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…if you mess with the numbers.



When you apply for a mortgage pre-approval, the primary goal is to bring you some certainty in the home buying experience. You can come away knowing what you can afford, and that a lender is willing to lend you money.


But, don’t forget, the lender is most concerned about getting their money back, plus interest.


So, they view you as a risk. With that in mind, they look at your work history, your income, your current debt load and how well you’re managing it, and how much money you are bringing to the table (“skin in the game” so to speak).


Once you’re pre-approved if you do anything that changes these things (job change, a new loan, missed payments) you have removed the certainty that the pre-approval provided and you’re back to square one.


And, they will check up on you again to make sure your loan still makes sense for them. If it doesn’t you’re done.\



________________________________

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted over 350,000 user sessions in 2020 and displayed more than three million pages to our visitors. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-900-4161 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra


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How much fun is home shopping right now?
 
It’s not, unfortunately.
 
The best homes are selling extremely fast, and if you even you a chance to see them, you’re competing with other buyers to buy them.
 
Hoards of buyers will continue to rush out to those homes and throw money around like it means nothing.
 
But, there are some homes out there that have been around for a little while. Buyers came and went, and no offers appeared.
 
These are the gold nuggets for today’s home buyers.
 
When you’re the only buyer making an offer, you actually have a chance to make a decent deal.
 
Maybe, you need to knock a little dirt off that gold nugget. It might take some work, but you can wrap this up a lot quicker before prices rise even more. Plus, you’ll enjoy the benefit of some instant tax-free gains and equity.
 
Or, you can follow the crowd in frustration.

________________________________

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted over 350,000 user sessions in 2020 and displayed more than three million pages to our visitors. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra


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Fortunately, math and numbers are still things we can count on.


That said, things are not always as they seem on the surface.


As the Saskatoon real estate market ramps up you’ll be hearing all kinds of reports about how hot the market is. Those reports will be true on a broad level.


Don’t make important decisions about your family’s financial future based on stats that apply to the broad market. You see, there are pockets of the local real estate market that are super hot. There are other pockets that are significantly weaker. In this video,


I present one simple statistical measure that you can use to ensure you understand how supply and demand dynamics apply to you. If you’re buying or selling a Saskatoon home this year you’ll be glad you took four minutes to hear about it.



________________________________

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted over 350,000 user sessions in 2020 and displayed more than three million pages to our visitors. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra


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I’ve been speaking with a home buyer who asked me to connect him with a mortgage person for a pre-approval.


A mortgage pre-approval is an important part of the home buying process, and the earlier the better.


By speaking with a lender, you’ll understand exactly what you qualify to borrow. This will give you credibility at the negotiating table, a protected interest rate, and guidance to substantially streamline the home search process.


Now, my broker pre-approved my client to buy a home worth $500,000. The client responded by saying, he has “a friend in the business” who told him he could spend up to $650,000.


This is not an indication that his “friend” has some pull that the first mortgage broker didn’t have, it’s an indication that someone has made a mistake.


The amount of mortgage money that you can qualify for is arrived at using mathematics.


It really is as simple as that.


In this video, I explain how these numbers work.




Thanks for watching.


________________________________


Follow me on Facebook and Instagramto receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 2.8 million pages to our visitors. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes..


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

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Covid, Covid, Covid.

I’m sick of hearing about Covid and I’m sure you are too.
 
Unfortunately, Covid isn’t done with us yet!
 
I’m sensing a growing level of concern,  especially for home sellers inviting strangers into their homes. I offer these simple tips to home buyers to keep themselves safe and to give the owners of the homes they’re visiting some comfort that you respect their space.
 
✅ Get pre-approved to ensure that the homes you’re viewing are affordable for you.
✅ Pre-qualify homes online using photos, virtual tools, and even Google Maps to walk the area virtually.
✅ Take your own car and avoid riding with your REALTOR®.
✅ Primary decision-makers only. We can spin the kids through later, prior to making an offer.
✅ Wear a mask, sanitize your hands, and keep a safe distance while viewing.
✅ Let your REALTOR® open doors and cupboards to minimize touchpoints through the home.
 
I hope that’s helpful.
 


________________________________


Follow me on Facebook and Instagram to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 2.8 million pages to our visitors. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes..


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

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Transcript

As the real estate market heats up, if you're in the market to buy a home, you're more likely to hear these words. "Sorry, that property's conditionally sold."


When a buyer and a seller agree to a conditional sale, they've basically agreed that if the buyer is able to meet certain conditions within the timeframe that they prescribed, that a real estate deal will happen, and if the buyer's unable to meet those conditions, the sale become null and void. So in about 20% of cases these days, buyers are unable to secure the financing that they thought they could get. If you proceeded to look at that house, write a back-up offer, get an acceptable deal subject to the first one falling through, as soon as that deal went sideways, you'd be next in line and the property would be yours, essentially.


