26
Jul
Marketing Low Rates
Canadian Mortgage Professional (CMP) ran a story last week that caused quite a stir. The article was about a new low-rate promotion from CanEquity. Brokers commenting on the story criticized...
Archive for the ‘Mortgage Commentary’ Category
19
Jul
2010s First Dip In Home Prices
The average Canadian home value fell 1.2% in June. It was the first drop of 2010. There’s one thing about price declines: They’re good at making people ask: “Now what?”...
7
Jul
The Predictive Power of the Yield Curve
Here’s an interesting report from the Globe & Mail on the probability of recession, as predicted by the yield curve. See this story. The yield curve is a line chart...
29
Jun
Paid Co-Signor Found Liable to RBC
An Ontario court has found an unwitting mortgage co-signor liable to RBC for over $108,000. The loser in the case was a regular working mom with three kids. Her mistake...
15
Jun
Wilfully Blind
That’s what BC’s Civil Forfeiture Office calls Royal Bank and BMO, according to the Vancouver Province. The charge results from RBC and BMO allegedly taking a blind eye to mortgage...
14
Jun
Customer Data Protection
Extrapolating is an innate human tendency. So when people read in the papers that a small group of mortgage brokers failed to protect client data, it damages the reputation of...
9
Jun
Variable-Rate Rulebooks Differ
RBC has an advantage that other big banks don’t. Last we heard, RBC is the only Big 6 bank who still uses a 3-year fixed rate to qualify conventional variable-rate...
28
May
LTVs Of CMHC-Insured Mortgages
It’s a common perception that mortgage default insurance applies to only high-ratio mortgages. That’s not actually the case. CMHC had $472.6 billion in mortgage insurance outstanding as of December 31....
26
May
Nix the Bonuses
Suppose you’re a car salesperson and your boss offers you a $1,000 bonus if you can sell a Toyota Yaris for $50,000. Would that get you excited? Us neither. Who...
22
May
Shut Out From Variable-Rate Mortgages
Only 5% of new high-ratio mortgages have had variable rates, versus 15% six months ago.* People are avoiding variables not just for fear of rising rates, but because many no...