Confidence in the Mortgage Market

Many of my friends have not yet paid off their mortgage, and so are concerned about what will happen with mortgages and reducing household debt. So this report shows that many of us are moving in the right direction to reduce our debt load.

Canadian homeowners are comfortable with their current mortgage, focusing on reducing their mortgage faster by making lump sum payments, reducing amortization periods and refinancing with lower interest rates, according to the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professional’s (CAAMP) most recent survey report released May 30th – Confidence in the Canadian Mortgage Market.

Following are just a few key highlights from the report:

• 74% of mortgage borrowers who renewed in the last year saw their new interest rate decrease. On average, the interest rate was reduced by one-half percentage point
• Borrowers are making significant efforts to accelerate mortgage repayment, such as voluntarily increasing their regular payments (23%) and making lump sum payments (19%), with some borrowers (10%) doing both Approximately 50% of borrowers pay $100 per month (or more) above their required payments
• Recent buyers indicate that their expected amortization period will be about 20% shorter than their contracted length
• Mortgage brokers account for 26% of all mortgages. For borrowers who took out a new mortgage in 2011, 31% obtained it from a mortgage broker
• 83% of Canadians have at least 25% equity in their home
• “Despite daily warnings in the media about mortgage indebtedness – or maybe because of them – Canadians are making responsible decisions about their mortgages and they’re exhibiting confidence in their own situations,” said Jim Murphy, AMP, President and CEO of CAAMP. “We should feel encouraged by this behaviour – it means Canadians are well positioned to weather a potential rise in interest rates”

Rather than move, many of us may decide to renovate.To help you make more informed decisions about doing this, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) offers a number of tips, tools and resources like the Before you Renovate: Renovation Guide. Consulting these resources before you begin can help you save time, money and a lot of frustration – resulting in a better overall renovation experience.

First, always take the time to thoroughly plan your renovation before you pick up a hammer (or the phone). Mistakes on paper are much easier and less expensive to fix than mistakes on the job. Taking the time upfront to identify your priorities and how you want to achieve them can save you a great deal of expense (and more than a few headaches) further down the road.

Next, decide whether your planned renovation is practical. For instance, that addition may look great, but can your home’s systems handle the additional heating, lighting and plumbing

Learn to draw the line between what would be nice and what’s really essential, and consider hiring a qualified professional early in the process to help guide you toward what’s practical for your home.

It’s also a good idea to think about the long-term impact of your renovations. For example, renovations that make your home more energy efficient could pay for themselves through years of lower monthly utility bills. In addition, think about your family’s future needs by making sure your design is flexible enough to adapt to changes as time goes by.

To avoid going over budget, have a clear idea in advance of how much your renovation will cost. CMHC’s Household Budget Calculator is designed to help you understand what you can afford. Get written estimates from at least two reputable local renovators, architectural firms or materials suppliers and, if they ask for a deposit, make sure it’s a nominal amount and request a signed receipt.

10 Secrets to Happiness

As we move toward the holidays, many people become depressed so I thought I would share the following article:

10 Secrets to Happiness I learned from Andrew Matthews

by Yee Shun-Jian on July 11th, 2007

What is more important than being happy?” Andrew Matthews asked the audience in a seminar I attended. He then started to draw funny little cartoons and continued “I learnt to draw in school during mathematics!”

Everyone burst into laughter.

In case you don’t know who Andrew Matthews is, let me give you a little introduction. He is an international speaker on “attitude“, “being happy“, “success” and “prosperity” and the best-selling author of motivation and personal development classics like “Being Happy!” and “Follow your heart“.

Andrew is an extraordinary man and I would like to share with you what I learnt about happiness from him. Are you ready to know the 10 secrets to happiness? Listen up!

1) Be happy where you are now

Right now! Be thankful for what you have, instead of moaning about what you lack. Be satisfied with what you have when you are in pursuit of what you want.

2) Happiness, more than anything, is a choice we make every day

Happiness is a conscious decision. You choose to be happy today or you choose to be miserable. Your action/reaction is determined by how you choose to perceive a situation. Andrew gave an amusing illustration of a couple surrounded by a pack of crocodiles. The man thought “OMG Crocodiles!” while his wife thought “OMG Handbags!”

