Upgrading?

Hope you all had a fabulous long weekend! The weather has warmed up and the housing market is starting to cool down. August is not knows as a great month in real estate however, rates are still low making home shopping more affordable. The Bank of Canada seems pleased with the new mortgage lending rules and has said that they will not be releasing any further changes. We will see revisions to rules in January at the earliest. That means that we will see low rates until then. If you currently have a mortgage, now is the time to try and pay down as much as you can. Even if it is just $50 extra per month, getting money down on the principal now will help dramatically down the road. Understanding the pre-payment options on your mortgage is important. For example, some lenders allow you to up-to-double up your payments while others will allow an increase of only 15% - 20% on the payments. If your goal is to put more down monthly rather than focusing on larger lump sum payments, it is good to research a lender that will allow you to do that. Over the next 2 weeks I am looking for new clients who currently own a home, perhaps a condo or townhome, and are wanting to start thinking about buying a house. Knowing the numbers upfront is necessary so that we can maximize purchasing power and build a plan for making the payments easy. Who do you know who is looking to upgrade their home? I appreciate you introducing them to me.