More and more Canadians are choosing to buy a second property in retirement. Reasons for doing this vary. Some want to reap the rewards of a lifetime of saving and treat themselves to a vacation home. Others, on the other hand, view their second property as an investment, intending to rent it out and use the rent to bolster their income.

Whatever your reasons for wanting to buy a second property, there are various ways you might choose to pay for it – let’s have a look at what those are.

PAYING THE DOWN PAYMENT
Just like your first property, you’ll need a down payment for your second property. This can be as little as 5% but ideally should be higher – try aiming for 20%.

CASHING IN INVESTMENTS
One way that you may choose to make the down payment is by cashing in on investments. When considering this, however, caution should be exercised. Cashing in on investments in a taxable account can trigger taxes and OAS clawback, as well as potentially pushing you into a higher tax bracket. Taking large sums from your investments will also reduce the size of your portfolio, which can have a knock-on affect on your retirement income. Outliving savings is something all retirees should be conscious of, so think carefully before making large withdrawals that may deplete your pension pot too quickly.

TAKING OUT A HELOC
A Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) is a revolving line of credit secured against your primary residence which allows you to access up to 65% of your home’s value. Taking out a HELOC to pay for the down payment can be a good option to avoid cashing in on investments, but they’re not without their limitations. It’s recently become more difficult to get approval for a HELOC, and many retired Canadians without a fixed monthly income have seen their applications denied. If you manage to get approved for the loan, be aware that you need to service it each month, which will have an affect on your monthly cashflow.

USING THE CHIP REVERSE MORTGAGE
Another way to afford the down payment on your second property is with the CHIP Reverse Mortgage. The CHIP Reverse Mortgage allows you to access up to 55% of your home’s value in tax-free cash, meaning it won’t trigger taxes or OAS clawback, or push you into a higher tax bracket. Unlike a HELOC, with a reverse mortgage you don’t repay what you owe until you move out of your home or pass away, so there are no monthly repayments eating into your cashflow. What’s more, depending on how much equity you have built up in your home and how much your home is worth, you may be able to pay off a significant amount of your second property – perhaps even paying for it outright!

PAYING OFF THE MORTGAGE
Unless you were able to pay for your second property outright, chances are you’ll have a monthly mortgage to pay.

If your second home is an investment property, you likely intend to rent it out. In this case, the rent you charge should be enough to cover your mortgage payments (and hopefully a little extra for you each month).

On the other hand, if your second property is a vacation home, you’ll need to factor mortgage repayments into your monthly budget. One way to get the best of both worlds is by renting your vacation property out for short-term holiday lets. This will help you cover some, if not all, of the mortgage payments, while also giving you the flexibility to enjoy your vacation home whenever you want. Want to know more about how the CHIP Reverse Mortgage could help you afford a second property? Contact your DLC Mortgage Professional to learn more!

Written By: Agostino Tuzi
Post Sponsored by HomeEquity Bank

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Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has announced that the Government of Canada has expanded the eligibility criteria for the First Time Home Buyer Incentive (FTHBI) in the higher priced markets of Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria, effective as of today May 3rd, 2021.

Start preparing today:

Find out now if the home you are looking to buy is located in the Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) for Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria.
Use this calculator to review different scenarios and help inform your decision.
The FTHBI makes it easier for you to buy a home and lower your monthly mortgage payments. While the program originally had uniform eligibility requirements across Canada, expanding eligibility requirements in higher priced markets will support more first time homebuyers.

For eligible applicants in Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria, the key changes include:

Raising the annual household income threshold from $120,000 up to $150,000.
Increasing the borrowing amount for eligible applicants from 4.0 to 4.5 times their annual household income.
The original parameters will remain the same in all other housing markets.
Should you have any questions about the FTHBI program expansion, please contact the FTHBI Team at FTHBI@cmhc.ca

My Personal View:
While it’s great that the maximum income limit was raised to $150,000 annually, and it’s now 4.5 times your income as opposed to 4 times, it still does not make since in the GTA and GVA market. For instance, Someone making $80,000 annually can qualify for a maximum purchase price of around $460,000 as opposed to $360,000 using the incentive program. That’s a huge stretch, and potential homebuyers need all the purchasing power that they can get in this market. So this program still proves to be useful only in other non-hot markets.

Mortgage brokers have more access – brokers are YOUR personal
shoppers! There are dozens of lenders in Canada and we will shop
this big market for you while you relax and wait for the best results.
Did you know? Mortgage Brokers have access to MORE rates and
lenders than the bank. The bank brokers only have access to their
rates, no one else’s

After you file a consumer proposal, the last thing on your mind might be a new mortgage, but you may be a lot closer than you think.

Maybe you wish to buy a home, or you own a home and are interested in refinancing your mortgage. Let’s first talk about purchasing a home.

When Can You Buy A Home After A Consumer Proposal?
Actually, this question comes up often. People want to know how soon can they buy. Sometimes they ask right after they file their consumer proposal, and other times it’s more than five years later, after they’ve paid it off in full.

First things first: pay off your consumer proposal completely before you take on major new mortgage debt.

If you have at least a 20% down payment, you may even be able to buy as soon as you complete your consumer proposal! As in, immediately.

You will almost always be working with either a B-lender or a private lender, but it is doable. But it’s more than just a matter of having finished your consumer proposal. Make sure you have been rebuilding your personal credit history—with new credit facilities and by cleaning up reporting errors. (There are ALWAYS reporting errors after you file a consumer proposal.)

If you have less than 20% down payment, you will be looking for a high-ratio mortgage, which has default insurance, from one of CMHC, Genworth or Canada Guaranty.

In that case, you will need at least two years of clean, new credit since you completed your consumer proposal. But it’s best if you have at least two tradelines (credit card, loan, line of credit, etc.) with limits greater than $2,000.

Worst case scenario, three years after you completed your proposal, or six years after you filed your proposal (whichever comes first), it will fall off your credit report and whether or not you qualify for a mortgage to purchase a home will depend on the usual mortgage qualification criteria we all face.

When Can You Refinance Your Home After A Consumer Proposal?
This, too, can happen very quickly—in fact, we have helped numerous homeowners refinance their homes so they could complete their consumer proposal early. In some cases, it was as soon as the terms of their proposal were ratified in court.

This is what we call a lump-sum consumer proposal, and can be a very attractive way to settle your debts if you are a homeowner.

Should You Pay Off Your Consumer Proposal When You Refinance?
Actually, there are a few private lenders who will allow you to leave your proposal unpaid while you extract equity from your home. But unless there are specific, logical reasons to doing this, it’s not something to recommend.

refinancing to pay off a consumer proposal. I prefer refinancing to completely paying off the remaining balance owing on the consumer proposal. There may also be other things you need money for at the same time—like a home improvement project or a child’s higher education, or other family debts.

CRA debt crops up quite a lot too, particularly for those who are self-employed. You can take care of all these at the same time, provided you pay off the consumer proposal.

Why Would You Pay off Your Consumer Proposal Early?
1) Fear of the mortgage renewal. This concern is very real if your mortgage lender had a credit card or loan product included in your consumer proposal. They might have no interest in offering you a renewal when your current mortgage matures. So, you need to get in front of this issue as soon as you can, if your situation allows for it.

2) A strong desire to rebuild your personal credit history. Once you file your CP, your credit score is going to take a major beating. All debts included in the proposal will be reporting as R7s on your personal credit report.

Worse than that, some of them will be erroneously reporting as R9s—written off completely.

confused mortgage consumer and some credit cards may say they were included in a bankruptcy, even though that is not true.

A few credit cards even report ongoing late payments after the proposal was filed. And sometimes even after the proposal is completed!

If you want to fix the damage to your personal credit report resulting from your consumer proposal, you are going to have to wait until it is paid in full and you have a completion certificate from your trustee. Here is additional information on rebuilding credit after a consumer proposal.

3) Wish to be normal. When you have bad credit, everything in life seems tougher and more expensive. Even if you wish to rent a home, not buy one, the landlord will usually ask for a copy of your credit report.

And if you want a new smartphone, or lease or finance a new car, bad credit will make it all that much harder.

If you allow your consumer proposal to run the full five years, that means it could be in your credit history six years altogether. It falls off three years after you complete, so keep that in mind. You can significantly shorten the waiting time by paying the consumer proposal off early.

4) Improve cash flow. In nearly all cases when we refinance a home where the owner is paying off a consumer proposal, they see an improvement in their monthly cash outflows. In a society where half of us are living paycheque to paycheque, this is attractive.

How Do You Refinance To Pay Off A Consumer Proposal?
First, your mortgage broker will do a thorough assessment of whether or not this is even doable. They will assess the marketability of your property, the amount of untapped equity, the reasons behind you filing your consumer proposal, as well as all the normal stuff lenders look at when reviewing a mortgage application.

An important consideration is your current first mortgage. Was it just renewed, or is it nearing maturity? Which lender is it with, and what might the prepayment penalty be if you were to break it and refinance to a new first mortgage with a B-lender?

Plan B: Another consideration is whether or not your first mortgage is registered as a collateral charge, and if so, to what amount is it registered?

If refinancing the current mortgage makes sense, your broker will present your application and a presentation to the B-lenders most likely to entertain a file like yours. And they will bring back quotes for your consideration. If you choose to proceed, most of the time the entire process can be wrapped up in four to six weeks.

We actually see that happen less often than the other approach, which is to first apply for a private second mortgage.

In this scenario, the first mortgage is left intact and a new lender is found who will lend enough money to cover the proposal balance, any other debts and needs, and all the expenses associated with the mortgage.

During the term of the second mortgage (usually one year), we take the opportunity to cleanse all the reporting errors from the credit report, and also to strengthen the borrower’s credit profile with new healthy credit.

After a year (longer if that makes sense), we then refinance the two mortgages into a single first mortgage.

It would be normal to expect this new replacement mortgage to be with a B-lender, since the consumer proposal is still fairly fresh. Here are some insights into how to do this.

The Wrap
Ultimately, the goal is to take the homeowners back to the world of A-lenders. That is usually possible after three years, but we have seen instances where it happened much sooner.

But it was never going to happen if the clients didn’t first make the decision to pay off the consumer proposal ahead of schedule.

Ross Taylor
Canadian Mortgage Trends

Thank you, Canada! Pull out up to $35,000 in RRSP to invest into your dream home – tax free!
Did you know? First time homebuyers can utilize up to $35,000 individually worth of RRSPs for a down payment on a home

Like Lighting in a Bottle. That’s how Todd Talbot describes the chemistry between him and Jillian Harris, his co-host of the reality TV series Love It or List It Vancouver. There’s an undeniable electricity that flows between the pair who have battled against each other through 104 hour-long episodes of the home-design series. Sparks fly, but ultimately, both have the same goal: to find a solution for homeowners whose spaces simply don’t suit their needs.

In the “love it” corner is Harris, an interior designer (she wore her heart on her sleeve on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette) whose strategy is to help homeowners kiss and make up with their space, thanks to her design-savvy renovation. Talbot, a realtor (he’s been acting on stage and screen since he was a kid), is firmly in the “list it” corner, coaching quarrelsome couples to sell and start fresh.

The sparring is real, but there’s no bad blood between Harris and Talbot. “Jill and I really agree with each other 99 per cent of the time,” says Talbot. “We’re like brother and sister with each other, on camera and off.”

EMBRACING CHANGE
Buy or renovate? Talbot says the answer isn’t absolute. “Generally speaking [buying a house]; it’s a really fun journey. And it can be really fun on the reno side,” he says. “Life is lived in the grey areas, the nuances in between.” Those shades of grey involve negotiation and prioritization, among other practical and philosophical considerations that happen behind the scenes.

Off set, Talbot is a dedicated DIYer. “My happy place is building and renovating. I manage all my rental properties and do almost all the maintenance,” he says. He even renovated the house he shares with his wife and two children, located in Lions Bay, a sleepy seaside town in B.C. But that doesn’t mean they’ll live there forever. Like the homeowners featured on the show, Talbot and his wife wrestle with opposing forces. “Are we going to sell? Stay? Move?” Relocation to a condo in the city is a real consideration.

That struggle is what makes the show’s appeal universal. Our lives are constantly shifting. Babies are born and kids move out. Jobs change and communities evolve. Still, many homeowners are reluctant to step outside of their comfort zones, says Talbot, noting that the people who come on the show are fixated on location. “I’m the opposite: I’m a change guy. I love the idea of a different home in a different area. Nothing excites me more.”

As the TV series closes in on its fifth year of filming in June, Harris, a new mom, reflects on how her design sensibilities have shifted. “Now that I’m a parent, especially, I’m leaning towards more colour, less clutter and softer finishes, whereas before I was all about everything being white,” she says.

No two families are alike, but all are in desperate need of change, says Harris. She eases the transition, giving growing families more functional space within the existing square footage or cozying up a family home that feels empty after the kids have moved out. Each has their own wants, needs and personal style, which Harris tries to tease out of the homeowners so she can design workable spaces they love. “It’s our job to show them their best options and help guide them towards the right choice for them,” says Harris.

The obstacles families face, however, go beyond bad design and unpredictable real estate markets. A recent episode of Love It or List It Vancouver, where the homeowner uses a wheelchair, presented a new type of design challenge for Harris. “I wanted to think about every part of her home she would experience, from the front entrance to the kitchen cabinetry to being in the living room with her family. Even though they ultimately chose to list [the house], that episode really stuck with me and reminds me not to take things for granted.”

FINANCING FIRST
Whether overhauling an aging home with a sinking foundation, or buying bigger in a hot real estate market, those decisions are guided by budget. “People don’t want to talk about money. It’s not sexy,” says Talbot. His true passion for real estate is connected with the financial side. “What I really love doing is empowering people and coaching them to be able to make the decision to fulfil their vision.”

