Should I shop around between Mortgage Brokers?

A reader of Ozzie Jurock's asked that question and his answer was this:

"Interesting question. Until two months ago, I would have said that all mortgage brokers really have the same access to every financial institution as any other and that the only difference is the experience, acumen and 'hungriness' of each broker. Today this has changed. A number of lenders have cut off large numbers of brokers. Some do not use brokers at all and others have cut off low-producing brokers. Many brokers cannot say that they actually have access to every lender any more, only the big companies and high volume brokers still have access to every lender and yes, it could mean access to the best rates at all times."

http://www2.jurock.com/askexpert/expert.asp?aid=116&cid=64

Put Krista and Sherri in that list of brokers if you are inclined to shop around and you will be pleasantly surpised. They will work for YOU not the lender

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Happy New Year's

www.lawlessbrown.com

Happy Holidays

Just a quick note to wish everyone Happy Holidays. May you enjoy this holiday time with your family and friends and here's to looking forward to 2009!!
Krista and Sherri

www.lawlessbrown.com

No Relief for Renters

So I'm reading the Saanich News and what do I see:

"No Relief for Renters"

The cost of rental housing edged higher in Greater Victoria through the fall while the region's vacancy rate remained unchanged at 0.5 per cent. The average cost of renting a one bedroom apartment in October rose by $50 to $764, compared to $716 in October 2007, according to data released from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The average price for a bachelor suite rose $37 to $626, two bedrooms increased $58 to $965 and three bedrooms were $124 more expensive with average rents reaching $1 180.

Give us a call and we can show you how to take advantage of this.

Krista and Sherri

www.lawlessbrown.com

Rental Vacancies Down in Victoria BC

What a great time to become a landlord or landlady! The opportunities out there are endless so again let's make 2009 the year that you begin your trek to financial independence. Krista and Sherri can show you how.

STRONG DEMAND FOR RENTAL HOUSING IN VICTORIA
VICTORIA, DECEMBER 11, 2008

The October 2008 rental market survey conducted by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) indicates that Victoria apartment vacancy rates remained low for the fourth consecutive year. “With a 0.5 per cent average vacancy rate, Victoria has one of the lowest rates in the country,” said Travis Archibald, CMHC Market Analyst. “Local demand for
rental housing was driven by a large post-secondary student population, a strong local labour market, international in-migration, and the gap between the cost of owning and renting.”
While the average apartment vacancy rate across Metro Victoria remained stable at 0.5 per cent, the rate in the City of Victoria declined from 0.6 per cent to 0.4 per cent this October. The combined apartment and townhouse vacancy rate edged down from 0.5 in October 2007 to 0.4 per cent this fall.

Relative to last fall, average Victoria apartment ($818) and townhouse ($1,157) rents (for units within purpose-built rental structures) increased by seven and four per cent, respectively. Within the Victoria CMA, Esquimalt was home to the lowest average rent ($744) and Oak Bay had the highest ($931).

As Canada’s national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 60 years of experience to help
Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable, and affordable homes —
homes that will continue to create vibrant and healthy communities and cities across the country.

For further information:
Travis Archibald CMHC
Victoria Lee F. King
Senior Market Analyst
250-363-8040 B.C.
Corporate Representative
604-999-7420 Fax: 250-995-2640 250-363-8050
tarchiba@cmhc.ca www.cmhc.ca lking@cmhc.ca

respectfully,
Krista and Sherri

www.lawlessbrown.com

Great Links to Let You Know What is Happening in the Housing Market

MCAP Expert Partner, NEWS LINKS

Get in the know with MCAP's Expert Partner NEWS LINKS! Your MCAP Expert Partner offers NEWS LINKS for you to stay current, educate clients, and provide added value to referral sources. The market landscape is changing rapidly so be sure to open MCAP's monthly NEWS LINKS. NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2008 NEWS LINKS: Canadian Mortgage Trends NOVEMBER: News from CAAMP 2008 http://www.canadianmortgagetrends.com/canadian_mortgage_trends/ CTV.ca DECEMBER: What's in store for Harpers political career? http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081202/harper_future_081202/20081202?hub=Politics The London Free Press DECEMBER: New rules meant to 'raise the bar' http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Business/2008/12/02/7602536-sun.html Canada.com NOVEMBER: Canadian mortgage lenders in 'good shape' http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=25f6879c-27c5-42bc-af35-2bfb2a37c249 cbc.ca NOVEMBER: Mortgage rate chopped by 2 Canadian banks http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/11/26/canada-mortgage.html MCAP'S FAVOURITE WEBSITES: Canadian Mortgage Trends- http://www.canadianmortgagetrends.com/ Canadian Mortgage Professional- http://www.canadianmortgageprofessional.com/ Genworth (Home Ownership Information)- http://www.genworth.ca/homeownership/index.html Respectfully Krista and Sherri www.lawlessbrown.com

The Best Investment Ever

Victoria is officially a buyer's market with more properties on the market then buyers. What a wonderful time to build your nest egg. Have you ever thought about buying a rental house than balked thinking it would be too difficult?