3) Happiness is understanding the things we can’t change yet and working on those we can

Some things are hard to change overnight. It’s unusual to change from a pauper into a millionaire in a day. Happiness is knowing that some things take more time. We can start by working on what we can change immediately.

4) Put a smile on your face. It changes how you think.

I was teaching a friend to ice-skate last Friday evening and there was this beautiful girl I met while getting a drink. She smiled as we both walked towards the vending machine. I smiled back and allowed her to buy her drink first.

While on the ice-skating rink, we passed each other a couple of times. I was trying to keep my friend on his feet while she was falling happily on the ice with hers. Our eyes met again. She smiled and I smiled back.

Then as she was making her way out of the rink, I smiled and waved goodbye. She smiled back. I could hear her friends asking “Is that your friend?” I didn’t catch her reply but I remembered her turning towards me with another smile. I returned the smile with a wave to her bewildered friends.

We didn’t exchange a single word. We didn’t need to. The smiles were enough to brighten up both our days.

5) Whatever you get, accept it and deal with it

All too often, when something bad happens, we are too quick to point fingers and start placing blame on everyone else. Happiness is about accepting responsibility and dealing with what comes your way. Blaming the whole world is not going to solve anything.

6) Problems = Catalyst to take Action

Andrew advises to see problems as a catalyst for us to take action. Problems are good teachers, so learn to love them. Next time, when you face a problem at work/in business, remember to run up to your boss/partner and say, “We have a huge opportunity!”

7) Learn from the elephants!

How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time.

What did the elephant say to the naked man?

Answer: How do you breathe through that thing?

8 ) Put everything you have into whatever you are doing now

Do your best (100%) and life will support you!

9) Its not what you get. It’s what you become that matters

Know what to expect – Expect a better you.

10) No one else is going to make you happier. Work on yourself.

A lot of people get things mixed up. A wife thinks about all the bad things her husband does while a widow remembers all the good stuff. That is the ultimate recipe for misery! Isn’t it better to switch the lists around?

Work on your mindset. See things from a positive light.

Conclusion

Happiness is in the way you think. No one can make you happy except yourself. To conclude this article on happiness, I would like to share with you a video of an extraordinary dog (Faith, the two legged dog). I hope Faith will teach you something about happiness that goes beyond words.

The Foodbank needs your help

As a Director of SHARE FAMILY SERVICES I am proud of the work the organization is -doing in the Tri-Cities and would like to share the following with you. I was hoping that this year the demand for our foodbank would be less than in previous years, it is not, the demand is higher. We need your help and support to continue. Pleas help

SHARE FAMILY SERVICES is starting its seasonal funding raising drive.  Last year the  following letter was mailed out to residents of the Tri-cities. Some people opened it and responded, some opened it and were not able to respond, and others didn not open the mail. 

So I want to get the word out that the people who use our Services, need your support.  If you live in another area of the lowermainland or the country, and you can contribute to your local Food Bank and your local charities, I would encourage you to do so.

I plan to continue to contribute this year through monthly payments.  You can also choose to make a one time donation to the food bank, to purchase a Christmas hamper or to fund other items for families in need.  Thank you in advance for supporting your neighbours who need your support.

============================================================== 

A Message from the CEO of SHARE FAMILY SERVICES 

For many of us, December is a month of festive events, fond childhood memories, happy get-togethers and warm feelings. But for over 2,200 children and their families in the Tri-Cities area, December is a time of year that is filled with disappointment and sadness because they can’t put food on the table and don’t have the resources to enjoy the season.

Thanks to generous donors, SHARE has been able to help families in need enjoy the holiday season since 1972. Last year alone 1,773 families received Christmas hampers, 1,722 children received toys through the Toy Bank, and throughout the year 2,859 families were fed through the Food Bank. This is a reminder that we still need your help and hope you will consider being even more generous than in the past as we try to keep pace with increasing needs in the Tri-cities.

As you read  the message from Martin, consider your own community and those who need your help and if you can support the food bank in your town or city.

