SuperBrokers

New Tool to Improve Credit Score

ScoreMaker gives advice to potential homebuyers on how to boost their credit score.

ScoreMaker is the new product from True Business Solutions available to potential homebuyers in need of advice on how to boost their credit rating prior to qualifying for a mortgage.

When a credit report is pulled by a mortgage broker on your behalf, ScoreMaker will instantly analyze the report and tabulate how many points by which your current score can be increased. You’re under no obligation to buy the ScoreMaker report unless you feel the amount by which your credit score can be improved is worthy of such. If you do opt to purchase the ScoreMaker report, you will be given a series of steps to take in order to improve your credit score the said amount of points.

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U.S. Market Sees Negative Equity and Mortgage Default Rise Hand in Hand

Twenty-four per cent of all U.S. mortgagors owed more than their home was worth as of the end of the last quarter.

Twenty-four per cent of all U.S. mortgagors owed more than their home was worth as of the end of the last quarter, in comparison to Canada’s mere one per cent.

Trends illustrate that as U.S. homeowners amass increased negative equity, or the amount owed on their home continues to exceed the actual market value of the property, so to does their tendency to default on their mortgage.

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Is Home Ownership Actually a Hindrance in Retirement?

After retirement, is it in your best interests to own your own home?

Owning a home while retired

It’s a debate full of unpredictable variables: is it best to maintain home ownership and rely on equity to generate income after retirement; or to sell your home, invest the proceeds, rent and live off the dividends?

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Canadian’s Debt Loads Reach All-Time High

Historically the cost of a home has equated three times the average Canadian worker’s income after tax.

The average debt-to-income ratio for Canadians has hit a record high: 145 per cent, according to a report from the Vanier Institute. Home purchase is, arguably, the greatest influence on this number. Historically the cost of a home has equated three times the average Canadian worker’s income after tax. Now that value is about five times the average income earner’s after-tax salary.

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Mortgage Arrears Tied to Job Market

Research illustrates that as employment possibilities decline, mortgage arrears rise.

A direct correlation between the number of jobs available in Canada and the number of mortgages in arrears has been shown in information gathered by Statistics Canada and the Canadian Bankers Association, and conveyed by Will Dunning Economic Research.

Research illustrates that as employment possibilities decline, mortgage arrears rise and, reversely, as job availabilities open, mortgage payments are made on time and arrears decline.

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Canadians Cognizant of Rising Debt Ratios

Contentions that Canadians risk their financial security and seek financing beyond their means are not true.

Media-spread contentions that Canadians are seeking financing beyond their means and risking their financial security on variable rates are not true according to the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP).

CAAMP reviewed 40,000 Canadian mortgages from 2009 in a report issued this month entitled, Revisiting the Canadian Mortgage Market – Risk is Small and Contained.

The report reflected that Canadians do heed the concerns voiced by the Bank of Canada; that, “sustained growth of household debt in the context of an environment of rising interest rates will increase the vulnerability of households to an adverse shock over the medium term”, as stated in the BoC Financial System Review, released December.

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Use Renewal Time to Negotiate

Don’t be submissive when your renewal date approaches. You can use this time to negotiate a better rate.

Mortgage Renewals in Canada

Renewal time is approaching. Your bank offers you a rate well above their posted special rate, which they are offering to new customers. Don’t be submissive when your renewal date approaches. You can use this time to negotiate a better rate.

You’ve proved in your term that you are a devoted mortgagor. You’ve made your payments on time for a significant duration; you should not settle for a rate a full percentage point, or more, above what you could achieve elsewhere.

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Safe Investing Points to Large-Cap Companies

Investors should be looking for companies with a strong potential to generate cash flow and with interest-swallowing debt loads well in check.

Investor’s of the New Year are looking for stocks that pose good potential for growth and minimal risk. Companies who present solid balance sheets, pragmatic growth strategies and well-managed plans are most likely to gain the favour of 2010’s mindful, tactical investor.

Investors should be looking for companies with a strong potential to generate cash flow and with interest-swallowing debt loads well in check.

Some investment advisors recommend to take intangible assets and goodwill completely out of the balance sheet equation to get a clearer scope of the true healthiness of a company. Others suggest selecting balance sheets showing very little leverage, particularly where U.S. businesses are concerned, unless the business is in extremely prominent standing and producing something that is in large consumer demand.

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Record Number of Calgary Mortgage Originations

CanEquity sees a record number of mortgages for Calgary in February of 2009.

Canadian Mortgage Market Proves Forecast Wrong

Predictions that this year would see a slow uptake of Canadians taking on new mortgages have been proven erroneous. Canada’s mortgage targets for 2009 were surpassed by 15 per cent in February, with Calgary’s mortgage market seeing even greater climbs.

This past February CanEquity Mortgage saw a 42 per cent gain in mortgage originations over February, 2008, and a 17 per cent hike from January. While November, 2008 was the slowest month for mortgages in Calgary, the municipality has seen a steady and significant ascent in mortgage purveyance every month since then. If this trend proves continuance, 2009 will be a much brighter year for the real estate market than the annum previous.