CMP 6.1

Page 10

Readers Write Web comments

A tool to change the mortgage brokerRealtor relationship

Conference hears from international panel of mortgage industry associations

Vendors would be better served taking a few thousand dollars and offering a selling bonus commission to the Realtor. In a soft market that will make the house sell faster as the buying Realtor will push it more. Then they know exactly what their “loss” is as opposed to waiting a year. What buyer buying their residence really cares about a five per cent drop in price? I imagine the conditions of sorting an actual claim on the other end are onerous. Sure it’s a tool to use with Realtors but then you’re hyping a negative real estate market which just puts you in bad terms with most Realtors anyways. Seems like much ado about nothing. I’m not drinking the Kool-Aid. – Skeptical in Vancouver

Canadian independent mortgage brokers could conceivably suffer if leading banks decide to advertise competitive rates like petrol stations do. That is to say, they do away with their current higher posted rates and advertise broker network rates instead. The only thing stopping the banks from doing this is that it still pays them to practice price segmentation, or to put it less nicely, price discrimination amongst customers. Those that pay posted rates without questions must still be a large enough percentage of customers and so very lucrative for the banks. It then leads one to think that the day our government (politicians, and regulatory-consumer advocate agencies), in the interest of consumer protection and “market efficiency,” decide to mandate all banks to operate on and advertise only discounted rates is the day when Canadian independent mortgage brokers will get the real hit. As it now stands, our existence in large enough numbers means we do enough business to the extent that we cannot be ignored; and most banks put up with having to offer/carry broker network services as a result. – Mortgage Needs

As a broker here in Calgary, this program just makes sense. Have you seen the amount of price drops that are happening? In this market you need to be different, be creative and think outside the box. If it doesn’t make sense, I have found it’s because you don’t know enough about the program. The BPP can be negotiated in or out of the deal. Why keep five per cent in escrow? Because, it’s the alternative to a five per cent price drop. In Calgary, nothing is selling for list or even 95 per cent of list today. Are we artificially inflating the values to account for the five per cent? No. The home must be properly priced in the first place. Furthermore, all lenders and insurers are going to do their due diligence. Is there a chance that someone could abuse the program, absolutely. But we are all ethical professionals here, right? What’s the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Continue to do what you’ve been doing and you’ll continue to get what you’ve been getting. How is that price drop after price drop been working for you Mr. Realtor? The way I see it, the BPP is one more tool for your toolbox. It isn’t really about bringing buyers to the table? If the seller gets most if not all of the five per cent back, is that a bad thing? I was a skeptic too, but I made the call to Greg and became more informed. – Jeremy from Calgary

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mortgagebrokernews.ca

Further tightening of mortgage rules not necessary say brokers I find it unreasonable that the finance minister would look at mortgage debt as a target to control Canadians’ finances when the real problem is credit card and other consumer debt. Why doesn’t the finance minister focus his attention on the real problem and leave access to home-buying open for Canadians? – Kata Sorry bankers, but the jig is up. You can’t distract the government forever, although you have done a good job so far. As many people have already commented, it’s time to review payday loans, credit cards and bank loans, not mortgage rates and the mortgage qualification process. Telling someone you’ll make it harder to put a roof over their head and force them into eternal renting, but letting them fall victim to pre-approved credit cards and loans with high interest rates is not acceptable. – James in Whitby CMP


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