All across the country, mortgage specialists and brokers are busy fielding calls from people who’ve just heard about this week’s news about record low mortgage rates. Is it worth your while to try to break your current mortgage to get in on the new deals?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/01/13/f-mortgage-rates-record-low.html

Please watch the video to understand what is behind the low mortgage rates.

From Canadian Mortgage Trends

2 Out of 3 Don’t Shop at Renewal

More specifically:

• 20% stayed with their current lender after maturity and did not negotiate
• 45% stayed with their current lender and tried to negotiate a good deal, but did not shop around
• 35% compared mortgages from several lenders and choose the best overall lender and product.

The youngest group (ages 30-39) was most likely to shop around (41%), but was also most likely to
accept their current lender’s offer without negotiating (24%).

We asked Doug Conick, President & CEO of Manulife Bank, why on earth people would give so much power to their lender.

“Most people lead very busy lives and may not have the time or expertise to fully investigate their options,” he said.

“Through our debt survey we’ve found that only about 3 out of 10 Canadians work with a financial adviser to manage their debt more effectively.”

“With busy lives and a lack of advice for most, this decision often gets left until very close to the renewal date, causing borrowers to follow the path of least resistance and renew with their current lender.”

“The unfortunate thing,” he added, “is that this could end up costing them a lot of extra money and keep them in debt longer than they need to be.”

That’s for sure.

In our experience, people who auto-renew often pay 1/2%-3/4% more than necessary, or worse! In fact, we’ve seen innumerable people sign renewal letters at their bank’s “special offer” rate, which is usually well above the market. (Example: Today’s 5-year fixed “special offer” bank rates are 3.94% to 4.09%. That’s up to 80 basis points above competitive rates on the street.)

Even a 1/4% rate difference amounts to over $4,000 more in interest over five years, on a $200,000 mortgage with a 20-year amortization. That’s money that could normally go towards prepaying a fat chunk of principal.

It’s hard to fathom why anyone would let a lender pick their pocket like this. At the very least, folks must find it within their strength to lift up the phone and call an independent mortgage planner.

Even if you’d rather stay with your current lender at renewal, seek out a second opinion. You absolutely owe it to yourself to keep your lender honest by surveying the market.

Of course, this all begs the question of why someone would ever want to deal exclusively with a lender that aims to maximize the interest they pay…but that’s a story for another day.

Sidebar: The report also confirmed, yet again, the various studies which show that people underutilize their prepayment privileges.

In the last year, out of respondents with a mortgage, 70% did not make any extra payments.

By far, the most common reason cited for not making an extra mortgage payment was “a lack of extra money.”

Survey Details: The Manulife Bank of Canada polled 1,000 Canadian homeowners between ages 30 to 59 with household income of more than $50,000. The survey was conducted online by Research House between October 25 and November 7, 2011. In a similarly-sized random sample survey, the margin of error would be plus or minus 3.10% at a 95% confidence level. Here’s the full survey. 1112-Q4-Renewals-Manulife

I have been recently asking this question myself.  I know most of you value the fact that I can go to different banks and lenders and give you options and solutions.  In my mind no one bank (Ex. CIBC or BMO etc) will come to you and let you know TD or Scotia or RBC has a better mortgage, so working with a broker makes sense.

But how to compete with banks? One of the best answers to this is:  Helping homeowners save money, reduce their interest expense and lower their mortgage payments…

I just got one solid idea… Banks will review your mortgage only when you approach them, ex. when you buy, you refinance or you renew your mortgage…. but what about when you can save money, reduce your payment and interest?  Would they approach you?

In my research, they would not approach you as they have your business already…  Their main concern is that you keep making the payments… Please take the time to help me understand if you’d like an online place or notifications where you can better manage your mortgage… it will take you less than 1 minute…

Click Here and help Camilo

Posted by Camilo Rodriguez

The Tragedy of Missing Out

Posted: 24 Aug 2011 08:59 AM PDT

Post written by Leo Babauta.

A father and his son went fishing on a small boat, hungry.

The father helped his son reel in his first fish, and it was a beauty. “Great catch, son,” the father said.

“Yes, but I’m worried I’m missing out on better fish,” the son said. “What if I could catch a bigger, tastier fish?”

“Maybe you should try,” the father said.

And the son did, catching an even bigger fish an hour later. “A real beaut,” the father said.

“But what if there are better fish out there?” the son asked.

“Maybe you should try,” the father said.

And the son did, catching a bigger fish, then wondering if there were better fish, catching another, and so on.

At the end of the day, the son was exhausted. The father asked, “How did the fish taste?”

The son hesitated. “I’m not sure. I was so busy looking for better fish that I didn’t taste any of them.”

The father smiled contentedly, patted his belly. “Don’t worry. They were delicious.”

—

We are all of us like the son. We all worry, at some time or other, that we’re missing out on things.

It’s why we’re so busy — we take on so much because we don’t want to miss out. We take on dozens of goals and aspirations, because we don’t want to miss out.

But here’s the bare truth: we will miss out, no matter what. It’s inevitable. We cannot do or try everything in the world, even with lives twice as long. We cannot see every town and city, read every interesting book, watch every important film. We will always, always miss out.

Here’s the second, more important truth: if you always worry about what you’re missing out on, you will miss out on what you already have.

Don’t make a reading list a mile long — focus on the book in your hand. Don’t pack your vacation itinerary with every highlight of the city you’re visiting — walk around and enjoy what you find. Don’t worry about traveling the entire world — be delighted with the world around you. Don’t worry about what you’re missing online, or in the news — what you’re doing is good enough.

And let go of your long to-do lists and goal lists. They are a futile attempt to keep from missing out. You will miss out, but in striving to do everything, you’ll miss out on the wonder of the thing you are doing right now.

What you’re doing right now is all that matters. Let the rest go, and enjoy the fish you’ve already caught.

In plain terms, easy to understand, do not feel bad when you quit at all, just understand the process, your emotions and When, How & Why.

Think about this on whatever journey you decided to go on.

TED Talks Why do people succeed? Is it because they’re smart? Or are they just lucky? Neither. Analyst Richard St. John condenses years of interviews into an unmissable 3-minute slideshow on the real secrets of success.

Amazing, the future is really today…. watch this video… and get your card reader….

https://squareup.com/

There has been for a few years a lot of Rent to Own proposals.  I like the concept a lot, unfortunately without understanding the financing aspect of it, a Rent to Own contract may not be beneficial to all parties.

Go to this facebook website and leave all your positive and negative experiences if you have been in a Rent to Own contract !

Facebook Community Page – Rent to Own