While it’s certainly easy to be intimidated by the prices that you might see as you browse MLS into the wee hours of the night, mortgage interest rates are still at a historical low. If you’re looking at purchasing for the first time, you’re thinking, “What does that mean?!”
With rates as low as they are, the cost of borrowing associated with your mortgage is lower than ever before. You also need to look at other fees that can be tied to different mortgage products. For example, some mortgages don’t allow for additional or increased payments, while others allow you to pay down your principal mortgage amount by up to an additional 20% per year, saving you money over the lifetime of your mortgage. It’s important to recognize and understand these options and fees, and that is where a Dominion Lending Centres Mortgage Broker comes in. Brokers and their agents are experts in the products that they offer and will work to save you the most money.
Don’t worry! A Broker can also help you take advantage of low interest rates as a homeowner, too! It could be the right time to look at your other financials and consider consolidating other outside debts to take advantage of the savings that could be available to you. It isn’t hard to see the savings between a balance owed on a credit card at 19% or the balance owing on your car at 6.25% and consolidating one (or both!) with your mortgage balance at much lower interest rate. A broker can look at your current mortgage terms and timelines and can help you save a considerable amount of money each year!
A Mortgage Broker’s service doesn’t stop there. Since the demand for new homes is so high right now, a Mortgage Broker will also help both first-timers and home-owners peeking around the markets with a pre-approval before you start considering making an offer on a new home. This means that you can confidently make an offer on the home that you love without making a condition on financing. In a busy market, where purchases often end in bidding wars, having your financing in line could make your offer stand out against the rest.
Since properties are being scooped up like hotcakes, homeowners can also take advantage of selling their homes to downsize and save for retirement, or vacations, or spoiling their grandkids!
Now if you’d rather “love it” than “list it”, you can benefit from today’s high demand, too! If you have been thinking about adding that basement bathroom, or are in need of upgrading your furnace and air conditioning units, a Broker can help you take advantage of the equity that you have gained in your home since you bought it. In the last year, the demand for homes has soared, which means that your home could be worth a good chunk more than you might think. Regardless of if your mortgage is up for renewal or not, a Mortgage Broker can help you make sense of the mortgage that you’re in, and look at payout options that could work in your favour. And a mortgage evaluation will always be free with a licensed Broker.
Today’s market has a lot of characteristics that can work in your favour, but can also throw a little wrench in your plans. Always make sure to sit down with a licensed, local Dominion Lending Centres’ Broker to make sure you’re armed with the knowledge that you need to get the most for your money!
Courtesy of Tracy Valko, AMP – DLC Forest City Funding