No rate hikes until 2013: BMO

·· By Eric Lam, Financial Post

BMO Capital Markets pushed its rate hikes forecast back to 2013 on Tuesday, citing continued serious economic risks both home and abroad.

The new forecast pushes the expected time frame for the Bank of Canada to raise its benchmark interest rates back from previous expectations of the second half of 2012.

As recently as this spring, economists had been speculating about a rate hike before the end of 2011, but the market turmoil of the past few months sparked by the eurozone debt crisis has changed all that.

"As global economic risks have escalated, casting commodity prices and the Canadian dollar much weaker, the Bank of Canada's diminishing tightening bias has probably diminished further," Michael Gregory, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets, said in a report.

Mr. Gregory noted that the market has now actually swung all the way into cut territory pricing in two 25-basis point rate cuts by April 2012. But with inflation slightly below target, a weak loonie and credit markets still functioning, movement in either direction is unlikely.

"The policy easing bar remains high. Short of signs of imminent recession, the bank should remain on hold," he said.

Mr. Gregory also forecasts the loonie to tumble further, down to US93¢ before recovering to parity by 2013.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/fp/rate+hikes+until+2013/5500200/story.html#ixzz1ZuLldhA5

lawlessbrown.com

It’s Time to Think About Winterizing Your Ride

          Driving in the colder months will require you pay attention to a few things on your car. Winterizing your car is important if you want it to continue to be reliable.

Get a Good Tune up    

(we can help you with this)
           

Nothing is worse than breaking down in the dead of winter. Instead of chancing this, have your vehicle looked over and tuned up. Check for cracked hoses, dry belts, water pumps, spark plugs, and the battery. If any of this needs to be replaced do this before the cold weather rolls in.

Check the Cooling System   

Antifreeze will protect your car in extreme temperatures. It's not a bad idea to flush the system and start new before winter comes. While this isn't necessary, it's going to save you from a frozen engine block. At the very least, check the levels and make sure the system isn't leaking.

Replace Wiper Blades  

 Have you ever tried to drive in freezing rain or snow with worn down wiper blades? No fun! Wiper blades are inexpensive and there is no reason to not have them replaced before cold weather sets in. Also be sure to turn the blades off before stopping your car. If they end up freezing to the window while the car is parked you can burn the motor out when you turn the car back on.

Keep your Gas Tank Full 

Keeping your tank full during the winter serves a few purposes. First, keeping a full tank will allow you to start up the car more easily on very cold mornings. Secondly, if you do happen to break down or get stuck you will have fuel to keep the engine idling and keep you warm while you await rescue.

Test your Rear Defroster    

Driving with an icy rear window isdangerous.. Be sure your defroster is working before you need it. Also keep a good ice scraper handy for the other windows.

Understand Your Car   

It should go without saying, but many people drive around not knowing if they have front wheel or rear wheel drive. In the winter, this is pretty important to know. You should also know if you have anti lock brakes, traction control, stability control, and other features that may change the characteristics of your car while driving on ice or snow.

If you have any questions, come in and chat or give us a call.  We also answer Facebook and email.

Cheers

Chris and Blaine

5252 Motorsports

Where Torque and Horsepower Meet

Victoria's CIBC Run for the Cure

Thank you to all those runners who helped make the CIBC Run for the Cure so successful. With your help we WILL find a cure. Sherri and I read this article in the Times Colonist and we found it inspiring. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.


"When Victoria’s Christopher Mavrikos lost his mother to breast cancer in 1997, he set a goal of raising $100,000 so that one day there would be a cure.

The 31-year-old restaurant manager achieved that Sunday during the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure at the University of Victoria, bringing his total over the last 13 years to $110,000.

He was also recognized as the top individual fundraiser in Canada, securing $29,500 in the months leading up to Sunday’s event.

“I wanted to represent all the women fighting this disease and all the women who will be fighting it until there’s a cure,” he said in an interview after the run.

Mavrikos began hosting the Think Pink breast cancer fundraiser in 2004 — which includes a dinner, live and silent auctions and a raffle — and the event kept getting bigger, attracting local celebrities and bringing in more money.

“That event alone probably raised close to $17,000 to $20,000 [this year],” he said.

He also raised money by shaving his head last week. “I’m sporting a bald head right now. It’s going to be a cold winter,” he joked.

His first Run for the Cure was in 1997, just weeks after his mother, Lynn Veronica Mavrikos, passed away at 38 after a five-year battle with breast cancer.

“I ran along Dallas Road as an 18-year-old wondering, ‘What’s next?’ ” he recalled.

Mavrikos now works at his family’s Italian restaurant, Romeo’s Place, on Hillside Avenue.

Sporting a white T-shirt naming his sponsors, a pink wrist band and a visor, Mavrikos was among the approximately 4,200 people who participated in this year’s run, sponsored by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

He said it’s always an emotional roller coaster.

“I’m definitely a man on a mission but when I’m running I know there’s someone with me,” he said, tearing up.

Breast cancer survivors and supporters made their way across the one- or five-kilometre routes, raising a total of $563,000.

When Mavrikos accepted his award, he had everyone join hands and “put their hands up in a show of victory.”

Nine runs took place across B.C., with 22,000 people raising $3.6 million.

Canada-wide, the 19th annual event raised a whopping $33 million, well above the $26.5 million raised last year. The money supports prevention and early-detection initiatives, research and health-care workforce issues.

The foundation has set a goal to have a world without breast cancer by 2020.

Mavrikos isn’t quite sure what’s next, now that he’s passed his lofty goal, but he remains committed “to a future without breast cancer.”

The Run for the Cure is the hallmark fundraiser for breast cancer in Canada.

