User Blog Archives - OMJ Mortgage

Here’s some first time homebuyer advice before you buy

Morteza Sadeghi — Mon, 01 May 2017 11:10:43 +0000

It might sound a little fantastic, but some of the best first time home buyer advice you can get is the information you get before you buy. The whole experience can be so daunting, you might even decide to go with the first house that fits into your price range but it’s best to avoid that pratfall. The most satisfied newbies report putting together a first time home buyer checklist that will help them keep their footing and not become overwhelmed after they start the search for what is the biggest investment of a lifetime.

You need to bring the big picture down to size and narrowing the scope of the project will help you to get the house that best fits your needs. Here’s a few points that will help this process along.

You’ll need to know how much you have to shop with well before you start looking for listings and getting preapproved for a mortgage will batten down that hatch. What’s really important here is knowing the amount you get green lighted for isn’t always the amount you can afford when all is said and done. The number the bank gives you to work with is just a template—a ballpark area to start matching against listings.
You’ll need to get a home inspection before you sign on the dotted line. Some of the flaws these inspectors might find could be relatively minor like eaves that need to be replaced. However, you’ll find yourself in quite a hole if the foundation leaks and you take possession before you know. A home inspection will find everything so you can decide whether you want to negotiate to have the issues fixed, get a better price, or move on.
A first time home buyer’s checklist is indispensable in helping you make the right decisions.

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Reverse mortgages for seniors. What you need to know.

Morteza Sadeghi — Mon, 01 May 2017 11:09:07 +0000

As we age in today’s economy, more and more Canadians are finding their primary concern isn’t asking themselves: are mortgage rates going up? Older folks aren’t even necessarily concerned with the historically low mortgage rates. The world being what it is today means many seniors are looking into the pros and cons of a reverse mortgage.

First things first as they say. These reverse mortgages are just like other types with a few very important differences in that they are only available to people 55 years and older. Of course there are some big things that are different.

The location of your home and the house value does make a difference to the amount that you can get. In most instances, the maximum you can get is $750,000 and $20,000 is the minimum amount. These amounts can be narrowed down by getting a proper appraisal but there’s no need to worry about any out-of-pocket expenses initially. You don’t need to pay for any of these closing costs from a reverse mortgage at the time of funding.
It’s also good to know that you don’t need to take all of the money you get preapproved for at once. Many people only require a small amount at first and that’s the amount you pay interest on. As you need more money when things come up in the future, you can take more from the initial amount that you are preapproved for.
While you are living in your home, you will make no monthly mortgage payments.

Perhaps best of all is the fact that you keep the house in your name and the balance owing from any reverse mortgage are paid back at the time of sale. Like any other mortgage product, these reverse mortgages need to be handled with caution and prudence but they are a good idea for a growing number of older Canadians.

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You need a good plan to save for a down payment

Morteza Sadeghi — Mon, 01 May 2017 11:07:23 +0000

It’s not the most interesting or exciting part of buying your first home, but you need to have a plan to save for the down payment that will get you the keys to the front door. This is one of the preliminary mortgage requirements you’ll need to sort out. The sooner you get started with this big step toward applying for a mortgage, the sooner you can begin looking at the listings that are in your price range.

Like a lot of other things you need to do to get that first home, saving for a down payment requires a plan you need to stick with. This usually involves giving up at least some of the luxuries you enjoyed as an apartment dweller and you should always be looking at socking away at least 20% of the price of the home you are considering.

Bagged Lunches

Start by cutting out all the small stuff you can. If you’ve been lunching at the local restaurant that’s just around the corner from work or eating the daily special from the cafeteria , you can start saving by bagging your own lunch. With a little research, you can come up with some variations that may be better for your health anyway.

Smart Numbers

Be smart with the numbers. Sure you’re looking at putting away enough to get preapproved so you can actually start looking in the right price range, but you need to add some additional expenses into the mix that are more than likely new to you as a first time homebuyer. For example, it doesn’t really matter whether you’ve been living in an apartment or staying with your parents, paying property taxes on a house and utilities will be a new drain on your accounts .

Saving for a down payment is one of the first mortgage requirements you’ll need to become accustomed to. It’s a good first step when you plan on applying for a mortgage.

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Some great ways to winterize your home

Morteza Sadeghi — Mon, 01 May 2017 11:05:44 +0000

Like it or hate it, winter is part of the Canadian experience that’s as reliable as taxes and when you own a home you need to prepare for it. A complete list of comprehensive first-time home buyer tips can’t avoid this fact and that’s why we’ve put together a few points you can’t afford to overlook if you want to stay warm when the snow flies and the temperature drops.

