The funding was made available through Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the federal government’s plan to stimulate the economy and create jobs during the global recession. Overall, the Economic Action Plan includes $2 billion for new and existing social housing, plus up to $2 billion in loans to municipalities for housing-related infrastructure. The federal and provincial governments are contributing equally to this overall investment of $96 million under the amended Canada – Nova Scotia Affordable Housing Program Agreement.

The Government of Canada wants to improve the quality of existing social housing for low-income seniors, single parent families, recent immigrants and Aboriginal households. Canada’s Economic Action Plan provides $850 million under the Affordable Housing Initiative to provinces and territories for the renovation and retrofit of existing social housing. It also provides a total of $475 million, over two years, to build new rental housing, including $400 million for housing for low-income seniors and $75 million for housing for persons with disabilities.

The Greystone project, located in Spryfield, will receive $5.9 million for repairs and renovation of 246 units for seniors and families. The Ida Mae Marriott project, also located in Spryfield will receive $3.15 million to construct 15 new units and to regenerate six existing units for a total of 21 units, which includes 18 units for seniors and three units for persons with disabilities. The remainder of nearly $5 million will be distributed amongst 10 projects (a total of 950 units for seniors and families) located throughout HRM for repairs and renovations. Repairs to the housing projects will include exterior refurbishments, including roofs, siding, windows and doors, in addition to interior upgrades to kitchens.

The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), along with the Honourable Denise Peterson-Rafuse, Nova Scotia Minister of Community Services, made the announcement today.

“Our Government remains committed through our ongoing Economic Action Plan to giving a hand-up to those who need it most here in Nova Scotia,” said Minister MacKay. “That’s why we’re proud to be investing in the construction and renovation of these units in Halifax, which will provide safe, affordable homes for years to come.”

“The province is committed to making life better for families in Nova Scotia. Housing is a fundamental part of the equation,” said Minister Peterson-Rafuse. “We are very happy to improve and increase affordable housing in metro Halifax. This investment will mean more families, seniors, and people with disabilities will be living in safe, comfortable, accessible homes.”

Canada’s Economic Action Plan builds on the Government of Canada’s commitment in 2008 of more than $1.9 billion, over the next five years, to improve and build new affordable housing and help the homeless.

Nova Scotia and Affordable Housing in Halifax

We are seeing similar signs in the Vancouver real estate market and many are now saying that the price adjustments may have bottomed out sometime towards the end of 2008 or the first couple of months of 2009. And in fact we may have seen prices of Vancouver real estate bounce back a bit from their lows earlier this year.

