The weather is doing its best to hold off the spring market as long as possible, however most agents I’ve been in contact with this week are saying activity is picking up.  There are buyers out there looking but they’re not acting very fast.  A colleague of mine in Barrie is saying that their inventory is down so they are seeing multiple offers on everything and that final prices are often well above asking prices.  Once the sun comes out I think we’ll see a significant improvement in offer activity.

Interest rates are still at the amazing low rates….most clients are sticking with a fixed rate mortgage of either 5  or 10 years.  I think I’ve only done 2 variable rate mortgages in the past year and that was specifically due to the 3 month penalty if the clients were to break their mortgage within 5 years.  The beauty with the extremely low 5 year rates is that even without the 30-40 year amortizations we had in the past few years, clients are still able to qualify for houses that they never thought they could have. 

I’m going to start a new weekly feature that will hopefully keep you informed of some of the products or rates that are available and might just help you gain a sale if you were to inform your clients.  I’m going to call it my “Did you know” and it will simply be part of my week in review emails. 

Did you know?  35 year amortizations are still available on CONVENTIONAL deals through some of my lenders?  I had a situation last week where a client was buying a duplex to live in and had 20% down, but had been declined by her bank as the ratios were too tight.  Her own bank only had 25 year amortization available even on conventional deals, however I was able to put the mortgage together using a 35 year amortization through another lender. 

My hockey pool with Dominion Lending Centres is gaining a lot of buzz around the area.  Registration starts Monday and you could win $10 000 or one of many other prizes totalling over $25000, and you get to play against Don Cherry.  Simply go to www.brianmill.ca and watch the video for more details. 

This weekend I’ll be cheering on the Attack and watching the Masters so feel free to call me anytime with questions or referrals. 

Sincerely,

Brian Mill