Edmonton Assumable Mortgaged Homes

A few weeks ago we helped a very nice couple purchase a home in the Newton area. During the home inspection the inspector recommended that the couple get a Home Energy Assessment before they purchase any new appliances or preform any renovations to the home.

I figure that since today the weather sucks and old man winter is upon us, why not explain what a Home Energy Assessment is. Plus it will put some extra money in your pockets.

Energy assessments are usually executed in two stages. Before the home improvements and after implementing the improvements but before sending in the paperwork for your rebates.

The preliminary assessment is also known as the “D” assessment, while the “E” assessment is the post-retrofit evaluation. Most…

Verification of Income:

Salaried or Hourly Wage Employees

• Letter of Employment on company letterhead with name and contact information for party authorized to verify the information; must state minimum guaranteed income/hours, rate, tenure and position

• Most recent pay stub: showing year-to-date earnings if possible

• Most recent T4 or ROE*

• Most recent 2 years’ Notice of Assessment

*These items may be requested if you are not guaranteed hours

Self – Employed**

• Most recent 2 years’ Notice of Assessment

• Most recent 2 years’ T1 General with Statement of Business Activities

• Articles of Incorporation with list of directors or shareholders

• Business Registration

• Corporate Tax Return/T2 General

**Any two or more items in this…

Do you have a mortgage? Then there’s likelihood you have mortgage insurance. This type of insurance is provided by the lender and not the government (CMHC insurance). The purpose of lender mortgage insurance is that if you become utterly ill or pass away before paying off the mortgage, the coverage will kick in and pay it off for you. It is intended to offer the consumer assurance that your family will not have the financial burden of a mortgage when you are deceased or gravely ill.

There’s a huge grey area when it comes to this. In this video (provided by CBC Marketplace), two families who acquired the coverage and thought they were protected, later realized that their claims had been turned down when loved ones became sick or died. In each case,…

Condominium maintenance costs Maintenance are also known as Condo Fees. They are the payments that the condominium owner pays to cover the common expenses of the entire complex. Usually these payments that are not part of the mortgage are made on a monthly basis to the condo association.

Most often the condominium fees include:

• Snow removal & Landscaping
• Interior & Exterior Maintenance
• Garbage disposal
• Heat
• Water
• Power for common areas
• Parking lot maintenance
• Professional management
• Reserve fund
• Insurance for common area

Condo fees will vary for different properties because they often cover different expenses. When comparing fees at different Edmonton condo and suburban properties be sure you know what is covered. For…

Have you found your dream home but were denied a mortgage? A problem with your application doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be stuck paying rent for the rest of your life. There are ways of working around issues like debt; credit ratings and low income so don’t despair.

Appeal the Decision - First, find out what the issue was and rectify it. After it has been addressed resubmit your application. A little restructuring can go a long way.

Find a Guarantor - If you were denied for a second time it might be a good idea to find a guarantor. It can be a great help but the deal is only as good as the guarantor’s credit. In fairness don’t resort to this unless you have to because if you default on the loan it’s then the guarantor’s responsibility to pay.…

One of the better investments out there if you have some extra money burning in your pockets is a parking space. Investors can benefit from parking space as a form of physical real estate that can be bought, rented or sold just like any other form of real estate.

With the large quantity of private transportation, parking spaces are becoming a rare commodity, and as demand increases so do parking space prices. An increasing number of investors are realizing this and are beginning to take advantage of this growing market.

Parking spaces tend to increasing in value irrespective of what’s going on with the real estate market.

Parking spaces require minimal upkeep, in some cases owners pay a small monthly maintenance fee for the condominium association to…

As many of you have heard, CREA (The Canadian Real Estate Association) consented to an agreement with the competition bureau on behalf of its members.

If you do your research you will see that not much has changed. What this agreement more or less does, is requires REALTORS® to more clearly define their services.

A key point to remember is that to access the MLS® you are still required to use a REALTOR®.

What many people don’t realize is that the MLS® (Multiple Listing Service) was developed by Realtors, and they pay on going fees to have access to it. The MLS® is a great tool to have, but the process of selling a home is a lot more complicated than just having is listed on the MLS®.

When it comes to selling your home all of the consumers options…

A VTB is not some sort of STD, it is a term used in Real Estate which stands for "Vendor Take Back Mortgage". Better stated, a VTB is when the Seller of a property is willing to offer some or all of the financing on that particular property.

There are many different forms of VTB's, we have helped Buyers purchase a home where the Seller acted as the bank and held the entire mortgage. Other times it has amounted to 95% of the property value, but more often it amounted to 80% of the property value. Other main factors to consider with a VTB are the interest rate, amortization and term (length) of the financing. We have seen Sellers offer 6% interest rates all the way up to 9% rates. The amortization is usually between 25-35 years with a term of 1-5 years…

Envision Edmonton is not giving up on its bid to keep the Edmonton City Centre Airport open. This is in spite of the fact that one runway was already closed this past month and that council has already voted in favor of the closure.

The group with the terrier like focus already has enough signatures, over 78,000, to take the matter to City Hall.  That trip is planned for this Thursday.  Until then, volunteers are staking out shopping malls, Tim Horton’s and anywhere else they can find willing signers.  Envision wants enough signatures in case some are deemed invalid.  They are targeting at least 85,000.

Once the signatures are presented and verified, the airport issue will be forced to go to a plebiscite.  The city has 30 days to validate the petition.…

The Bank of Canada reduced their 5 year benchmark rate from 5.79% to 5.49% this week. Expect to see this come down further to 5.39% next week, as the charter banks have already reduced their in-house qualifying rate.

How this affects you: lenders use this rate to qualify borrowers on variable-rate mortgages, lines of credit and shorter-than-5-year-terms. Reducing this rate helps people qualify for more lending options. NOTE: this rate is what is most often used for 100% financing as well, so your potential buyers who don't have a downpayment might just be able to get into the housing market with this option. If you haven't been in the industry very long, this rate is very much the same as where 5 year "best" rates were in 2007, so from that perspective,…