New home construction rose for a second straight month in June, in what analysts say is another sign that the worst may be over for the Canadian housing market.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Thursday there were 140,700 new homes constructed in June on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis. Construction was up almost 8% from the 130,300 May figure.
“There are some pretty good signs that we are starting to see in the housing market,” said Bob Dugan, chief economist with CMHC. “We’ve seen it for quite a few months on the existing homes side.”
Existing home sales rose 42% from January to May across the country and the early indications are that June was strongest month this year. Sales in Vancouver were up 76% last month compared with a year earlier and Calgary and Toronto both recorded 27% increases during the same period.
Existing home inventories have begun to shrink across the country, convincing builders to ramp up construction. CMHC said urban single family homes — considered the best barometer of the new home market — climbed 7.3% in May from a month earlier.
“It’s well into seller’s market territory again with the May and April numbers,” said Mr. Dugan.
The optimism about the Canadian market comes despite the fact new construction at 140,000 units is way off the 200,000-plus figure the market in Canada has seen for the past seven years.
“I can only speculate, but maybe a lot of people are relieved we are not seeing the decreases we have seen in the U.S.,” said Mr. Dugan. “Peak-to-trough, the decline in the U.S. was something like 80%. In Canada, that would mean we’d have to have 55,000 starts. Some people may have thought that’s where the Canadian market was going.”
The consensus among economist is construction won’t return to pre-recession levels but will gradually improve in the coming months.
“This month’s increase is an important confirmation that the Canadian housing sector is past the worst and in recovery mode,” said Marco Lettieri, an economist with National Bank. “The recovery seems to be broad based with gains observed in both multiple [which includes condominium construction] and single units.”
Robert Kavcic, an economist with Bank of Montreal, said there could be some room for modest growth in starts in the coming months.
“Higher affordability and improved consumer confidence brought buyers off the sidelines this spring,” said Mr. Kavcic.
A report this week from RBC Economics said declining prices and lower interest rates led to one of the biggest quarterly improvements in affordability in history. The bank said monthly payments on a typical detached bungalow in Canada had decreased by almost 17% from a year earlier.
Royal LePage Real Estate Services was also forced this week to upgrade its forecast for 2009 because of the improved market conditions. It now expects 430,000 sales this year, an improvement from its previous call of 416,000, but still down 1% from a year ago.
“I think 2009 will go down as a moderate correction as opposed to the deep and sustained recession that we had first feared,” said Phil Soper, chief executive of the real estate company.
Royal LePage expects prices this year will still fall but not by as much as previously feared. It expects the average sale price in 2009 to be $297,000, a 2% drop from last year. It had previously forecast a 3.5% decline.
Mr. Soper said a decline is still tough to swallow after years of compound growth of close to 10% in the housing market but it’s proving to be a far cry from what has happened in the United States.
“We are long way from the 35% decline that a lot of regions in the United States are experiencing. It’s a very different kind of correction,” said Mr. Soper

http://bestmortgagesvancouver.wordpress.com/2009/07/16/worst-may-be-over-for-the-housing-market/

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC  canadian funding corp CEO

Stephen Gordon – National Post

Here is part of what is hopefully one of the last of a once-robust breed – The Apocalyptic Canadian Housing Market Story, this one from Macleans:

Judging by the latest real estate data, the Canadian housing market could scarcely be better. Average home prices are up more than 16 per cent this year, and in May they hit an all-time monthly high, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association. By those numbers, Canada didn’t just sidestep the housing market crash that continues to plague the United States, it sailed right through it virtually unscathed. And yet, there are plenty of signs that the Canadian housing market is still sitting on some very shaky ground—and even the potential that Canada’s big housing crash is yet to come.

Yadda yadda yadda.

We all know that the proximate cause of the U.S. recession was the bursting of its housing market bubble: it blew up banks, laid waste to personal balance sheets, and left millions of people stuck in homes whose mortgages were more than their market value.

And then Canada went into recession. Unfortunately, this set up the following error of logic that was repeated in all-too-many Canadian newsrooms:

1. The U.S. is in recession because its housing market blew up.

2. Canada is in recession.

3. Therefore, Canada’s housing market must be blowing up as well.

And so it was the fate of any number of hapless Canadian journalists to be given assignments to bash out pieces that fit this narrative. But these exercises were all doomed to failure. The decline in house prices in Canada is a symptom of the recession, not its cause.

Let’s look at how house prices have behaved since 2003:

Canadian and US price indices

U.S. house prices have fallen almost 40% (all changes are expressed in per cent log terms: 100 times the difference in the logs), while Canadian house prices are still within 10% of their peak. There are any number of lazy analysts who have swallowed the faulty syllogism enumerated above and have concluded that ‘Canada is following the U.S. with a lag’. This only makes sense if you think that Canadian house prices rose for the same reasons that US prices rose, and that they have fallen for the same reasons that U.S. prices have fallen. This is not the case. As has been documented at great length here and elsewhere, the Canadian economy has avoided the worst of the bubble and its consequences for the following reasons (among others):

1. We never had restrictions on interstate banking, so Canadian banks spread their assets and liabilities across Canada. (So it doesn’t matter if a local housing market goes bust).

