Blog

Introducing EnRICHed Academy

2012-01-22 | 20:07:57

Dominion Lending Centres is proud to announce the launch of EnRICHed Academy’s “Smart Start for Financial Genius”! This program has been designed to educate young adults (13-23) and their families on the fundamentals that build wealth in an entertaining, funny and entirely interactive way.

No program like this currently exists, and the need and demand across North America is at an all-time high. This is our way of giving back to communities across Canada, ensuring our youth embrace financial literacy.

Click here to view the EnRICHed Academy trailer on YouTube.

Why we created EnRICHed

• Statistically, 6 out of 10 Canadians live paycheque to paycheque, which means if their income stopped for only one pay period they’d have to rely on a Line of Credit or Credit Card to make ends meet
• From 1989 to 2006, total credit card charges rose from $69 Billion to $1.8 Trillion; a 2,600% increase
• Today the average household credit card debt is $16,007
• The yearly savings rate of an average Canadian has gone from over 12% of income in the early 90s to under 2% today
• Household debt in Canada has more than doubled over the past 10 years
• 84% percent of college graduates in North America indicated they needed more education on financial management topics. Parents expect the schools to teach financial literacy and schools expect parents to. The fact is, most parents and teachers are ill equipped to teach students and kids on this subject and, therefore, don’t
• The average college graduate is $23,186 in debt

What EnRICHed looks like

The program comes in a box and contains 5 DVDs of entertaining but highly educational video on creating a foundation for building wealth. There is a 100-page workbook that the family will work through that includes activities and exercises as well as other materials that correspond with the topics covered in the program.

15 key topics covered by EnRICHed

1. Understanding money 101
2. Why some people don’t save money… no matter how much they make
3. How much we actually spend at an early age
4. Saving money vs Making money
5. Why starting to save at an early age is critical
6. The magic behind compound interest and how it works
7. How to buy your first investment property by the age of 23
8. How to get into the stock market
9. How credit cards work
10. Good debt vs Bad debt
11. How taxes work on a paycheque
12. Why goals are critical to building wealth
13. The difference between a dream and a goal
14. How to write down goals and take action
15. The importance of building your personal brand

Feel free to give me a call or send me an email if you’d like to learn more about EnRICHed Academy.

Divorce and your Home: Things to consider

2011-10-20 | 18:00:58

If you’re thinking about or already going through a separation or divorce, you’re definitely not alone. Did you know almost 4 out of 10 marriages end in divorce. There are approximately 70,000 divorces in Canada every year.

Deciding how to deal with financial issues especially those involving the family home can be the most intimidating and potentially devastating part of ending your marriage.

What you need most during this uncertain and confusing time is some unemotional, straightforward information and advice. Once you know how a divorce affects your home and mortgage, making important decisions becomes a lot easier.

As your local mortgage advisor, I have experience dealing with mortgages and divorce. I’ve learned that the best way to achieve a successful outcome is trying to keep emotions out of the process while developing a rational, workable plan.

Here are just of few of the complicated issues you need to think about as you go through this process.

1. What are you going to do with the home?

One of the first things you have to decide is whether you want to keep living in the house.

• Will the familiar surroundings be comforting or bring back unpleasant memories?
• Would you rather move to a new place and make a clean start?
• If you have children, does one parent have custody?
• Does it make sense to keep living in the same neighbourhood to minimize disruption for the children?
• Would you and your ex prefer to have separate residences close together so the kids can attend one school and visit both homes easily?

Once you decide on your emotional and family needs, here are some of your financial options:

• Sell the house and divide the proceeds. How the proceeds are divided depends on the divorce settlement and the property laws in your specific area. But regardless of what your share is, it’s essential to maximize your home’s selling price. I can help make sure that the financing structure is attractive to buyers and introduce you to some of my expert real estate partners who can help you get the best price
• Buy out your spouse and keep the house. Determining how much this will cost depends on a lot of factors. Your spouse may put a marital lien on the property or there may be a court order that specifies how the equity in the home has to be distributed. You may have a specified amount of time to obtain the funds to buy out your spouse. Once you know what percentage of the equity belongs to your spouse, the home’s value needs to be determined by an appraiser. This will tell you what actual dollar amount you owe. The next challenge is coming up with the funds to do this. This usually involves refinancing the home to access the equity you owe your spouse
• Let your spouse buy you out so you can start fresh. Walking away with cash in your pocket can be great, but beware of the pitfalls! If your spouse buys you out without refinancing the mortgage, most lenders will continue to consider both of you—as original co-signers—to be liable for the loan. Even though you won’t have legal ownership of the home, this financial liability will make it very difficult for you to purchase a new home.
• Continue to own the house jointly for a while. This can be an attractive option if you’d rather not make any immediate decisions. But again, beware of the pitfalls. If you’re sharing the mortgage payments, make sure BOTH spouses continue to pay—or the home could go into arrears or foreclosure, and destroy BOTH of your credit ratings.