In another 20% of cases, buyers are asking for extensions because they've been unable to meet their conditions within the timeframe that they proposed, and again if a seller enters into a back-up offer with you, they essentially have to move to you if the buyer has been unable to fulfill within the timeframe prescribed. They have an obligation to move forward with your contract. So again, that puts you right at the front of the line in probably 40% of cases.


So when you hear conditionally sold, take that with a grain of salt. It's not sold until it's sold, and I'd give the same advice to sellers as well. Even if you have a conditional sale, you're wise to continue to show your property and entertain interest from other buyers, because there's about a 60% chance that that first offer's gonna come together and it's nice to have a back-up offer in your back pocket in the event that it doesn't.

________________________________


I’ve upped my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

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Transcript

Oh, excuse me, I'm having a little celebration here because I just found out that the value of my house, came down 10%.
 
I know that might sound a little bit crazy but hear me out.
 
When I bought this home three years ago, I paid $500,000 for it, and at the time, my ideal forever home was actually $600,000 but I couldn't quite afford it so I opted in, at the $500,000 mark, and lo and behold, over the next three years, the real estate market dropped about 10% in the single-family homes category.
 
So my $500,000 home is now only worth 450,000. Bummer, but hold on, hear me out, there are two sides to this equation. In the meantime, the $600,000 house that I would have loved to have bought then, also dropped 10% in value. So today, I can buy that house for $540,000.
 
So, where three years ago there was a 100,000 dollars spread between the house I bought, and my ideal home, today the spread is only $90,000, thanks to the fact that the market came down.
 
So, if you're moving within the same market and you're making an upward move, especially if it's a modestly upward move, you may be better off to sell your current home at a loss today and take advantage of the loss that the other seller on the more expensive home, is also going to incur.
 
You could wait for the market to recover and for that $450,000 house to go back up to five. But in the meantime that $540,000 house is likely to go back up to 600,000.
 
So make the move now. $10,000 free equity in your pocket, that's something to celebrate
 


________________________________


I’ve upped my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

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Transcript


What I'm about to share with you might seem like a statement of the obvious, but it's remarkable, to me, how few people really give this the consideration that it deserves when they're purchasing real estate.


So, first of all, what is real estate?


Well, real estate is the land and the improvements on the land. If you were buying real estate to farm, you'd look for a property that has rich, fertile soil and an appropriate level of moisture, so that you could grow good crops. If you wanted to buy land for a commercial space, you might look for something with good drive-by traffic. When it comes to residential real estate, only you can decide what utility you expect to get from your property. But it's important to understand that land and improvements on the land, that the land really is the only permanent part, right?


Houses will come and go, and a good house that's well built and well maintained can last for centuries, but your land is forever. It'll be here as long as we are. So it's important to be thinking about it in that context.


As you look forward, what utility do you need that land to provide for you? And, for residential real estate, it's primarily going to be location, right? The one thing about the property you purchase that you cannot change, it's permanent. It's always going to be in that location. So be thinking forward. How is your life going to change over the next five or 10 years? And does the location that you require change with that? Because, again, you know, you can throw an addition onto your house. You can change out the kitchen. You can do lots of things to improve it and adapt it to your changing needs over time, but you can not change the location.


And if the location no longer serves you, you will have no choice but to sell and move somewhere else.



________________________________


I’ve upped my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

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A verbal offer isn't worth the paper it's written on



Verbal offers serve one purpose; to "save time" for "professionals" who get paid well to not cut corners.


There's only one way to avoid misunderstanding when negotiating to buy or sell a home. That is to have the complete details in front of you.


With modern tools, it's never been easier to write, execute and deliver an offer.


If you're buying or selling a home, insist that every detail of the negotiation is in writing.




Transcript


Over 27 years in the business, I've literally been involved in hundreds of negotiations and they often unfold the same way.


The buyer's agent writes an offer and brings it to the seller's agent who presents it to the seller, who writes a counter-offer and returns that to the buyer's agent.


And the buyer wants to try another number, and rather than write a new offer, their agent suggests that "well, I'll just call the seller's agent, and I'll discuss it with them."


And usually, they're looking for a concession in the range of a couple of thousand dollars to bring the deal together. But they haven't taken the time to actually write another offer, and my response to them is always the same. I'd be happy to present that to my seller if you would bring me another offer.


And oftentimes that buyer's agent calls back after a half an hour or an hour and says "it's okay, my buyer decided to accept the counter-offer." And my perception of what's happened here is that somebody just doesn't want to take the time to write another offer, and they convince the buyer to close on that counter.


If you're involved in a negotiation, do not fall for the verbal "let's discuss this" position. Insist that your proposal be put on paper, or on an electronic document as the case may be today.


As the old saying goes, a verbal offer is not worth the paper that it's written on. And that's why the Real Estate Act, one of the definitions of an offer is that it is made in writing.