2. We don’t have Glass-Steagal. The investment banks joined the retail banks some years ago.

3. We don’t have mortgage interest deductibility from taxes. So paying down your mortgage is a tax-free investment. So most people want to pay down their mortgages.

4. (Except in Alberta), mortgages are fully recourse. You can’t just walk away from a negative equity home and hand the keys to the bank; the bank will come after you for the difference.

Yes, house prices have fallen. But the linkages that make the U.S. story so compelling don’t exist here. We don’t have banks that are blowing up. We don’t have massive waves of foreclosures (even the Globe and Mail has given up on its series of articles that culminated in this silliness). Nor do we have much in the way of evidence that lower house prices are causing undue inconvenience to Canadians: when Maclean’s decided to jump on the OMGWTFBBQ housing market bandwagon, the best it could could come up with in the way of a victim was some flipper of 7-figure Vancouver condos who got caught mid-flip. Boo-hoo-freaking-hoo.

Moreover, it’s becoming pretty clear that the decline in house prices is not so much a national story as it is one of falling house prices in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto:

Canadian city house price indices

Vancouver is and always will be a special case whenever we talk about housing prices in Canada: its geography makes it extremely difficult for developers to respond to increases in demand. This is the sort of environment in which bubbles flourish so I’m not going to pretend that I can predict movements in Vancouver house prices. In Calgary, the incipient recovery in the oil sector will no doubt establish a floor on housing prices there fairly soon. And there’s even not-entirely-bad news out of Toronto these days. So I don’t see just how the national index is supposed to fall by another 30% or so.

It’s worth following the housing market numbers. But they are going to be at best a coincident indicator in this cycle.

Stephen Gordon is a professor of economics at l’Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada and a fellow of the Centre interuniversitaire sur le risque, les politiques économiques et l’emploi. He is co-author of the blog site, Worthwhile Canadian Initiative.

http://www.jeffreyteam.com/blog/toronto-real-estate-market/the-oversold-story-of-the-canadian-recession/

brought  by Moishe Alexander, CFC  canadian funding corp CEO

Did you ever consider a retirement home as a business opportunity? Did you know that it is one of the fastest growing sectors in the market. Obviously, this is due to the aging population. And, the demand for space in retirement homes will continue to grow.

You should be aware that retirement homes unlike Homes for the Aged, Nursing Homes and Private Hospitals are somewhat unregulated. Space, accommodation and the services provided are all subject to the market forces of supply and demand. A good and successful facility will house a good mix of people. It will have a reasonable division between private areas and common areas. There should be plenty of places to sit and relax, and simply catch up on one’s reading. If you don’t have the time to read in your retirement, then just when are you going to read?

There is also a need for physical activities. Today’s aging population is far more active than were previous generations. A place for a gym, yoga class or dance class would work well. Playing cards and pottery classes are becoming less popular.

If you are considering starting a retirement home or acquiring an existing one, you should think about the maturation of the home population over time. A retirement home which opens up to new residents, will soon fill up with the young elderly. These are people in their seventies, often with an average age around 75. However, as time goes on, the retirement home will find that its average age increases with its residents. In 10 years, the home will have a population of 85 year olds, and in a further decade the average age will be 95.

Now, of course, there’s attrition. Some residents will move, some will become ill and require a nursing home and others will pass away. But, the important matter to note is that the average age is increasing. As new residents move in, they are likely to be attracted to a home with an average age close to their own. So, if your average age has increased to 85, then you are likely to attract 85 year olds. The 75 year olds will go elsewhere. That issue becomes the most difficult matter to manage when you are running a retirement home. So, what’s the solution?

Actually, the solution is obvious. You expand! You continue to build onto your existing facility. You need to attract the young elderly and in order to do so, you will have to offer relatively new facilities catering to the young elderly.

So, when you are looking for a facility you will need to ensure that there’s lots of room for expansion. You need to have a 20 year strategic building plan.

