4 WEIRD THINGS LENDERS ASK FOR

A number of times I have had people who wonder why they need to provide so much documentation when it comes to arranging a mortgage. Besides an employment letter, you are usually asked to provide a pay stub and your most recent Notice of Assessment (NOA) to prove income. “Why do they need all 3, doesn’t the employment letter satisfy this condition?” I am often asked. No, is the short answer.

A pay stub shows your current income and shows how much you have made year to date. This will also show overtime or any special allowances you receive such as a northern living allowance. This confirms or sometimes does not agree with your employment letter. The employment letter shows what you are going to make this year and your NOA shows what you made in the past. It also shows that you do not owe taxes to the government. This is important to lenders because they don’t want the government to put a lien on your property ahead of their mortgage claim on title.

Your realtor will provide an offer to purchase and sale agreement, so why do they ask for a MLS listing sheet? While the purchase agreement shows the financial agreement and what is included with the house, the MLS describes the size of the house and lot as well as the amount paid for municipal taxes and the size of each room. This allows the lender to establish whether you have a fair market price for your new home.

Finally, a lender will ask for a 90-day bank statement to show your down payment money. The reason they ask for this is due to Canadian money laundering laws which need to show the source for all funds and that you have been saving the funds over the past 3 months. If you get an inheritance, you will need to show documentation that this is the source of your sudden wealth.
Be sure to contact your local Dominion Lending Centres mortgage professional before making an offer on a home. He/She can tell you exactly what documents you will need in advance and make the home buying process go much easier.

–DAVID COOKE

Parents to the Rescue for Young Homebuyers

Following a huge run-up in prices over the last several years, housing has become very expensive in many of the country’s key markets.

Just ask the 24% of Canadian parents who say they’ve had to help their children over the age of 18 buy a home.

And when it comes to renting, 35% of parents with children over 18 say they help with rent payments,  according to the Housing Affordability Study commissioned by FP Canada.

Expectations are high among parents of those under 18 that they’ll also be on the hook when it comes time for their children to buy their first home. Nearly half (48%) say they intend to help their children with their first home purchase, up from 43% in 2017.

“With house prices at unprecedented levels in many regions of the country, it’s nearly impossible for many young Canadians to get into the market without assistance from their parents,” Kelley Keehn, consumer advocate for FP Canada, said in a statement.

“That’s putting pressure on parents to take drastic steps to help their children buy a home, including tapping into their retirement savings or their own home equity.”

Repercussions for the parents

With more cash flow going to support their children’s shelter costs, a growing number of Canadians are finding that assistance is coming at the expense of their retirement plans.

Nearly 4 in 10 (39%) say helping their children to buy a home will postpone their retirement—up from 27% in 2017.

Another 30% say they’ll have to tap into retirement savings in order to help with their children’s home purchase (up from 21% two years ago), while 26% plan to tap into their home equity (up from 23%).

Illustrating the lengths some parents will go to help their children enter the housing market, 34% admit that assistance will prevent them from paying off their own debt (up from 22%).

“Even though it’s natural to want to help your children, it’s essential to carefully consider the impact on your own financial security before helping with such a huge purchase,” Keehn added.

Other key findings:

• Older parents (55+) were more likely to have assisted their children with buying a home (27%) vs. 15% of parents who are younger than 55.
• Those in Atlantic Canada (32%), Manitoba and Saskatchewan (32%) were more likely to have helped.
• Parents living in urban areas are “significantly” more likely to dip into retirement savings or home equity to assist their children than those living in rural areas.

–STEVE HUEBL

BULLYING ENDS HERE UPDATE FOR JULY 2019

‘Well that’s it for another school year….and what a year it was! I am full of joy writing this to you, and a little overwhelmed as well realizing just how effective our charity has become. Once again, we presented in EVERY province across Canada while also going to the US, England and Scotland.

The Scottish Government passed a motion to allow Bullying Ends Here speak in any of their school where a presentation is requested. This is HUGE because we are the first to do so. The main purpose for this was to allow the message around LGBT to be allowed with all of their students. In England, we went four times to speak to tens of thousands of students. The program is an absolute success with dozens of requests still to be actioned. The Metropolitan Police have been working hard to get our message out there and to have schools sign up. A partnership that is truly helping save many lives!

The numbers are what really shocked me. This past school year had me present to over 250,000 students. That brings our grand total to around 985,000 in only six years!!! This November is where we are on target to hit ONE MILLION. The number of emails/social media messages has remained around the 10% level and the total number of lives saved is 57. This past year also had us travel to very remote locations where residents can only be reached by flying in/out.

The information guide that we created for the start of this school year has now been included in many Government projects and school boards use it regularly. Our website had to be upgraded to handle the massive increase in traffic and we also opened the Bullying Ends Here Store. Please visit www.bullyingendshere.ca to see what we have available.

I also feel it important to share that this past school year also brought along many awards for me personally and the charity. The first being the Order of Merit. I also was honoured to receive the Sovereign Medal for Volunteers, Community Policing Award and the City of Calgary International Award. I am truly humbled by the recognition but continue to remain focused on the program and reaching as many as we can.

With the massive increase in requests for presentations and as we continue to grow, our expenses have shot up. This is where I hope you might be able to help. I am thinking a friendly challenge for all offices to partake in. We currently have a GoFundMe page setup to help raise the additional funds required to achieve historic proportions in the 2019/20 school year. The link for the page is at https://www.gofundme.com/f/bullying-ends-here-kindness-world-tour

I will put out the challenge that the office that raises the most money for Bullying Ends Here by August 15th will receive an incredible prize package including BEH wear, coffee cups and signed NHL memorabilia. Donations can be made either through the GoFundMe page, PayPal or directly through me. There are details on how to make a donation outside of GoFundMe on the BEH website on the ‘DONATIONS’ page.

We expect to reach another 300,000 youth this coming year, continue with our International efforts and strive to be one of the most effective anti-bullying program in Canada. Plans to add a primary grades presentation, online learning and a book detailing everything there is to know about bullying is all underway. Needless to say, we are walking the talk!

So, here we go. I leave this with you to do everything that you can to help the program grow and to help those that need it most. We all have a role to play. With a Cross-Canada Kindness Tour starting in Victoria in October leading me across the Country ending in Nfld. in March 2020, we can use all of the help that we can get. I have the locations listed on the website as well so feel free to reach out to book a presentation or two in your community.

As always, I’m here for any questions or thoughts that you may have. Never hesitate to message me. Please have a wonderful and safe summer season.

Your friend,
Tad

–TAD MILMINE