Canadian Moms & Moms to be!

[Vickie]

Oh no Sarah! I'd probably have cried

 

[Sarahkka]

Vickie, I had to stop myself from screaming out terrible swears at the top of my lungs. I was so frustrated. And I had to leave everything out so my husband can take a look when he gets home. I think we just need to call the landlady, but he had a drywalling job once and thinks it might just be an easy plaster job. I say, this happened because of one of her repairmen and the crappy job he did on the kitchen sink plumbing. This is in no way our fault. She can pay for the fix-it job.

Cheers Joss. I am actually far less concerned about the interest rates than I am about the crazy high prices here. I would sooner wait for the prices to drop than buy too high but have a good rate. You are so lucky that house prices are reasonable out in your area and you can take advantage of the good rates. Calgary is ridiculous. Not as crazy as Van or TO, but still just silly. It's very nice to see the prices down as much as they are, though. Very VERY glad that we have waited. But the old place seems to be literally falling apart around our ears right now. It's time to go. We've outgrown the space.

 

[impatient1]

Yay for the fridge Tiff!

So sweet of Simon!
I hope the boys feel better soon.
Ohhhh Sarah, I would have lost my mind.

Way to go J!

Amanda! Sending labour dust your way.

 

[ryder]

ya, I hear you on house prices, sarah! Hopefully things will work out good when you guys are ready!

 

[BlackBerry25]

Amanda

You have EVERY RIGHT to cry and be emotional and want them out I would feel the same! I can imagine that is VERY hard on your body

 

[Vickie]

Happy Birthday Sarah!

I hope that today is a good day

 

[impatient1]

Happy Birthday Sarah!

 

[Melissa_M]

Happy Birthday Sarah!

 

[Tiff]

Happy Bday Sarah!!!!

 

[Newt4]

Personally I would recommend not locking on the mortgage rate. Our rate is ridiculously low and when its time for you to buy if you want i can direct you to the right people lol. Oh and happy Birthday.

Amanda keep trucking lol. I really feel for you! You're doing amazing and I couldnt imagine measuring 45 (?)cm and still be functioning.

 

[ryder]

I thought 3.2percent was a really low mortgage?!

 

[Newt4]

That is good for a closed. We use variable with prime - 1.25%. I would have to check the mortgage providers prime rate to check to see what we pay but I think its in the mid 2%.

 

[Tiff]

We went variable as well when we renegotiated our mortgage. I think we're 2% variable over a 10 year term. P was previously locked into a closed mortgage at 5.9% (which was considered amazing at the time he bought).

We found that going with a variable allowed us to pay around the same rate as our fixed mortgage but we had more going to the principal rather than the interest.

 

[Newt4]

yeah I just check prime is 3% so we pay 1.75%. My brother in laws brother is a mortgage guy here in calgary and he hooks us up well.

 

[Newt4]

oh man my girl is so picky. She got a mushroom in her spaghetti last night (she having the same for lunch) and she is now hand picking out the noodles. No beef, no veg all because of a little mushroom lol.

 

[Vickie]

Hannah would do that to. I swear she inspects every piece of food with a magnifying glass before it goes in her mouth

 

[ryder]

interesting! Our mortgage is a fixed rate of 5.3% now, but it renews every 5 years and we can get a lower rate.

What I meant with getting a pre approval was that you are guarenteed that rate for the 3 months... But our broken will update our pre-approvals anytime something lower comes up and the 3 months starts again.

Im afraid of variable mortgages because what happens if interest rates skyrocket? How does that work?

 

[QuintinsMommy]

Amanda-- how are you feeling today?? :hugs

Blah. I burst into tears at my OB appointment which is really not like me. My induction has been booked for Jan 24th, but I am hoping to go into labour on my own before that. I could use some serious labour dust over the next 12 days. Oh and I'm measuring 45 weeks now ... no wonder I feel like crap and my stomach is covered in stretchmarks (after getting zero with Andrew)

Jan 24th is my sons birthday!

 

[Sarahkka]

Joss - historically, variable has beat fixed hands-down. Your risk is that if interest rates start to move up, you need to consider how easily you can lock in. And remember that the locked-in rate will always be higher. Variable "pays" you to take the risk, fixed "charges" you to avoid it. Lots of lenders offer a blended version in which you can move from one to the other without penalty.
It is a very interesting time, mortgage-wise. We're at record household debt levels, mostly because people have borrowed beyond their means for housing. The banks are seeing the cooling off in the housing market and dropped the lending rates to an all-time low.
This cannot have made the BoC head very happy. Mark Carney can only keep interest rates low for so long, as inflation is starting to creep into everything else (anyone else notice things at the grocery store getting more expensive?). Once he moves that rate back up, there is serious concern that a lot of people won't be able to make their monthly mortgage payments, as they borrowed at the peak of their debt-servicing ability and don't have any wiggle room for increases.
It is somewhat regional, but housing is considered to be 25% overvalued in most areas of Canada. The correction has already started in some of the really over-priced places and is expected to be a bit of a shocker this spring. I know that I've noticed significant price drops in the areas in Calgary that I've been checking out. Still not enough for me to jump in, but it's getting closer.

 

[Tiff]

Yeah the whole mortgage thing was enough to make my head spin when we were doing it, and P was already pretty well versed in it as he had bought the condo.

We went with a mortgage broker rather than a bank and we were able to kind of "shop" around for the best mortgage. We ended up going with ING.

Quiet in here today! Or did the mortgage talk scare people off?