To simply acquire an existing facility and hope that the business will maintain itself would be rather foolhardy. Your business success is in the “mix’. The changes in demand for services will never be greater than the 75 to 95 age range. Residents will become more and more dependent and require more and more services to assist them in their daily living routines. Each of these additional services becomes an additional profit centre.

So, if you’re thinking about buying a retirement home, be sure you know the average age of the residents and be sure that you have room to expand.

http://ontariorealestatesource.blogspot.com/

reviewed by Moishe Alexander,  Canadian funding corp CEO

The common law Doctrine of Privity as it relates to contracts provides that a contract cannot confer rights or impose obligations arising under it on any person or agent except the parties to it. In essence, the Doctrine of Privity of Contracts simply states, that only the parties to a contract have the right to sue or be sued under it. This means, generally speaking, that third parties who get a benefit under a contract do not have the right to go against the parties to the contract beyond the entitlement to such benefit. An example of this occurs when a manufacturer sells a product to a distributor and the distributor sells the product to a retailer. The retailer then sells the product to a consumer. There is no privity of contract between the manufacturer and the consumer.

However, one exception to this doctrine is that for contracts, which create an interest in land. Contracts involving real property run with the land, so that a new property owner can sue or be sued on a contract, even though he was not a party to it. A second exception to the Doctrine of Privity is an assignment

In an assignment, a person (called the assignor) can assign to a third party (the assignee) his entitlement to benefits arising out of a contract. If he does so, the third party has the right to sue to enforce those benefits. Obviously, a person cannot assign liabilities under a contract.

There are two types of assignments: statutory and equitable. A statutory assignment has three essentials:

[ ] The assignment is in writing.

[ ] The assignment is absolute, that is for the whole amount, and unconditional.

[ ] Notice of the assignment has been given in writing to the original promissor.

If any of the foregoing essentials is missing, the assignment might still be equitable. Statutory and equitable assignments are enforced differently by the Courts. In an equitable assignment all three parties must be named as parties in a court action to recover the amount outstanding. In a statutory assignment, on the other hand, only the original promissor and the assignee are named as parties to the action. The assignor is not a party to it.

An assignment does not alter the rights of the parties to the original contract. The assignee has no better legal position than the assignor had. More specifically, he receives the assignment subject to any defenses, which could have been raised between the original parties. If the assignor has properly assigned his rights, he is free from any further liabilities. It is now up to the assignee to collect the benefits of the original contract. Should the assignee fail, he cannot sue the assignor for it.

Finally, the original promissor does not have to make payments to the assignee until he receives proper notice. Once this notice is received, the original promissor must pay to the assignee and not the assignor even though he has not consented to the assignment.

Although no one can assign his liabilities under a contract, as stated above, a promissor can have his obligations performed by someone else. For instance, a promissor can require his employee or sub-contractor to perform his obligations under a building construction contract. Where a promissor has someone else perform his obligations under a contract, it is called vicarious performance. Vicarious performance is not an assignment, in that it does not result in the substitution of one the original contracting parties for another.

In the aforesaid example of a building construction agreement, the original contractor (promissor) is still liable to the other contracting party. In addition, the sub-contractor who performs vicariously cannot be sued by the other contracting party for non-performance. Only the building contractor can sue the sub-contractor, and this is so because of the privy of contract intercurrent between the two of them.

Luigi Frascati

Luigi Frascati is a Real Estate Agent based in Vancouver, British Columbia. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Economics and maintains a weblog entitled the Real Estate Chronicle at http://wwwrealestatechronicle.blogspot.com where you can find the full collection of his articles. Luigi is associated with the Sutton Group, the largest real estate organization in Canada, and is based with Sutton-Centre Realty in Burnaby, BC.

Luigi is very proud to be an EzineArticles Platinum Expert Author. Your rating at the footer of this Article is very much appreciated. Thank you.

http://houseenergy.blogspot.com/2009/07/assignees-nominees-and-other-extra.html

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, canadian funding corp CEO

More than half a million Canadians have fallen behind on their various credit payments, fuelling a 19 per cent rise in the average national delinquency rate in the one-year period ending May 31, 2009, says a new report from Equifax Canada.

The credit bureau called the double-digit jump “alarming,” noting the average delinquency rate for Canada hit 1.52 per cent at the end of May.

Much of the trouble stemmed from missed payments on credit card bills and for sales finance purchases of items such as furniture and electronics.

Equifax defines delinquent bills as those that are at least 90 days overdue.

Nadim Abdo, an Equifax vice-president, stressed the “sharpest increase” in delinquencies resulted from credit card and sales finance purchases, which have risen by 38 per cent and 58 per cent, respectively, since May 2008.

Rising delinquencies in those areas are troubling because consumers tend to miss payments on those unsecured credit products before they fail to pay back collateral-backed loans such as mortgages, bank loans and lines of credit, Abdo said.

US Credit Card Delinquency Rate Jumps 11 Percent

Inquiring minds might be asking for a comparison between Canada and the US. For the answer, please consider 1Q credit card delinquency rate jumps 11 percent.

Credit card holders who in ordinary years might have used their tax refunds to pay down their balances apparently spent the money elsewhere as the recession deepened in the first quarter.

That’s one of the conclusions that may be drawn from data showing the delinquency rate for bank-issued credit cards rose 11 percent in the first three months of the year, according to credit reporting agency TransUnion.

The delinquency rate jumped to 1.32 percent this year, from 1.19 percent in the first three months of 2008, TransUnion said. The statistic measures the percentage of card holders who are three months or more past due on their payments for cards bearing MasterCard and Visa logos, along with American Express and Discover cards.

The average total debt on bank cards also rose, jumping to $5,776 from $5,548 last year.

TransUnion measures credit card delinquencies at 90 days, but tracks mortgage delinquencies at 60 days. Becker said that is because card payments are typically much smaller than mortgage payments, and it’s easier to catch up on past due cards. For people in financial distress, it’s much harder to produce two mortgage payments once they fall behind, he explained.

Not surprisingly, bank card delinquency rates remained the highest in the states hardest hit by the mortgage meltdown: Nevada, Florida, Arizona and California.

North and South Dakota and Alaska, the states with the lowest rate of mortgage delinquencies, are also the states with the lowest credit card delinquencies, TransUnion data showed.

TransUnion, which samples 27 million consumer records to produce its data, expects the rate of credit card delinquencies to rise for the rest of the year, ultimately reaching about 1.7 percent.

Note that the US rate was a comparison of March 2009 to March 2008 while the rate for Canada was a comparison of May 2009 to May 2008. Thus Canada and the US are following a similar path.

Dynamic Maps

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has Dynamic Maps of Bank Card and Mortgage Delinquencies in the United States that some may wish to consider.

In regards to mortgages, Canada has some “catching down” to do, and it will. All the bubble areas such as Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, etc are going to get hit hard.

Mike “Mish” Shedlock

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

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Mike “Mish” Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

http://offshoreinn.com/investing/500000-canadians-90-days-behind-on-credit-payments-delinquency-rate-hits-152-us-delinquency-rate-is-132/

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO

Insurance Coverages You Need:

If you haven’t updated your insurance coverage in some time, your Hamill, North Dakota Mobile Home Parts may be vastly underinsured. For example, if your home is worth $150,000 on the real estate market, how Sterling, Nebraska Log Home Floor Plans insurance should you carry? $150,000? $75,000? $300,000? While your mortgage broker may require a specific amount of insurance (usually the value of the mortgage), the real answer depends on how much it would cost to rebuild the home. If it will cost $200,000 to rebuild your home, then you will need at least that much coverage; otherwise, you’ll come up short.

