As an adult, you might be interested in a neighborhood that is
easy driving distance from a golf course, close to shopping
and fine dining restaurants, or has nearby trails suitable for
walking and jogging.
But kids are different.
To them, their entire world exists on those few streets in and
around their home. So if you have children, you’ll want to
make sure that your new home is located in a neighborhood
with amenities that will appeal to them. Those may include
nearby parks with modern playground equipment, daycare
facilities (especially important for young families), schools,
recreation centers, and sports fields.
Even a sidewalk in front of a home can be important to a
child. And, of course, it is also important for them to have
other kids in the neighborhood that could potentially become
their friends.
Several academic studies have shown that “kid-friendly”
neighborhood features can have a significant impact on a
child’s well being, psychological growth and academic
performance.
How do you find neighborhoods that are great for your kids?
Call today and I’ll help!
But what if you don’t have any kids?
If you’re planning a family, you’ll want a neighborhood that is
suitable for baby strollers and toddlers.
If you’re not anticipating having children, or if your kids are
already grown, then you’ll need to carefully consider whether
or not you want to live in a kid-friendly area. You might enjoy
having the occasional street hockey game played in front of
your home. But, then again, you might not!
So, you need to think of the kids when shopping for a new
home ― even if you don’t have any.
Need help selecting the ideal neighborhood? Call today!
Like taxes, traffic is a fact of life.
So, when shopping for a new home,
consider how the road situation will
affect your commute to work,
access to shopping and attractions,
and the ability to conveniently
reach places you need to go.
After all, it’s difficult to enjoy your
new home if you’re constantly
sitting in traffic!
Ask your REALTOR® about known
congested streets and
intersections, school busing routes,
and access to public transit.
Not intended to cause or induce the breach of, cancellation of, assignment of, or to interfere in any way with the existing agency agreement of another Realtor.

“The best we can do is size up the chances,
calculate the risks involved, estimate our
ability to deal with them, and then make our
plans with confidence.”
Henry Ford
“Excellence is doing ordinary things
extraordinarily well.”
John W. Gardner
“The value of an idea lies in the using of it.”
Thomas A. Edison

Most mortgages have the option to allow payments to be made on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. This option may be desirable for two reasons. The first is it can save you money as you can expect to pay off your mortgage about 4 years sooner. This can save you dramatically over the life of your mortgage. The other reason why these options are so popular is that if your employer pays you on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, you can simplify your budgeting by making the payment line up with the way you paid.

Paying extra amounts on your mortgage can make a big interest saving over time. When we select a mortgage company, privilege payments options are something that we look for. A 20% privilege payment will allow you to pay off up to $20,000 per year on a $100 000 mortgage. It is important that the privilege payment also be flexible to allow you to pay smaller payments on the mortgage and as often as you wish. An extra $1000 periodically paid on a mortgage can help you become mortgage free faster.

When you require a mortgage for more than 80% of the purchase price of a property, that mortgage must be insured by Canada Mortgage and Housing (CMHC) or GE Mortgage insurance. The premium charged by these company`s decreases as the down payment increases. When you finance your property at 95%, a premium of 3.75% is added to the mortgage. By increasing the down payment to 10% of the purchase price the premium can be reduced to 2.5%. If you can put down 20%, you can avoid any additional insurance fee. Depending on your situation there are ways that you can structure this financing to avoid the CMHC or GE insurance premium.

As mentioned above, when you put a 20% down payment on your purchase you can avoid the CMHC premium. More importantly the larger the down payment, the lower the amount of interest you will pay over the life of your mortgage. It is important to note that it may not be wise to stretch yourself to increase your down payment and end up borrowing on credit cards or a line of credit at a higher rate.

The options for mortgages available can be very confusing for most mortgage shoppers. Terms for mortgages vary between variable and fixed rate, 6-month terms to 10 year terms. Taking a variable or floating rate mortgage can have savings. Typically the shorter the term or guarantee of the rate, the lower the rate will be. This does not always happen, depending on the market place and the economy, but history has shown that short-term rates tend to be lower than long-term rates. The up side of variable rate is the strong potential for interest rate savings. The down side is the fact that you are accepting the interest rate risk without a guarantee. If you are considering a variable rate mortgage you need to look at your own risk tolerance, and your cash flow available to deal with potential increased payment. Considering projections of rates and where we see interest rates heading can also be important in this decision. Make sure you talk to an expert when you are making this decision.