The Mortgage

I think we are doing something wrong.

Our builder recommended two banks but neither of the consultants seemed to know much about mortgages. The initial one from RBC insisted that mortgages are not negotiable, which is a very strange comment. Meanwhile, when I asked the gal from Desjardins to explain how she calculated that the 5% yearly dividend on our interest would reduce our rate by .27%, she responded that I should think of a dividend as money that falls from the sky. If only money did fall the sky, buying a house would be so much simpler.

I also tried thinking out of the box and called my in-laws banker at CIBC. Apparently, this was too complicated for her so she sent us to a mortgage broker. The broker seemed really nice and promised to calculate the Desjardins' price for me and explain it. When I e-mailed her back to see if she had done so, she said that she had, but had decided to transfer my file to another broker... she never explained the calculations (apparently she did them for her own benefit).

The other broker explained that the reason CIBC had transfered the file, because why would a bank want you to go through a broker, was because CIBC owned the brokerage firm. When I asked if they preferred CIBC since they were owned by them, she hesitated and said "Well, we try to do what is best for the client".

I don't understand. A bank can make 100s of thousands of dollars on a mortgage, why is it so hard for them to treat you well. I'm also starting to wonder what type of training/education you need. It seems like every time I ask a question they need a day to get back to me and the answer is always half assed and weird and in some cases has nothing to do with the question.

Arrghh. I will keep you all updated on our banking adventure.

Pam

The decision to buy

So how did we find this dream home?

I’m guessing most people make the decision to buy a home after a deliberate and even in-depth reflection. Maybe most people even sit down and make a plan, figuring out how much money they need and when they can really afford a home. Searching for a new home for us was really about taking a break from a hectic workday.

JF and I had a brief discussion about starting to look for a house… in about a year, but as usual I was impatient. So, when things got stressful, I would take a break and log onto the Remax or MLS (multiple listing services) sites and look at homes and imagine our new digs. I would then e-mail JF with my favourites and let him talk about how far they were or how much he disliked them. It became a sort of game and I was really enjoying it, I even convinced hubby to take a drive to a suburb to look at a few homes (from the outside only). Well, one day I discovered the site of this new development, close to the water, with a marina, a stream, parks, and only 3 minutes from the city. We drove down, walked into the demo home and never looked at another house.

Obviously, the house is more expensive then we thought, not even built (we were initially looking for a pre-existing home), and gorgeous. So what could we do, we were smitten.

So now, we have negotiated an offer, we are negotiating our mortgage and I am getting more and more nervous (there goes my stress release). My mom keeps calling to tell me how beautiful the house is, but ‘can you guys really afford this?’ I keep asking questions about things I don’t understand like what type of insulation, whether we can put an electronic filter in our furnace (who new filters were electronic?) and driveway drainage, will the garage flood?

Hopefully things work out!!!

Pam

About this blog

My husband JF and I are in the process of buying our first home. Although, all the literature out there suggest we do this with a cool head and make decisions based on different lists of needs and wants, resale value, and budget; we simply fell in love with a new development and a specific house.

As we try to figure out all the steps and complexities of buying a new home and especially a new construction, hubby and I have come to terms with the fact that we are going to make tons of mistakes, have to tighten our belts financially, and sacrifice a few of our luxuries to get our dream home. Instead of crying over our naiveté and ‘noobishness’, we figured the least we could do is share our story so others could learn from our mistakes and hopefully our good choices. I’m also thinking this may be therapeutic for me, so expect a few vents and rants as we move along in the process.

As we go along, please feel free to comment, give us advice or simply share your story.

Yours truly,

JF and Pam