Buying • Page 3 of 4 • NL Real Estate and Mortgage

Open House NL : Newfoundland’s own Real(i)ty Television Show!

Should we or shouldn't we?

About a year ago myself and Mark were approached by a local production company and asked to be part of a new St. John's based reality television show about the local real estate industry.

At NormanLane our entire business model is very different from your typical Real Estate Team and in retrospect, we really weren't quite sure what to think about the proposal in the beginning. Nothing like it had ever even been attempted before. Upon that realization, it was that moment we decided we had to be involved.

Television, because of it's high barrier to entry has really been an untapped media source as far as the local real estate industry is concerned, but with the housing boom over the last decade, the curiosity and interest surrounding our local real estate market brought the potential for a large local audience.

The more we thought about it, the more we envisioned TV (and video) becoming the focus of our marketing efforts (Earlier this summer we also shot and produced two TV commercials currently running on NTV... who new we'd like TV so much!)

Open House NL - a 6 Newfoundland Reality TV series

The show, aptly named: Open House NL was shot over a period of several weeks in the Fall of 2014. The experience of shooting a television show was exciting, stressful, and very eye-opening. Seeing and hearing yourself on camera is always a little uncomfortable. You get to see yourself from angles you're not used to seeing.

For example: I now know my hair is thinning out a little faster than I originally thought it was. *sigh*

However, I was very fortunate to be joined by three other excellent Realtors who were a pleasure to work with. Also, the crew and production team for the show were consummate professionals and experts at what they do. Upon seeing some of the final footage I believe they did a great job painting a realistic picture of a typical week in the life of a busy Realtor on the North East Avalon. I think the viewers will find it as entertaining as it is educational.

So, after almost a year of editing and post production, the final product will soon be polished and ready for the airwaves. Starting Sunday, Septmber 13th at 4:30pm on NTV and will run at same time for six consecutive weeks. We will be having a kickoff party at Uptown (The Home of Yuk-Yuks) starting at 3:30pm to celebrate all of the hard work that went into the producing of the program. If you're in the area, feel free to join us for some finger foods and a cocktail as we watch the premiere on their big screen!

Looks like Mayor Dennis O'Keefe will also be checking out the show....

..and if you're even a bit curious about the St. John's real estate scene, you should too.

Kitec Plumbing: A deal breaker? (It doesn’t have to be)

Very recently, while doing viewings with a buyer client, we walked into a property and within minutes, they turn to me and say "this is the house for us”! While the client and her family were happily looking through the property, they continued to get more excited as they saw more of the home. As…

Newfoundland Closing Costs, the facts, the myths, the bottom line..

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Closing costs:

For many home buyers in Newfoundland, closing costs are a complete mystery; a slew of hidden fees that only show up at the last minute to empty your wallet! But there is a simple formula for these costs:

A safe bet for closing costs is 1.5-2% of your total purchase price, (in addition to your minimum 5% down payment). This covers off things like government fees for registering your mortgage and your deed, title searches, tax certification, law society fees and actual fees for legal work (despite what you may think, the majority of fees a lawyer collect actually go towards government required items).

Our mortgage calculator takes the guess work out of this for Newfoundland home buyers as we break the different costs down when estimating how much it's actually going to cost you on closing day to get your keys.

The few things we can't account upfront are things like:

Property tax - In the event the homeowner has her property taxes paid until the end of the year, the new buyer would have to reimburse them the remaining amount they've paid. (ie. If your closing date is August 15th, you'd be on the hook for 4.5 months property taxes on the property)

Oil/Propane - If the house has either oil heat, a propane fireplace/stove, etc, you will be required to reimburse the homeowner for the remaining fuel in the tank. (Often, tanks are filled around the time of closing so you can be billed for a full tank)

While the actual fees for billable hours vary from lawyer to lawyer, this calculator will give you a pretty close idea for what you can expect!