October is breast cancer awareness month and donations can be made until the end of the month. For more information about the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, visit www.cbcf.org."

kderosa@timescolonist.com

Real estate market heats up in capital

Looming interest rate hike fuels multiple offers on starter homes

By Carla Wilson, Times Colonist February 9, 2010

Strong demand is once again fueling multiple bids for attractive starter homes in Greater Victoria -- just as the Canadian Real Estate Association is predicting national records this year for average prices and sales.

Local buyers are shopping for homes in the $450,000 to $600,000 range, real estate agent Geoff McLean said yesterday. "When it comes on and it's well-priced, they are jumping on it."

Multiple offers are less frequent for properties priced above $600,000, he said. A good-quality basement suite can attract $1,000 per month in rent, so "suites are a big draw," McLean said.

The market is hotter now than it was this time last year, when sales slumped during the recession. But McLean said it isn't "as fast and furious as it was in 2007 and 2008."

Greater Victoria inventory is tighter these days and buyers are shopping now because they expect interest rates to rise later this year, McLean says.

The harmonized sales tax, coming into effect in July, is also spurring sales.

The province has announced that the threshold for the HST housing rebate will increase to $525,000, meaning most buyers of new homes will not pay more tax than they would have prior to the HST. But the rules are not understood by all would-be home buyers, said McLean, as the tax will not apply to existing homes.

Randi Masters, president of the Victoria Real Estate Board, said Greater Victoria has a balanced, steady market without too much, if any, pressure for higher prices.

"One exception is the upward pressure being seen on entry-level homes and homes with suites, or easy potential [for suites]." Some multiple offers are coming in that category, where first-time buyers are coming into the market because interest rates are low, she said.

House prices vary drastically within Canada. The average price of a single-family house in Victoria last month was $644,678, with a median of $595,000.

But the Windsor, Ont., housing market, for example, is very different. In the price range of up to $400,000, a total of 1,387 houses are listed on the Multiple Listing Service. The top of that category features newer executive-style homes, with multiple bedrooms and bathrooms. Compare that with the capital region where there are only 75 listings in that category, including mobile homes, and many out-of-town properties.

As Canada's housing market regains its feet, the idea of tightening mortgage-lending rules is being raised within the financial sector and government. The discussion centres on boosting minimum down payments to 10 per cent and restricting amortization periods to 25 years, as they once were. As it stands now, mortgage insurance is required from homebuyers borrowing more than 80 per cent of the value of their home from a financial institution covered by the federal Bank Act.

Today's rules require buyers to have a down payment of at least five per cent, and there's a 35-year amortization limit.

Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney has warned about rising levels of household debt, which is reaching record levels. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has suggested he's prepared to tighten mortgage requirements.

"One of the legitimate concerns of the finance minister might be if you make qualifying for mortgage-default insurance prematurely restrictive that it will quell housing activity, even as erosion in affordability continues," said Gregory Klump, chief economist with the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Michael Holmes, managing broker for Pemberton Holmes in Victoria, said tighter mortgage rules would have some effect here, but he does not think it would be dramatic.

Greater Victoria's housing market is balanced and continues to attract retiring baby boomers, he said.

Nationally, housing resales and prices are predicted to hit record highs in 2010, said the Canadian Real Estate Association.

B.C. and Ontario are expected to be in the forefront in both average prices and number of sales because of low interest rates and eagerness to buy in the first six months of this year, before the HST is imposed on both provinces, the association said.

A national total of 527,300 sales are predicted for this year, up 13.3 per cent from last year. If that number is reached, it would top the previous record, set in 2007, by 1.2 per cent.

Canada's average home price is expected to climb by 5.4 per cent over last year, to a record $337,500.

Next year, both average prices and sales values likely will decline as interest rates increase and pent-up demand is absorbed, the association said.

cjwilson@tc.canwest.com

lawlessbrown.com

Victoria BC Housing Assessments

Assessments to reach homeowners next week
A majority of properties face the same or lower assessed values
Andrew A. Duffy, Times Colonist
Published: Friday, January 02, 2009

It's not exactly Sears catalogue day, but the first official working day in January no doubt has postal workers doing a few pre-work stretches as they prepare to handle the 1.85 million assessment notices being sent out across the province.
B.C. Assessment will send the notices out starting today meaning homeowners around the province will start seeing the envelopes in their mailboxes early next week. But homeowners anxious to check out the assessment of their homes may be able to do so online at www.bcassessment .bc.ca starting today.
This year's assessment notice will be slightly different than in years past.
That's because the provincial government decided earlier this year to maintain assessed property values for the 2009 assessment roll at the July 1, 2007 valuation date -- the same date used for the 2008 assessment roll.
The goal of this was to give property owners more certainty in response to the downturn in the real estate market.
New construction in 2008 will be assessed at a value as if it existed July 1, 2007.
The 2009 notices will show two assessed values -- for July 2007 and July 2008. The lower amount will be the official assessment.
About 94 per cent of property owners will receive an identical or lower assessment this year than last, according to B.C. Assessment. Of that group, 82 per cent of properties will have the same assessment, 12 per cent will be lower, and the rest applies to less common property classes.
For Greater Victoria, that means the assessed value of all homes should be close to last year's $83.7 billion which was an increase of $10 billion from the year previous.
According to Brian Hawkins, assessor for the region, last year's numbers reflected a steady increase with the majority of homes in the region having increased between eight and 12 per cent in a year.
This year's assessment will also come with a market trend graph for specific areas around the province, both big and small, that will show what the market has done in the last year and a half.
Anyone wishing to appeal their assessment has until Feb. 2 to make the request.



From Krista and Sherri,

We have received our housing assessments in the mail and all are the same as last year. If you have any questions about them or how to use the equity you have in the house to make money for you, call us and let us show you how. You can also find free information and sign up for our newsletter on our website.

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

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

Publish Post

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