Every year, we count on our fundraising and food raising in December to help us get through until the spring. While we will not have final numbers for the amount of food and funds that we have raised until January, we know that our efforts have simply not been able to keep up with the demand that we have been seeing. Even though we reduced the size of our Christmas hampers this year, we are still far short of the food and funds we need to put food on the shelves of the Food Bank in January. As most of you know, our Food Banks do not receive government funding…we are able to deliver these services only through the generous donations we receive from the Tri-cities community and the thousands of hours of volunteer time we receive from hundreds of caring people.

We need to generate significantly more donations in the next few days. At this point, donations of funds are preferred to donations of food, as funds allow us to act quickly to make appropriate food purchases. I would appreciate it if you would consider a donation and forward this message to others who might also be willing to help the children and families we serve with our food bank. If you are able to make a donation, you can easily do so by connecting to the following link:

 https://give.sharesociety.ca/donatenow 

For those of you who have already made a donation, please forgive this appeal and accept our sincere thanks. If you could forward this message to others who might be able to help, we would sincerely appreciate it.

SHARE has a long history of finding a way to help when and where help is needed the most and this is certainly one of those times.

Thank you, everyone, for your consideration. I wish each of you the best in the year ahead. And, for those of you who are interested in discussing new approaches to tackle child poverty, please drop me a line so that we can include you on our mailing list.

Sincerely,


Martin Wyant
Chief Executive Officer

The Habit of "Having Fun" Article

This is a fun article written By Dan Robey and I thought I would share this as we move closer to the holiday season

I am a big fan of the TV show Seinfeld, and one of my favorite episodes is an episode called "The Marine Biologist."

In this episode Jerry Seinfeld runs into an old high school female friend of George Costanza. She asks how George is doing now 20 years later. Jerry wants to impress her so he makes up a story that George is now a very successful Marine Biologist.

That is the episode that gave me the inspiration for this article, but here this is the scene and the one line spoken by the character known as Kramer that sums up the habit of having fun.

Kramer decides that it would be fun to take his golf clubs down by the ocean and start hitting golf balls into the ocean (not great for the ocean but in Kramer's mind ....lots of fun!!)

So, now that Kramer is very excited about his new found "fun idea" he rushes into Jerry's apartment to share his idea with Jerry, George and Elaine and he screams "Who wants to have some fun!!"

OK, lets break this down a bit.

Kramer starts out by thinking of something that he thinks would be "WAY" fun.......that's part one.

Here is part two.

Kramer takes his idea, his enthusiasm, and his energy and shares it with his friends by screaming

"Who wants to have some fun!"

How often do we say that?

How often do you wake up on a weekend morning, jump out of bed, make some coffee and very excitedly say to your spouse or significant other.

What can we do today to have fun, and lots of it!

Maybe you should just say "Who wants to have some fun!!"

The best part about this question is that virtually no one "dislikes" having fun.

So the answer is inevitably "I do."

The problem is that we live in a fast paced society where that question is seldom asked.

Everything is high pressure, stress, and work , work , work.

But, guess what the best stress reliever of all is?

You guessed it.....having fun.

It is after all the reason why we work so darn hard...or at least it is supposed to be that way.

Think about this for a minute.

"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" is one of the most famous phrases in the United States Declaration of Independence and considered by many as part of one of the most well crafted, influential sentences in the history of the English language!

WOW! ...... the pursuit of Happiness, I would say that happiness is directly related to how much fun we have in life.

Here is something else to think about.

How many times have you sat down with friends with one goal in mind?

How can we have THE MOST fun today?

I would say that is one very powerful habit. To make having  fun a PRIORITY.

To strive to be as HAPPY as possible.

Make it a commitment today.

When you are finished reading this article walk away from your computer and scream at the top of your lungs..."Who wants to have some fun!!!"

I guarantee you that it will put a smile on your face and the face of EVERYONE who hears it.

·         Make it your motto.

·         Make it a habit.

·         Make it the one thing that everybody remembers about you.

·         You will live longer.

·         You will love longer.

·         You will make yourself and everyone around you happier.

You will fulfill the request of the founders of the United States who so eloquently said "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness".