When people deal with mortgage brokers they want to know that they’re competent. But it’s hard to assess that if you don’t know a broker well.
 
That’s where industry accreditations come in. A credible industry designation shows that a broker has met minimum standards of proficiency and professionalism.
 
Canada’s most common mortgage designation is the Accredited Mortgage Professional (AMP), established by CAAMP in 2004. In the opinion of many, however, the bar for getting those three letters behind your name has never been high enough.
 
That’s about to change.
 
Effective July 1^st, the AMP is undergoing a wholesale transformation. It’s the third major revision of the designation since its inception.
 
Click here to see what earning an AMP designation will now require courtesy of CanadianMortgageTrends.com.

Brookfield RPS is offering a free Property Summit Wednesday, May 28^th in Toronto from 8AM to 1PM (breakfast and lunch provided).
 
The Property Summit 2014 includes a panel discussion on federal policy framework changes, as well as a housing market overview from Ben Tal, CIBC World Markets Deputy Chief Economist.
 
Click here for more details and to register for free.

Phew! Genworth Canada and Canada Guaranty have decided not to follow in CMHC’s footsteps and change their programs for self-employed buyers. But is this only a temporary move?

“Upon review of the current Business for Self Program we will not be making any amendments to current product guidelines,” a Genworth letter to lenders sent Friday reads. “There will be no amendment to the maximum number of Genworth-insured properties per borrower.”

Canada Guaranty has also left its business for self program unchanged, according to the Globe and Mail.

CMHC announced in late April that effective May 30, 2014 the Crown Corporation will no longer insure second homes and self-employed individuals who do not have third party income validation.

For their part, brokers believe this opens up a competitive advantage for the two private insurers of the larger and more prevalent crown corporation.

“If you really look at how many people are self-employed in the country they really are the backbone of the economy,” Zoltan Padar told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “That’s a good product and it has been proven over time that the two (private) insurers can be very competitive.

“CMHC cutting their business for self program will be a lesson to businesses – some lenders only work with CMHC but if I’m a lender I would start supporting the other two immediately.”

Genworth, howevever, has made one amendment to its vacation and secondary home programs.

“Effective May 30, 2014, the maximum number of units allowable under the Vacation/Secondary Home Program will be reduced from two units to one unit,” Genworth’s letter states.

DLC President Gary Mauris was the live guest on popular industry forum Canadian Mortgage Hangout last week. Click here to watch the full interview.
 
Dustan Woodhouse, DLC Canadian Mortgage Experts, is the source of a MortgageBrokerNews.ca article called How to prepare for upcoming anti-spam law.
 
Pamela Wyant, DLC Northern Mortgage Solutions, is a source in a MortgageBrokerNews.ca article called Opinion divided following one client’s mortgage denial.
 

Adam Bazuk & Darick Battaglia, DLC YBM Group, are sources of a MortgageBrokerNews.ca article called Brokers call for CAAMP membership rule change. 

 
Harry Leichner, DLC Dependable Advisors, is a source in a CityNews TV story called Employers court youth at Toronto job fair.
 
Paul Poirier, DLC Eagle Group Mortgages, is a source in a CBC.ca article called BMO’s mortgage rate cut won’t have big impact on housing market.

There was some great news in the federal budget that could have positive outcomes for anyone looking to purchase a home, refinance or renew their existing mortgage. The Department of Finance expressed their commitment to increasing the competition of mortgage lenders.

Many of the smaller lenders who focus on mortgages, offer us very competitive consumer rates and deal exclusively through mortgage brokers will be given preferable access to better allocation of portfolio insurance and securitization.

This will fuel more competition which means more mortgage options and choices when dealing with a mortgage broker instead of the banks. CMHC is also considering additional “flexible funding options” for smaller lenders which is great for us!

A recent Bank of Canada survey found that using a broker at the time of your mortgage renewal may result in getting a lower rate and saving money because mortgage brokers have the widest access to mortgage lenders.

The same survey found that loyal customers may not get as good of a deal with their bank as they would if they went to a different institution as a new customer

The government has announced, effective February 19, 2014, under the Property Transfer Tax (PTT) First-Time Home Buyers’ Exemption program, qualifying first-time buyers can buy a home worth up to $475,000. The previous threshold was $425,000.

The partial exemption continues and will apply to homes valued between $475,000 and $500,000.

With this change, the government estimates 1,700 additional first-time buyers will annually be eligible to save up to $7,500 in PTT when they buy their home.

The government estimates this measure will cost $8 million in lost tax revenue each year.

We have uploaded three new holiday card Autopilot templates for you to send out to your database!

English Files:

Happy Holidays – 2013/14

Happy New Year – 2013/14

Merry Christmas – 2013/14

French Files:

Bonne Annee – 2013/14

Joyeuses Fêtes – 2013/14

Joyeux Noël – 2013/14

It’s easy to get caught in the posted mortgage rate trap at the big banks.

No, you won’t have to pay the posted rate on your next mortgage. Pretty much nobody does that any more, according to mortgage broker Robert McLister. The real danger is that posted rates will be used to calculate the penalty if you ever have to break your mortgage, probably costing you thousands of extra dollars.

A mortgage penalty compensates a lender for the interest payments it loses out on when you break a mortgage contract. “That’s the intention,” said McLister, who is also editor of CanadianMortgageTrends.com. “But in many cases, it overcompensates. It’s punitive in many cases.”

As we head into another round of quarterly bank earnings reports, it’s worth thinking for a moment about how those wonderful profits and dividends for investors are generated. One way is by using posted instead of lower discounted rates when calculating how much to penalize a client breaking a mortgage.

• Victoria – February 11th
• Vancouver – February 13th
• London – March 18th
• Ottawa – March 20th
• Toronto – March 24th
• Edmonton – May 13th
• Calgary – May 15th
• Halifax – June 4th
• Montreal – TBD