Open House- The Real Estate & Mortgage Show: July 21, 2018
Tips for selling your home during this warm summer and the new CMHC program for self-employed- all this and more on this week’s edition of Open House: The Real Estate and Mortgage Show.
When it comes to selling your home, Paul notes a few tips during this hot, dry July. Firstly, keep up the curb appeal which means keeping your grass and garden watered. Secondly, turn the air conditioner on to keep your home cool for perspective buyers. Paul also mentions to keep your schedule flexible and ensure you are available for any and all showings. In such a busy time, without confirmation or cancelling a showing means the buyers agents will skip over your home and show something else. When buying a home, it is very helpful to use an agent- it won’t cost you anything! Not only do they have additional information on the home and comparables, they are also there to help negotiate the sale and get you the best price for one, if not THE, largest purchase you make.
CMHC announced last week some changes to the mortgage approval process for self-employed individuals with the goal to make qualifying for a mortgage easier for those who have been self-employed for less than 2 years. Details have yet to be received but the new program will roll out on October 1, 2018. This is a great move to help and support the entrepreneurs across the country. Currently self-employed people need a minimum of 10% down and each lender looks at the income statements differently. Working with a Mortgage Broker is the best option to help navigate the programs and to get the best product and rate. Typically, for self-employed individuals, lenders are more frequently asking for 6-12 months of bank statements to get an idea of cash flow for the business. In some cases, even if you have 20% down payment you may be required to still pay mortgage default insurance. Although details have not been released, it should be noted that this is a CMHC program which will require borrowers to pay mortgage default insurance.
Another challenge that some borrowers face is the number of rental and investment properties that individuals can hold, usually 4-6 properties. Working with a Mortgage Broker can open the options to other lenders that may have different policies such as a higher amount of properties that a person can hold, how many properties the specific lender will hold, or if you hold your rentals in the holding company name.
The June real estate statistics have been released, the number of sales were down 4.3% and the sale price increased by 1.4%. The number of residential sales were down 8% but with a price increase of 3.4%. Condo sales were up 11.5% with a price increase of 1.2 %. Overall for this year, the number of sales are up 3.5% and the average sale price is up 3.6% pushing the average sale price to $412,440. The days on market data is showing, on average, 41.