Let's make 2009 the year to build your nest egg. There is a large selection of houses out there. I personally like single family houses with a suite. I like to have houses with three bedrooms in the upper part of the house and a two bedroom in the bottom. Rents are averaging $600 a bedroom which means on a three bedroom you could be making $1700 - $1800 a month in rent and on a two bedroom, around $1200. That covers your mortgage and more especially if you have an interest only mortgage or a variable rate. Prime is 3.5% right now.

Now you may be asking yourself, "where am I going to get a down payment?" Do you have a house now? Do you have equity in it? Why not make that equity work for you? Pull it out and use it as a down payment for another house. I have done this three times thus far resulting in four houses and my partner, Sherri, has done this twice resulting in three houses for her.

My sister was my inspiration. She came back from travelling with this goal of buying one house a year for the first five years of living in Victoria. Both our families became partners to spread out the risk and it is one of the best decisions we have made. We now own four houses and are considering a fifth. My sister gets mad when she doesn't reach her goals!!!

She does all the landlording and I do all the mortgages making it all work. If you want, I would love to show you how. Our goal is financial independence in the future and we're closer and closer to our goal everyday.

Cheers
Krista
krista@lawlessbrown.com
http://www.lawlessbrown.com

PS> you should see the tax write offs involved with a rental property!!!! but that's for another blog at another time.

FREE Newsletter

So we have started a monthly newsletter. It's full of interesting tidbits about the housing market, bank rates, jokes, cartoons, Did you knows? etc. It will get sent out to your mailbox once a month and is quite an enjoyable read. If you would like to receive this FREE newsletter, just go to www.lawlessbrown.com and sign up. Enjoy.

squidoo

http://www.squidoo.com/LawlessBrownMortgageTeam

Enjoy
Krista and Sherri

www.lawlessbrown.com

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Real Estate Investing in Victoria

The funny thing about investing in Victoria is that it hasn't really been hurt by this market. The prices have gone down however the rental market is still hot. Only 5 in every 1000 rental suites are vacant and rents are high.

So we both invest in Victoria and between us we have eight rental suites and two vacation rentals. We have yet to have one of the suites vacant for more than a month and have been extremely lucky with tenants.

Some of the rentals have interest only mortgages with variable rates which make sense when they are truly income properties. Some of them have variable rates and pay off principle and well we keep researching to see what the best mortgage is for our needs. We love having rental properties and know that these will be our nest egg in the future.

We also love to show people how to be real estate investors. Once you have everything set up..they basically take care of themselves. We can show you how and tell you about the pros and cons.

The best thing we did was join the Rental Owner's Management Society. The other cool thing we did is follow our passion and become mortgage brokers. The real estate market is fascinating so why not work in an industry you love?

So over dinner one night, the Lawless Brown Mortgage Brokers came to life. Thank you so much to Arlene Modderman for helping us become part of Mortgage Depot. What a wonderful company full of knowledgeable people to assist us in being the best that we can be. The other wonderful thing we did was hire a dear friend of ours to help us design our website and between her and our dear friend Janis, the following was designed

www.lawlessbrown.com

We loaded it with free info and a free newsletter. We hope the info on it will motivate people to invest in the Victoria Real Estate market and set themselves up for a financially independent future.

Who we are!

Back in 1993 after too many years of snow and sub-zero temperatures in Northern Ontario, Krista made the move to beautiful BC and began working in the restaurant industry while attending Camosun College.

Again in 1993 after many trips to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Mexico and so on Sherri decided that she should settle back down to work, plan and pay for her next adventure.

In 1994 we found ourselves working together at a local restaurant becoming fast friends. Much history and many stories were made throughout those four years and even after we parted ways work wise, the friendship remained strong.

During the years at the restaurant we both found our prospective partners and after approving each other’s choices in husbands we helped plan and stood up for each other on our wedding days. After many years of friendship, 2 weddings and 5 baby boys later we have chosen to work together again, this time as mortgage brokers.

Our two families are very close and enjoy spending time together, skiing at Mount Washington, motorbike riding, travelling and camping together.

It only seemed natural that our friendship should blossom into a business relationship and it is the best decision we have ever made.

www.lawlessbrown.com

www.lawlessbrown.ca