11 years for trafficking
Preparing for 'deadly smoke' 
Woman jailed for sex assault
Landfill murders trial begins 
Facial recognition at border?
PM ups attacks on Poilievre
Rapper sentenced to death
Worst famine in Gaza
'Presidents are not kings'
EPA targets coal-fired power 
US growth slowed sharply 
Rogers tops complaint list
Warriors put to the brink
Vees dominating Vipers
Warriors snakebitten in loss
Weinstein conviction tossed
Robbie teases new music
Taylor's ex weighs in
There is no doubt that the real estate market in and around the Okanagan is hot.
There are not enough homes on the market, so we are seeing multiple offers and record high sale prices.
If you are a home owner and were considering a move this year, but aren’t sure whether you want to venture into this crazy market or you can’t find the home of dreams, there may be other alternatives such as renovating your current home.
Property values have increased significantly over the year, so there could be significant untapped equity in your home to access to complete some improvements such as:
- Upgrading to your dream kitchen
- Putting in a rental suite in your basement as a mortgage helper
- Turning your backyard into the oasis you have dreamed about.
I’ve assisted several clients over the last few months to refinance their current mortgages to access that additional equity that they now have in their homes.
There are many advantages to taking a look at that now such as:
- Accessing equity to renovate their homes
- Consolidating debt to lower monthly payments and eliminate high interest credit card debt
- Leveraging home equity to purchase revenue property or a vacation home
I’ve also assisted clients who are looking to retire soon to access the dead equity in their homes by restructuring their current mortgages to include a home equity line of credit in case of emergencies in the future.
The maximum amount available for a refinance or equity take-out is 80% of the appraised value of your property so with some properties increasing in value by approximately 30% over the last year there is potentially significant equity to smartly access.
Effective June 1, 2021 the new qualifying stress test rate for uninsured mortgages will increase to 5.25% from the current rate of 4.79%. This new higher rate will affect certain borrowers by reducing the amount they can borrow by approximately 4.5%.
With increased property values and an increase in the mortgage qualifying rate taking effect soon, now might be the time to review your finances whether you are considering renovating or consolidating debt.
As always please enlist the expertise of a mortgage broker to review all of your possible options or give me a call at 1-888-561-2689.
This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