In general, you will need enough insurance to cover: Powder River, Wyoming Skyline Double Wide your home, replacing your personal property, paying for temporary living expenses during repairs, and covering your liability to others.

When it comes to covering your rebuilding your home, multiply the square footage of your home by local “per square foot” construction costs. Contact the local building association, a realtor, or your insurance agent to obtain the local construction cost figure.

Insuring your possessions is trickier than simply saying, “I’ll take $50,000 in coverage.” First, go room through room and document your belongings. Include dollar figures of how much it would cost to replace each item. Make sure that your policy uses “replacement cost” rather than “actual cash value.” In addition, be aware of the limitations of your policy. For example, fine jewelry, fur, silverware, artwork, coin collections, electronics, cash, and guns (as well as other items) often have maximum limits. If you have valuables exceeding these limits, you will need to obtain an endorsement or rider.

Buy enough liability to cover your assets. For example, if you have $1 million in savings and other assets, yet only have $300,000 in liability insurance and are involved in a liability lawsuit, the plaintiff may pursue your additional assets above and beyond your liability limits.

If you live in an area where the risk of floods or earthquakes is of concern, you may want to consider optional flood or earthquake insurance as these perils are excluded from typical insurance policies. In addition, if you have a swimming pool or a dog, you might need additional coverage addressing these increased risks.

Insurance Coverages You Don’t Need:

Reviewing your policy each year helps ensure that you aren’t paying for coverages you do not need. For example, if you had purchased a rider adding coverage because you owned a pit bull and the dog has since died, you can drop coverage. Likewise, if you’ve sold your jewelry or art collection, why continue to insure it with an expensive rider? Look at your coverages, endorsements, riders, and limits with an eye for whether that coverage is still necessary. In addition, look at the dollar figures. A few years ago, it may have made sense to pay an extra $100 per year to add a rider protecting your computer from household mishaps, but now that you can buy a comparable computer for a few hundred dollars as opposed to thousands, the coverage may no longer be worth the price.

Finally, while examining your insurance policy, schedule a consultation with your insurance company or agent and ask how you can reduce your costs while maintaining adequate coverage. For example, by installing deadbolt locks or a security system, you may reap a large discount.

By: Mr. Mark Decherd

http://modular-housing28418.blogspot.com/2009/07/insurance-coverage-what-you-need-and.html

brought by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO

Canadian Funding Corp was very pleased that the Halifax YWCA also recognized that if the existing network of shelters could not meet the long-term needs of these “hardest to house” women, the YWCA would have to do more than just provide another shelter. Building on a model successfully implemented by the YWCA in the Niagara Region, the Halifax YWCA used anonymous surveys and one-on-one interviews to seek input from current and previous residents about their housing needs and the barriers they face.

Many of the women reported that credit problems, an inability to present well and a lack of support prevented them from finding or maintaining their own apartments. Some of the women observed that the locations of the existing shelters kept them too close to the people and the neighbourhoods that perpetuated the challenges they faced. To heal over time, they needed a safe place and some measure of privacy, while retaining access to the individual support they needed. Above all, the women wanted a place they could call their own.

Lacking a single facility to help these women, the YWCA arrived at a solution by securing 24 single-bedroom units at below market rent, dispersed across three separate areas of the city. Called the Women in Supported Housing (WISH) Program, its purpose is to prevent and alleviate homelessness for hard-to-house women in the municipality. The needs that the women had clearly identified helped the YWCA make its case to the provincial government–as did support from several local women’s shelters, which highlighted the fact that the YWCA’s model of support was both necessary and unique. The Nova Scotia Department of Community Services agreed to a daily amount for the support services provided to each woman in WISH. Once the agreement was in place, it elicited donations, such as small kitchen appliances, furniture and other household goods–enough to fully furnish 24 units. Donations continue to arrive almost daily.