Getting out in front of any potential issues with your furnace is a good idea since no one wants to be left without the services of that trusted appliance during the height of a mid-January storm. In the fall, you should take your furnace through a test run and turn the thermostat up high so you can make sure you can hear the fan turn on and the warm air start to blow within a few minutes. The early winter is a great time to make sure there are no obstacles blocking heating vents, your carbon monoxide detectors are working properly and you have fresh batteries installed for the upcoming season.

First-time home buyer advice also includes looking out for any plumbing that could be exposed to the elements directly or in a space like a garage where the temperature will drop below freezing. Any pipes in crawlspaces and attics should be insulated with some kind of foam insulation. Keep in mind, if you are shutting down a place for the Winter season, you’ll need to shut the water off completely and drain the pipes of any excess before you leave.

Don’t forget to check your doors and windows for leaks too by holding a lit candle near them to see if the flame flickers and bends. That usually means you‘ve got some kind of draft and these can easily be remedied with any number of caulking solutions you can find at your local home improvement store.

Here’s a few more excellent first time home buyer tips for you to look at.

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Knowledge is Power: Here’s an overview of the mortgage application process

Morteza Sadeghi — Mon, 01 May 2017 10:57:46 +0000

Responsible mortgage brokers like us are always telling our clients they need to get and stay informed about their rights and what they need to know to make the right decisions about homeownership. Of course that includes one of the most important aspects in the mortgage application process. Understanding how this initial process works will put you on a good footing when it comes time to start down the path to getting a house of your own.

If you stop to think about it for a minute, you’ll see it’s understandable the lending institution that is considering lending you the money for a new home wants to be sure they stand an excellent chance of getting paid back. Part of the process of how to calculate mortgage payments starts here with some information gathering. Think a little more and you’ll see that beyond the information that helps them to identify you like a social insurance number, they will also be curious about the things that speak to your character like where you’ve worked and for how long.

Reputation

It’s also a good idea to put together some data on where you’ve lived and are currently living so lenders can get a snapshot of your life and start putting together a picture of your reputation and trustworthiness.

One of the bigger factors you’ve likely already heard about when it comes to the mortgage application process is your credit history and your financial net worth. Here’s an excellent hint if you’re thinking about getting involved. Your credit score is an important aspect and you’ll want to present it in a favorable light. If you’ve had some trouble with credit in the past, repairing those bad numbers often means making a real effort to pay your bills on time and making more than just the minimum down payment.

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Social Media, Your Children and You

Morteza Sadeghi — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 12:08:07 +0000

The other day, I was looking through the mortgage rates forecast for the GTA and came across an interesting article on body image in children and social media. I was so impressed with what the research had to say, I thought I’d share some of the bigger takeaways with you.

It seems that 10,000 Ontario students were studied and that 33% percent of boys and girls were feeling pressure to lose weight and the culprit for these negative messages was often the social media channels they belonged to.

Here’s a few disturbing trends I found:

Of the adolescents that were questioned by Common Sense Media, a full 35% worried they would be tagged as unattractive in social media.
Another 22% felt bad when no one had a comment or like for the photos they post.
Teens of both genders (27%) feel stressed about how they look when they post any pictures.

If all this sounds depressing, take heart because there are some things that you can do as parents. What goes on under the roof of the house you’re thinking about buying is just as important as the mortgage rates forecast we’ll use to get you the keys. That said, I wanted to post a few of the tips I found to help counteract these messages.

Consume the media with them whenever possible. Taking an active role when you can helps to get a good idea of the social networks they frequent.
When they get old enough, encourage them to take an active role in the online media by making their voices heard. It’s a good way for teens to define what they see as important.

You can do your part as parents by supplying more than just a roof over their heads. Being a good role model means avoiding self-criticism and never teasing a child about their weight.

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How starting a small business is like buying a house

Morteza Sadeghi — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 07:52:04 +0000

Once you’ve owned your home for some time and start making dents in that principal, you’ll see all the advantages of having equity and might even want to start putting some of that hard-earned cash to work for you in a small business.

It’s a tough road and you can use the know-how you brought to looking at historical mortgage rates and other factors that helped you decide to buy a home. When you do, you’ll see how important putting together a business plan is. Statistics tell us there are around 50 thousand new startups in Canada each year and, of those, only about 5,000 will see their fifth anniversary.

A good business plan is essential to help you sort through and temper enthusiasm with facts. For example, you needed to learn how to spot bad neighborhoods when you were looking for a place of your own. You’ll need those deductive skills again to avoid picking the wrong people to work for you in your business plan.

Both endeavors take good old fashioned time and effort.

Getting a good business plan up and running requires about 100 hours of hard work. You’ll need to start planning for all the analysis, research, review and documentation about nine to eighteen months in advance.

Here’s a few other ways the path to having your own business is like the road to your own home.