Talbot believes that gathering information and building knowledge is essential, rather than solely relying on an expert’s perspective. When you start making decisions based on instinct, it takes lots of the worry out of homeownership. He also believes everyone should view real estate as an investment and determine the end game of the property before they buy it: when they’re going to sell it and who they’re going to sell it to.

“At the end of the day, for anyone making decisions about renos or buying and selling, that’s a very personal choice and a choice that ultimately the homeowner takes responsibility for,” says Talbot.

Harris also advises thinking long-term. “It’s so important to look at both your five and 10-year plan as a family. If your house does not have any additional square footage to work with, then maybe a lipstick reno and a quick sell is your best option,” she says. “If your home does have extra space [and] it’s just not being utilized well, but you love the neighbourhood, then I would suggest renovating it to support your family for years to come.”

HOMEOWNERSHIP FOR ALL
For his part, Talbot is rethinking the entire ethos of homeownership. “In today’s day and age, we don’t live the same way as our grandparents did, [who] lived in their houses for 50 years. [Now] houses are more designed to facilitate lifestyle than be the lifestyle themselves,” he says.

“I’m really interested in the idea of redefining the Canadian dream of what makes a great house.” I think we’ve gotten off target as a society: 5,000 square feet is indulgent!” Instead, Talbot says it’s about those shades of grey and finding the sweet spot where financial responsibility, sustainability and quality of life intersect.

That’s a tough sell for some. Especially when our social media feeds are awash with idyllic images of families frolicking in sprawling backyards and cooking in couture kitchens. Dream home envy indeed. Harris sees beyond the soft filters and careful cropping and suggests homeowners look inward.

“I think the best thing is to identify what’s important to you and then build a plan around how to achieve that,” she says. “Or, be on Love It or List It Vancouver and have Todd and I figure it all out for you!”

TODD’S FIRST MORTGAGE
“Real estate kind of snuck up on me. I didn’t get into it for the money,” says Talbot who was working as successful actor when he started renovating.

“I’ve always struggled with this: being an artist and this financial fixation.” Talbot describes his first foray into the real estate market. “I bought a two-bedroom, two bathroom condo in [the Kitsilano neighbourhood in Vancouver], which happened to be the display suite. I had no furniture so I tried to negotiate in all the staging furniture.

They didn’t go for it. The only way I could swing buying my first place was to convince my buddy to rent the other room from me and that ended up subsidizing half my monthly costs. I drew up what I would later learn was a rental contract, literally on the back of a napkin. We lived together for three years before that property turned into a rental property. I refinanced it many times and funded multiple other properties with it.

I learned huge lessons owning that first property, which I sold a few years ago.”

JILLIAN’S DESIGN SECRETS
Harris is expanding her airy aesthetic of white-on-white and introducing saturated splashes of colour. Here, she shares five tips on finding your own style. Mix it up “I like to mix vintage with all sorts of eclectic styles. I like a tad of whimsy in a space and I love to see a person’s personality and life experiences shine through in the décor.” Harris also likes blending textures: “I love mixing muslins with thick rugs and knits and sequins and sparkles.”

Build Layers: Start with a blank canvas and build layers within the room. Anchor a room with an area rug, then add larger investment pieces such as sofas and loveseats. Then add in smaller pieces such as side chairs, ottomans and table lamps.

Get Colorful: “I have had a lot of fun over the years experimenting with coloured kitchens, using finishes like olive green and royal blue.”

Add Artwork: Harris suggests finding something inexpensive yet valuable in a sentimental way to inject polish and personality into your home. Or making a piece from meaningful items. “Frame flies from your great grandpa’s fly-fishing collection.”

Accessorize: Achieve a luxe look for less with a high-low mix of accessories, such as “steals” from stores such as Home- Sense and Target and “splurges” from boutiques, which act as “the icing” on the cake. “It gives your house that look of timelessness and richness.”

Did you know? Getting your mortgage pre-approved will allow you
to hold an interest rate for up to 120 days! This means you can
get the lowest rates available, even if they rise before you make
your purchase.

Budget should always come first before you qualify or are
approved.! My Mortgage Toolbox app can help you determine
how much you can afford! This handy calculator can help to
determine your total cost of owning a home, the minimum down
payment you would need, the maximum loan you can borrow, an
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test for your mortgage to ensure you are covered.

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Ask yourself these four questions to determine if you are ready
to own a home:
1) Are you financially stable?
2) Do you have the financial management skills and discipline to handle this scale of purchase?
3) Are you aware of all costs and responsibilities as a home owner?
4) Are you ready to devote your time to regular home maintenance?