YWCA launched WISH in November 2005, and has since provided more than 60 women with stability, a safe place to call home, a support network and access to the specialized resources they need, such as referrals to addiction-treatment programs, volunteer positions and resources, mental-health supports, food bank services, and educational and vocational programs. With this support, and time to heal, many of the women have since moved on to independent living or secure housing elsewhere.

Among other things, it compared Canadian and American mortgages and listed several key differences.  Here are the big ones:

• US mortgages typically don’t have pre-payment penalties.  Canadian mortgages usually do (except for “opens,” which are more expensive).
• Canadian mortgages are portable. Portability is rare in the US.
• US mortgages often have higher origination costs (thanks to “points” and fees) than Canadian mortgages.  According to the study, Americans pay $3000-$5000 on a typical purchase, while Canadians pay about $1800.
• Rate holds are usually free in Canada. American lenders commonly charge for them.
• Mortgage insurance in Canada covers the entire loan amount. In the US, it usually only covers losses above a LTV ceiling (above 80% for example).
• In Canada borrowers must pay the entire insurance premium up front. In the US, borrowers pay it monthly and can cancel it when LTV falls below the required threshold (e.g.,  80%).
• In foreclosure, Canadian lenders have recourse in a borrower’s non-home assets. In the US, that’s usually out of the question due to legalities or costs.
• Most US mortgages require payments to be made at the beginning of every month. In Canada, we have weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, and monthly payment options.

Some other notable statistics and conclusions:

• Deposit-taking institutions held 62% of Canadian mortgage debt at the start of 2009.
• Just 29% of Canadian mortgages are securitized, versus 60% in the US.
• 45% of Canadian chartered bank mortgages are insured.
• Home ownership in the US and Canada are both about 68%, despite US homeowners receiving a mortgage interest tax deduction.
• Canada has fewer options than the US when it comes to mortgage terms over 5 years. The author says that’s due to a five-year maturity cap on government-guaranteed deposit insurance, and the Interest Act’s prepayment penalty limit.

http://www.canadianmortgagetrends.com/canadian_mortgage_trends/2009/06/boring-but-effective.html

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO

Mortgage fraud and the victims of fraud in real estate purchase

Mortgage fraud is defined as the material misstatement, misrepresentation or omission that is relied upon by an underwriter or lender for funding, purchasing or insuring a mortgage loan. The misstatement, misrepresentation or omission refers to the lies as also the white lies. In case a lender makes an advancement of mortgage money while telling any small lie regarding the borrower’s income, property value, intended use of property etc. then a mortgage fraud is said to have occurred.

Common victims of fraud are those who have purchased real estate whose values have been over inflated by a series of fraudulent transactions. In this way several consumers have had incurred huge financial losses and their credit ratings have been damaged.

Dealing with real estate related fraud in Alberta

This is a crime and you need be informed and armed beforehand to effectively combat the damaging influence of mortgage fraud. You need to beware when approached for opting for any scheme set to help make quick and easy money in real estate. Caution needs to be observed when your name is being taken down for credit purposes or when you are being asked to create or alter certain documents in a real estate or mortgage transaction. If you are suspecting that you can get involved in a fraudulent transaction then you ought to immediately report such suspicions to the Real Estate Council of Alberta (RECA) for them to take suitable action.

In an effort to reduce mortgage fraud relating to the real estate market of Alberta, Canada the RECA has taken up several initiatives-

- Efforts have been made to bring about a change in the industry by introducing mandatory mortgage fraud awareness course, improved investigative resources and processes, stronger sanctions against licensees involved in mortgage fraud and development of ongoing education processes incorporating mortgage fraud identification knowledge.

- There have been collaboration endeavors with other stakeholders and enactment of legislative changes and information sharing efforts extended.

- There has been made efforts to increase public awareness.
These will hopefully work towards curbing mortgage frauds to a desirable extent and make the investment in real estate in Alberta less risky…

http://www.socialjury.com/632/dealing-with-fraud-in-real-estate-purchase-in-alberta-2/

Review made by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO