Great article from The Money Sense ( online magazine )
If you’re a parent of a young adult whose home ownership dreams have been dashed, there is a way to help. In June, the maximum amortization period for insured mortgages was reduced from 30 to 25 years, making it even more difficult to manage monthly payments. But having a parent co-sign on the dotted line allows adult children with lower salaries to get into the housing market. It’s a trend that mortgage brokers expects to increase in response to the new rules. But is it a good idea?
Before you put your John Hancock on that mortgage form, make sure you truly understand your child’s financial situation. “There’s a power dynamic that exists when a parent is heavily involved with a child’s financial life, It’s only advisable if you truly trust your child and know for certain that he or she is responsible with money.”
If the child doesn’t pay the bills the relationship can be ruined, since the parent is on the hook, Parents also have to be in good financial shape themselves: if Mom or Dad has too many debts or bad credit, the lender will deny the loan, which could be embarrassing. Instead, brokers advise both parents and kids to be patient and wait until the child is able to qualify on his or her own. “To qualify for a mortgage,someone should be able to stand on their own two feet.”
What is a pre-sale? Example scenario: When the developer intends to build an apartment building and applies for financing, the bank will grant financing under certain conditions. One of them will likely be a certain percentage of pre-sales the developer will need to secure before receiving the funds.
It is common practice for a developer to approach several real estate investors and offer them an opportunity to purchase units of the non-existent building at a discounted price, and on good terms. Once the number of pre-sales is accomplished, the developer goes ahead with the construction, which will likely take two years or longer to complete. During construction, their marketing team offers the remainder of the units for sale at market value to the public. If you are a RE investor, you know that it is preferable to be buying at the pre-sale prices, not market value prices. The question is, how do you get the invitation to buy a pre-sale? In the past many years, investors have made substantial income by buying at wholesale prices and selling at retail prices even before they needed to complete their purchase. I saw many of them lining up and sometimes even camping overnight in front of the sales center to get a chance to buy at lower prices, but not everyone was lucky enough. You needed to be well-connected to get an opportunity, and you had to act fast. Today is a bit of a different story. Several projects in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley offer really good prices and incentives to secure a unit now and complete the purchase two or three years later. The list of incentives varies from one project to the next. Besides attractive prices, you can get low deposit amounts (5-15%), low or no assignment fees, free updates, a mortgage rate buy-down program, extra parking and more. A month ago, I helped a few of my clients purchase a presale in Surrey that sold out in 2 days, and I know of another good developer that will be offering a few units for sale as well. If you would like to know more about these opportunities, I would encourage you to call or email me, and I’ll be happy to send you details on those projects. Kind regards,
Tibor Bogdan
Century 21 Creekside Realty Ltd. 45428 Luckakuck Way #190, Chilliwack, BC V2R 3S9 cell: 604-855-2521 |
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