Calculate your down payment and closing costs: HERE

The 4 do’s and don’ts of getting a mortgage!

So, you've made the leap, and decided to buy your own home. You've waited patiently, saved and done all the work required. You've spent months online, weeks viewing properties, compared neighbourhoods, crunched numbers, found a great rate and you're anticipating the keys to your new pad. So, it's time to sit back and relax, right?…

Choosing a mortgage based on rate is like buying a car based on price…

Reprinted with permission from (and written by) Darryll Esch of Clear Home Mortgage Solutions in Winnipeg, Manitoba

Chances are, if you have looked at getting a mortgage, you have been shopping around for the best mortgage rate. After all, you are after the best deal, and what is the best deal if not the best rate? A fraction of a percentage point up or down could mean of several thousands of dollars saved or lost over 5-10 years.

So if saving money is your goal, rate is clearly the most impactful factor, right?

Wrong. This is what the banks want you to think. And because it is the easiest factor to compare between banks, most people accept this as a close approximation of truth.

But a mortgage consists of many different features other than rate that can actually cause a great deal of potential savings or losses. In fact, this is how banks make their money off of mortgage agreements. They lure hopeful customers in with rate, using a standardized mortgage agreement that is not customized to individual needs, and their trusting customers literally hand them their money based on what the fine print says — often without being aware of it.

A mortgage can be customized to individual needs and goals to fit your particular financial situation. Just like … say, a car.

Imagine getting a car and focusing only on the price. Seems pretty ridiculous, right? Well, let’s just play with it to see where the argument gets us. One could argue that the point of owning a car is to have the cheapest means of getting from point A to point B — so any car that allows you to do just that in the cheapest way possible is the best car for you (and the best car for anyone, period).

So naturally, price is probably the most important determining factor, right?

Immediately we run into a problem with this argument. While price is a consideration, fuel and repair costs over the lifetime of a car will cost you far more than the actual up-front purchase price. So suddenly the choice becomes very different depending on how far and how frequently you plan to travel. It even depends on what type of driver you are — aggressive, fast accelerating, or calm and gentle.

Someone who travels frequently to remote cities and who is an aggressive driver will be far better off investing in an expensive but energy-efficient car, than a large city dweller who uses the car occasionally to visit nearby friends.

Then you have other factors such as whether you will share the car (two small cars or a large one?), whether you have a large family or not (what type of car?) and whether you have children who will soon grow up and want their own cars (safety and security features).

You even have your personal financial factors to consider — do you have ability to make a large down payment in cash, what is your income, what will your income be in the future, how much do you need to save, are you planning to sell the car in the future to upgrade to a more expensive one?

And all this without even considering personal comfort and enjoyment features.

Which brings us to mortgages. Just as choosing a car comes with a variety of features that may make one particular car suitable for one person but not for another, so does a mortgage. It’s not all about the rate — just as a car isn’t all about the price. Features like period, fixed or variable, optimal amount, penalty clauses, and fine prints around things like how your mortgage is actually managed and by whom (yes, it matters — a lot more than you think).

The problem is, a car is concrete, firm, easy to test-drive, easy to get your head around. Fine print around mortgage terms isn’t. Mortgage rate is. This is why most people focus blindly at the rate, and forget the other crucial factors surrounding a mortgage. It is very difficult to make a fair comparison between the fine print of multiple banks, and make an informed decision around which one is best for you, in your current particular situation, with all the potential future scenarios covered.

The take-away from this article is as follows: Please, don’t determine which mortgage is best for you based on the rate. There are multitudes of factors and considerations around your particular goals, financial situation, and future opportunities to make. Educate yourself, read the fine print, understand it, and ask the bankers the tough questions that forces them to show you their cards. Get in touch with a good broker, someone who understands the foul secrets the banks use to lure you into the interest rate trap, and then determine for yourself if you want to dig into the fine details to make the comparisons, or if you want to hire a good mortgage broker to do it for you.