The realities are very different from the image. Think about how you imagine a business owner and someone who owns a house. Both are happy and relaxed—the homeowner relaxing with his feet up on the railing of his front porch and the business owner with shoes up on a mahogany desk. In the real world, both require long hours of sacrifice and financial strain at the beginning.
The returns are small at first. Even with the attractive historical mortgage rates we’ve been enjoying for some time, the payments are almost all interest for the first few years on any mortgage. Small business owners generally need to get over an initial hump to start seeing profits too.

In the end, both small businesses and houses pay off when you put the work in.

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Good Hogtown investment neighbourhoods

Morteza Sadeghi — Sat, 26 Nov 2016 15:58:21 +0000

People buying their first piece of real estate are always looking for excellent first-time home buyer tips. What could be better than finding out which are the best Toronto neighborhoods that yield great returns? Here’s a few Hogtown neighborhoods where the housing prices have skyrocketed and there are new developments either underway or on the books to boot.

South Riverdale.

Diverse and large. Those are two of the comments that you will hear about South Riverdale. This is an excellent small town vibe neighborhood with many amenities within walking distance and everything from retail stores to yoga studios. What’s more, there are some new plans on the drawing table and some excellent already available infrastructure features for people who already live there or want to move in.

Danforth Village-East York

This is the Toronto neighborhood that has the eclectic mixture of big porch homes and access to several Bloor-Danforth subway lines as well as a good smattering of access points to street cars and buses. This is another one of those locations in Toronto that really shines in a multicultural way. You’re likely to hear a variety of different dialects spoken in this neighborhood including Arabic, Italian, Greek and even Cantonese.

Long Branch

If you’re looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of the downtown core, this west end neighborhood might be just the place for you. This is a great jumping off point into the housing market for younger professionals and families beginning life’s journey since it has some of the great amenities you’d expect from a place in the early start of a housing boom. Still, Long Branch is retaining its affordability. There are quite a few different styles of homes to choose from here including condos and single-family dwellings.

It doesn’t matter what kind of Toronto neighborhood you choose to live in, we will be here to give you the very best in first time-home buyer tips pertaining to that all-important mortgage.

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Getting A Business Plan Off The Ground

Morteza Sadeghi — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 18:33:23 +0000

Not everyone who is looking at mortgage requirements is buying a family home. In fact, more Canadians are looking at self-employment and quite often that means a structure to go with your newfound business. If you’re taking this route, you’re more than likely already aware of the big learning curve ahead of you. Ask any commercial loans or enterprise experts and they will tell you the business plan needs to be one of the rocks you build your enterprise on.

Getting a business plan off the ground means taking some advice about what needs to go into one that’s successful. The Executive Summary has often been called and likened to the synopsis of a book. It needs to peak an investor’s interest, but not give everything away. Remember to stress the positives here but avoid the negatives.

The Mission Statement is one of the more critical parts of any successful business plan. It clearly outlines what the new company will do and it provides a first look at the firm’s longer range goals. Important here are certain elements, including responding to which consumer needs will be satisfied and who the customers or target market will be.

Value Added Features

One of the most important sections of a business plan is the Marketing Section. It’s important here that you cover several different key areas including listing and explaining all of the value added features of your product. As well, it’s essential that you clearly define your target market and show relevant data to verify that you have carefully done your research . A careful analysis of the market’s strengths and weaknesses is also necessary. Finally, a good Marketing Section should have sales and strategies clearly outlined that cover publicity, promotion, market research, and merchandising. Putting together an excellent business plan for a company should lead to the kind of success whereby you can look into commercial loans.

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Big Mistakes First Time Home Buyers Make

Morteza Sadeghi — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 07:47:53 +0000

There’s a lot of excitement around buying that first home and finally realizing the dream of getting the keys to a place all your own. There are lots of plans to be made for creating that backyard oasis, colours to pick for the dining room and a wish list that includes custom cabinets for the kitchen. However, one of the most important boxes on your first time home buyer checklist needs to be avoiding costly mistakes that can stall or even shut down your mortgage plans.

Debt is one of the biggest offenders. With interest rates as low as they’ve been, some folks think they can load up on luxury items and still qualify for a mortgage. Problem is, that new car you’ve always dreamed about that would look great in the driveway of your new home might be the very reason you can’t get preapproved for a mortgage. Remember, there’s a debt-to-income ratio banks use to decide who gets a mortgage and having lots of debt before you apply isn’t a good move. The best first time home buyer tips here are about staying small when it comes to credit if you really want to own a home.

Speaking of cars, you wouldn’t buy one without performing some due diligence, without “kicking the tires” and doing what you needed to be sure you weren’t buying a lemon. Well, the same goes for your house and that means you should never skip the home inspection.

Trying to cut costs is a great way to prepare for those first few years as a new homeowner, but you want to know about any potential costly problems before you buy. A two to four hour search through the place in the form of a home inspection before you’ve signed on can save thousands of dollars down the road if there are big issues.

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