifax as the majority of lenders use Equifax over Transunion.

According to Equifax, 700 is considered nothing special but by mortgage lending standards, this will get you pretty much anything you want. What is the minimum requirement for a mortgage with great rates? 620 - 650 (through a mortgage broker) depending on the mortgage product you require. Most people fall into the 750 - 799 range (according to Equifax) which is pretty high if you ask me. Here's where it gets interesting, a credit score of 850 can mean nothing!

Does affordable housing coming to Shaughnessy sound crazy? It's already in Yaletown, Coal Harbour and many other high-end locations so why not Shaughnessy? If you think I agree with this, please take note of my sarcastic mentality.

So I have been self employed since the age of six, seriously. When I was six, I would take unopened products from my fridge and sell them to my neighbours. Sometimes I would get $7 for $12 brick of cheese, I was raking in the cash! My mother eventually figured out what was going on and shut down my operations after a few months. It didn't matter, I had enough to purchase the sneakers I desired. The point is, I consider myself a very hard worker. My wife (who works harder than I) also works ridiculous hours to afford our place in beautiful downtown Vancouver. Yaletown to be precise.

Your Mortgage Payment is Going Up!

It is concerning how many people think that after their term, their mortgage payment will drop because they have paid down some of their mortgage. Wrong!

Yes, you have paid down some of your mortgage balance but when your 5 year term completes on a 25 year amortization, you will likely take another 5 year term but with a 20 year amortization. If and only if your interest rate actually stayed the same would your payment be consistent.

Because you would now likely take a 20 year amortization, this means your payment stays the same but with our currently record low rates, your payment really only has one place to go, up.