So insist that your agent put that offer in writing so that you know that it's being presented and considered by the seller.


Good luck.


________________________________


I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

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CMHC announces tighter requirements for approvals beginning July 1, 2020

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) announced mortgage default insurance rule changes this week that will impact home buyers using their service in three significant ways.

This two-minute video provides an overview of how the new rules, effective July 1, 2020, apply. 



Transcript

When you purchase a primary residence in Canada with a down payment of less than 20%, you're required to purchase mortgage default insurance through one of three Canadian providers that offer service in Canada, CMHC being the most prominent of those.


This week, CMHC announced some changes that are coming July 1 to their program, and I had an opportunity to talk with Tyler Hildebrand at oneSt. Mortgage yesterday, and he's brought me up to speed on those changes.


The most significant of the three is the change to the debt-service ratio. That is the percentage of your income that the lender will allow you to spend on mortgage service, property taxes, and heating. Prior to July 1, CMHC's limit is 39% of your gross income. That's gonna drop to 32%. That's gonna affect your buying power by roughly 10%. So a $400,000 house pre-July 1, 360 afterward.


The second change that's also fairly significant is at least one buyer on the application, the mortgage application has to have a credit score of 680 or higher. A credit score is a number that a credit bureau puts together based on your past performance in repaying your debt, and perhaps the amount of debt that you're carrying now. You're definitely gonna wanna revisit your mortgage broker and find out if your preapproval is still good because this is gonna affect a lot of people.


Finally, they're eliminating the ability to borrow any portion of your down payment. You previously could put some portion of your down payment on a secondary line of credit, and you can no longer do that with a CMHC-approved loan after July 1.


There are still two other mortgage insurance providers in Canada; no details on whether or not they'll follow suit. But as for CMHC, effective July 1, those are the new rules.


________________________________


I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

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Three things you must not do if you have applied for a mortgage loan


This short video will shed some light on what a lender is looking for when they view your mortgage application and gives you three things that you should not do just before, or after you apply for a mortgage loan. Doing any of them could derail your purchase plans.



Transcript

When you apply for a mortgage loan, the lender has one major question in mind, will you pay back the money we're lending you? And they don't just guess at that.


They're gonna look at your credit file to see what kind of history you have on making good on your promises. They're gonna look at your current employment status and your history to ensure that you have a stable and reliable income to service the loan. And they're gonna look at your total debt to make sure that you're not overextending yourself.


With that in mind, here are three tips, things that you should not do when you're about to apply for a mortgage or you've just applied for a mortgage, but not yet closed on your home sale.


Number one, don't make any major purchases that would require you to take out another loan. The lender will almost certainly recheck your credit before closing, and if you've purchased a $50,000 car with an $800 a month car payment, that may disqualify you from buying the house that you've selected. In that case, you'd be unable to close. And you'd actually lose your deposit when you collapse that sale.


Secondly, don't make any employment changes. Those can send up red flags and make lenders nervous.


And finally, don't open any new credit accounts. If you open a $50,000 line of credit, the lender may become nervous. They'll almost certainly view that amount as a debt, even if you haven't taken any money out on that credit account.


So, follow those three tips. You should be fine to make it to the finish line and get into your new home.


________________________________


I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

Read

Buyer Beware: This real estate commission plan could have your agent working against you.

Buyer Beware: This real estate commission plan could have your agent working against you.

If you're in the market to buy a home you should definitely be aware of this potentially problematic commission plan that could have your agent working against you. This two-minute video explains how, or review the transcript below.



Transcript

Home buyers occasionally ask the question, how does a real estate agent get paid to help me buy a home?


And in this province, in most cases, the real estate commission that the buyer's agent earns is paid for by the seller or generated by the transaction, and in most cases, it's a percentage of the sale price.


Commissions are problematic in the sense that, as a buyer's agent, I'm charged with the responsibility to help you get the lowest price, but I actually get paid more money if you pay more for a house. So you can see how that can be problematic.


In Saskatchewan, most real estate listings pay on a declining scale, though, so I might earn 3% on the first $100,000 of the sale price, 2% on the second $100,000, and 1% on the balance, so ultimately, if you pay an extra $5000 for a house, I make an additional $50, and I would say, for most people, that's probably not enough to influence them to bad behavior.


But not all commission programs work that way. In fact, there are some properties on the market from time to time that work on an inclining scale, and an agent might be offered 20% on the final portion of the selling price. So if you pay an extra $5000 for a home, they get an extra $1000 in their pocket, and you should know that.


So when you're ready to write an offer on a home, ask the real estate agent, what is the commission being paid on this home? You have a right to know that, you have a responsibility to know that, so that you can understand whether or not there might be some biases at play there, that you should take into account when you're deciding how much to pay.


Ask.


You have a right to know.


________________________________


I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

Read
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