I write this blog post on Blue Monday. Blue Monday is supposedly the most depressing day of the year because of holiday debt.  See this Wikipedia article about Blue Monday.

The Federal goverment announced today that it was going to introduce some new rules to help reduces Canadians household debt.

Here are the mortgage rules that Minister Jim Flaherty unveiled:

• Maximum mortgage amoritization will be reduced from 35 years to 30 years
• The maximum amount that a borrower can refinance their mortgages will be lowered from 90% to 85%
• The goverment will stop insurance backing  lines of credit such as home equity lines of credit

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday his government was “concerned about growth in the level of household debt.”

I don’t think this will effect home buyers that much.  Up until a few years ago, the maximum amoritization was 25 years so it looks like we are just going back to that time.  At one point we had 40 year amoritization. I think this change will spur on a mini buying surge. Everyone who wants a 35 year amoritization is going to try and beat the deadline of March 18, 2011.

I believe the goverment is taking these measures because they don’t want people to default on their loans and cause a  mortgage crisis.  Consumer debt is on the rise so they are just trying to do what they can now to prevent any future problems.

For in depth information about these changes, see http://www.fin.gc.ca/n11/data/11-003_1-eng.asp

Thanks for reading!

Warren & Melanie McNeil | Sales Representatives, Team McNeil RE/MAX Twin City Realty, Brokerage ( 519.579.4110 | 519-498-8118
Connect with us on the following social networks Facebook: www.facebook.com/TeamMcNeilRemax
websites: www.TeamMcNeil.com, www.ClickThatHouse.com, www.KitchenerLofts.com, www.ElmiraRealEstate.ca

The spring market is nearly here and our Team is really gearing up. The Bank of Canada has maintained the interest rates which is really good news.

See: http://creanews.ca/2010/03/02/bank-of-canada-maintains-interest-rates-4/

Buyers are in the market right now looking to buy houses. However the biggest problem is low inventory levels. In January, the number of active listings was down 33% over 2009.

See: http://files.newswire.ca/577/MarketTrendsRpt2010.pdf

 Our team has been doing lots of market evaluations for people lately so we know that it’s going to be a busy spring.

Now is a good time to sell because of the following reasons:

• less inventory can work in the sellers favour. less competition
• low interest rates for buyers making it easier to buy
• there’s an abundance of buyers
• the minimum downpayment requirement is still 5% and not 10%
• the olympics are over. Not sure if that’s a good reason but it sounded good
• higher offer potential
• multiple offer potential

The next three months are going to be really interesting.

Thanks for reading!

We are a full-time real estate team in Waterloo Region, Woolwich & Wellesley Townships. We enjoy assisting buyers and sellers with the purchase or sale of real estate in the Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Elmira, Wellesley, Wilmot, Drayton and  everywhere in between. If you would like us to help you with your home search, please check out our brand-new free search website or if you are thinking of selling, get a free market evaluation.

Warren & Melanie McNeil | Sales Representatives, Team McNeil Re/Max Twin City Realty, Brokerage (  519.579.4110 | 519-498-8118                8 www.TeamMcneil.com, www.ClickThatHouse.com, www.LoftStyle.ca, www.ElmiraRealEstate.ca

Connect with us on the following social networks   Facebook: www.facebook.com/teammcneilremax