2. If you’re buying out your spouse, who will you pay for it?

No matter which decision you make, there will be financial repercussions. Buying out your spouse requires you to come up with a significant amount of money in a relatively short period of time. Yes, it’s often possible to refinance the home so you can take out enough equity to pay off your spouse. But keep in mind that you’ll be making increased mortgage payments on only ONE salary and not to mention all the bills related to home ownership. If you used two incomes to qualify for the original mortgage, qualifying for refinancing on your own may be difficult.

3. Make sure you have an official record of support payments.

Accepting support payments from your spouse in cash may sound like a good idea. But if you decide to use your support payments to help qualify for the refinancing of your existing home or purchasing a new home, you could run into problems. Lenders require proof of income. You need a paper trail so the lender can count your child support as income.

4. Put yourself in full control of mortgage payments as soon as possible.

It’s essential for divorcing couples to realize that if they have joint debt, their credit ratings are LINKED until they separate their obligations. This means it’s in both spouses’ best interest to make payments on time. However, the stress of divorce can sometimes lead people to behave in financially unreliable or even irresponsible ways. A few missed payments on the part of your spouse and your credit score—not to mention your family home—may be at risk. That’s why I always advise my clients to take control of payments that affect their credit rating as soon as possible.

Many couples believe that a divorce agreement relieves a spouse of a joint financial obligation. But the truth is court orders and divorce agreements can’t save you from financial risk if your spouse doesn’t make agreed upon mortgage payments. This is because when a married couple signs a joint loan application, both spouses make a legal agreement with the lender to pay back the debt. A court can’t overturn this contract without the agreement of the lender.

5. Protect your credit score.

Your credit score is what gives you the ability to finance future purchases. If your score becomes damaged during divorce, moving on can become extremely difficult. As I said, part of my mortgage service is to counsel you on ways to preserve and improve your credit score during divorce.

Remember, if mortgage payments are missed because your spouse has failed to make a payment, YOUR credit score will suffer too. Regardless of what your divorce agreement says or what’s fair, if you have a joint debt, you’re responsible for it.

Here are some ways to protect your credit score BEFORE any payments are missed:

• If possible, close all joint credit cards immediately. If you can’t close one because there’s still money owed on the account, freeze it so no one can continue to use it (make sure you continue making at least the minimum payments in the meantime). Then come to an agreement with your spouse on transferring the joint debt to individual credit cards.
• If you don’t have a credit card in your own name, get one now. Building your own credit history takes time, so start today!
• While waiting either to sell your home or refinance it, make sure your mortgage payments are up to date, even if it comes out of your own money. This protects your credit score and you’ll likely be able to claim the funds back under court order.
• As I said, make sure have your name removed from the property title AND from the mortgage, so your credit score doesn’t continue to be impacted after you’ve moved out.

6. How to finance your next home.

If you’ve received funds from the sale of your previous home or from a buy-out from your spouse, this will likely give you a healthy down payment for your next home. But before you start shopping, it’s important to recognize your new realities:

• Single income.
• One person handling all the maintenance and repairs.
• The effect that shared custody of children may have on where you buy.
• And more!

As your local mortgage expert, I can analyze your current credit situation and income and help you get pre-approved for financing. If you like, I can also introduce you to trusted real estate partners who can help you find the perfect home for your new life.

As you can see, there are many financial traps you can fall into as you sell and buy during a divorce. Knowing what your options are and how to protect your credit score is key.

Looking to Sabotage Your Mortgage Closing... Here's How!!!

2011-06-06 | 10:29:13

Nothing is more frustrating than working hard to get a mortgage approved and then having it denied because of an innocent mistake. Mortgage approvals are harder than ever to come by due to the new mortgage regulation policies that were implemented earlier this year. This is especially true when buying a brand new property directly from the builder and waiting to take possession over a long period of time.

Here are a few key points that I review with my clients to ensure that their pre-approval stays secure.

Credit – Although you have been pre-approved for your mortgage at this present time, the lender will do one more final check on your credit before you close on your property. The key is to try and keep your credit balances the same or less than when you were pre-approved.

Avoid the Bait – This typically applies to a couple of things: Purchasing a new vehicle, applying for new credit cards or lines of credits. Regardless of how inviting those may seem, they could be the cause of your pre-approval falling apart.  New loans and credit cards will increase some of the ratios that lenders look at when approving you for a mortgage.

Adding to your Debt –Avoid adding balances to those credit cards. Remember the lender will do one final credit check before advancing the money to the lawyer. Hold off from purchasing high ticket items until after you have possession of your property.

Stay Settled – If at all possible try to avoid changing jobs until your mortgage closes. The most important factor in giving mortgage lenders the confidence to finance your home is keeping your credit and income stable.

By following these simple key points you can ensure that your mortgage will close with success.

BoC rate hike on hold until September

2011-05-27 | 17:15:28

New Mortgage Rules take effect today!!

2011-03-18 | 15:12:36

Here is a quick summary of the changes

- The maximum number of years the government will back a mortgage was lowered from 35 to 30.

- The upper limit that Canadians can borrow against their home equity was lowered from 90 per cent to 85 per cent.

 - Government insurance backing on home equity lines of credit, or HELOCs, has been removed.

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2011-03-10 | 21:43:12