Victoria BC Real Estate
Checking out the real estate market in BC? If you have been looking for a home in Victoria, or elsewhere in BC over the last year, you may have noticed that the real estate is fairly expensive. Just like properties in Seattle and California south of the border, BC represents one of the most beautiful areas on the planet. Demand remains high, which means that people will pay. The real estate prices in BC are significantly higher than the Canadian average, but there’s a lot more interest in condos that overlook the Pacific than there are in two-storey family homes in, say, Saskatoon.
BC Real Estate Market
According to the Royal Bank of Canada, though, there is good news for people who were waiting for the Victoria BC real estate prices to drop just a bit. During the fourth quarter of 2014, housing affordability throughout the entire province improved. While individual properties fluctuated, not only in Victoria but also in Vancouver and elsewhere in the BC Real Estate Market, the general trend is toward affordability. In the third quarter of 2014, according to RBC, detached bungalows, standard two-storey homes and condos all took less of their owners’ income to manage mortgage payments.
If your credit score and income history are pristine and you have $150,000 or $200,000 in the bank to put down on a home purchase, then you’re looking golden. You’re likely to find a house or condo in your price range, and you’ll have enough to secure at least a high-ratio loan from an “A” lender that provides the best rates. If you’re close to having 20 percent down and want to avoid mortgage insurance, you might want to get over the top and save that additional expense, but the other alternative is signing that mortgage now and then continuing the save so you can wipe out that insurance premium at renewal.
Unfortunately, though, there are a lot of successful people in BC who can’t qualify for those “A” loans — at least not yet. If you’re an attorney who slogged away for his firm for ten years, socking away a hefty savings account, but then you went out on your own to start a practice and had to dig into some of those savings to supplement income for the first year or two, but since the next year brought massive income, you could have trouble if you’re wanting to upgrade your home. The problem is your income history. Sure, you had big numbers for ten years, but there was that year when you didn’t have that much coming in. Now, your firm is doing well, but since you’re self-employed, there really isn’t any third-party verification to prove that you’re making the money. You could be drawing from a family trust or some other source that the bank can’t verify. So you could end up on the outs when it comes to making that application.
If you’re in a dual-income home, and your wife stopped working to have a baby but then entered the workforce again, banks tend to understand that. But if either one of you came down with a condition such as leukemia, cancer, or just a long-term depression or other illness that kept you out of work, even if you’re both back at work and you need both incomes to qualify for the mortgage, the bank could turn you down.
So what are your options? Luckily, the “A” banks aren’t the only funding sources out there. Also, those hiccups in your income history won’t remain important forever. The same goes for negative items on your credit score. They might be influencing the bank to decline your application now, but if you keep your payment histories up, those problems will fall off the report and, even before then, bear progressively less weight as time goes by.
In the meantime, Amansad Financial can help. We have connections with what are known as “Alt-A” and private lenders who can fund mortgages for deserving people who the banks just can’t find their way to help. The “Alt-A” lenders do charge a slightly higher interest rate, but if you sign a short term, that gives you two or three years to put your credit back in order or establish a longer income history. Then, when the mortgage term ends, you apply with an “A” lender.
If you can’t qualify for “Alt-A” financing, there is also private lending in . Amansad Financial has a list of individuals and companies in BC that want real estate profits through funding mortgages. The interest rates are higher than both the “A” and “Alt-A” notes, but the credit decision is based on the property — not your credit profile. If you have at least 15 percent of the purchase price squirreled away to put down, this can be an option as well. Frustrated by a lack of financing for that house you want in Victoria? Give Amansad a call today.