Mistissini video put up by Moishe Alexander

The Government of Canada announced today an investment of more than $6.2 million as part of the year one funding through Canada’s Economic Action Plan to improve housing conditions for Cree Nation communities in Quebec.

The Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Natural Resources, on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), made the announcement today.

“Our government’s Economic Action Plan is creating jobs, stimulating the local economy and improving housing conditions for First Nation communities in Quebec,” said Minister Paradis.

Through Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the Government of Canada has committed $400 million over two years to help First Nation communities build needed new housing, repair and remediate existing non-profit housing for their members, and complement housing programs offered by CMHC. This investment will also provide an economic stimulus for many First Nations and surrounding areas by creating jobs.

Through Canada’s Economic Action Plan, some $45 million in federal investments will be made available to First Nations in Quebec to address immediate housing needs.

CMHC allocated more than $6.2 million to retrofit 267 social housing units and to help build 12 new units in eight Cree Nation communities. This funding will go a long way to help improve housing conditions in these communities.

Thanks, Moishe Alexander.

I realize that Monopoly doesn’t sound that exciting. And I’m sure many of you will have stopped reading before this sentence, or are now in complete awe of how depressing my life is. But I assure you: I have had some near-death experiences fighting over the rules of Free Parking.

For as long as I can remember, “Free Parking” has meant “Jackpot.” Whenever the Community needs some astronomical sum for building repairs, or Chance has it that you’ve finally got to pay taxes on all those luxuries you’ve been hoarding, you pay it to the middle of the board. Then, when you land on Free Parking, you load the loot into your little pewter wheelbarrow and wheel it back to your house on Baltic Avenue.

But, time and time again, I have been challenged by those who maintain that Free Parking is just a “Resting Place.” Riiiiiight you guys. A resting place…in the middle of a board game. Gee, I’m getting really tired pushing this thimble around. If only there were some place I could rest, and escape the pressures of real estate ownership, if only for a moment. Oh my God! Free Parking? Don’t mind if I do!

I’m sure this will send many of you scrambling for your Monopoly Rule Books, where you will no doubt find concrete evidence to prove me wrong. And if you look in the Monopoly Rule Book under “Free Parking”, you will see that it is, in fact, just a resting place. And yes. If you look in the dictionary under “wiener,” you’ll find a picture of yourself holding the Rule Book for Monopoly! Of course the rules say it’s just a resting place. The rules are designed to maximize boredom, and minimize coolness. It’s time to put down the rule book, and pick up a leather jacket, because you need some serious schoolin’ in coolin’!

In conclusion, every time you use Free Parking as a resting place, an innocent top hat goes to jail.

http://vice.typepad.com/vice_magazine/2009/07/canada-.html

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC canadian funding corp CEO

The real estae world has been sent completely on its ear this year, with bailouts, credit problems, foreclosures and more. What’s in store for us now? Is there any way to know if the rates will continue to go down?

Usually, with conditions so tight in the lending markets, one would expect banks to lower their rates to attract the best customers. But it appears that banks are actually raising rates, in the hope that will improve their revenue.

It seems pretty short sighted, but to make up for falling revenues, banks are increasing rates across the board, instead of offering attractive rates for their most credit worthy borrowers. This shortsightedness is not limited to the mortgage industry; credit card companies are doubling and even tripling their rates in reacton to defaults on the part of customers in this depressed economic environment.

It used to be that when the economy slowed down, lenders would lower their interest rates and this would give an incentive to borrowers. Things are not like they were before, though, and new rules seem to be the rule.

How should a homeowner view this crisis, and what things should he be doing? Wait for this time to pass and for rates to come down or grab a loan now, while there is still some credit available, or wait for the fallout from the recession?

Some economists are not only predicting a recession, but even a depression, with deflation instead of inflation. Normally, deflation will in turn lead to lower interest rates, so this indicates a wait and see approach is the best to take at this point.

There are lenders who are still granting mortgages. Many small banks are not suffering from the credit crunch that has hobbled many big banks. In this case, being small was better, because many of them were insulated from the issues now haunting most of the credit industry.

There is another strong reason for waiting to buy right now and that is because home prices probably still have a way to come down. The Case-Schiller study that came out in November of 2008 reported year on year decreases of 17% nationally, with 25% in some locales. The scene seems to be perfect not only for lower interest rates, but lower housing prices as well, with the wise homeowner putting off his plans until the entire mess is sorted out!

http://thephilippinerealestate.com/articles/mortgage-insurance-in-canada-interest-rates-in-the-new-world-of-mortgages/

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC canadian funding corp CEO

“Cautious, price-sensitive purchasers are now weighing their options, waiting as long as six months for the right property to come along,” the report says. “Properties that are priced well will sell, while those that are priced too high will linger.”
Although people who buy an upscale house generally have deeper pockets than those buying an average home, factors that influence their decision are largely the same, said Lowell Martens, a realtor with Re/Max Mountain View. Article.

Free Real Estate Listings.

http://surerealestate.blogspot.com/2008/09/real-estate-for-well-to-do-is-on-slide.html

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO

http://www.propertyedge.ca/gta-housing-market-up-in-first-half-of-june

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO

Almost all lenders are concerned that their money lent is repaid, so underwriting of construction loans usually focuses on how that might occur.

In the most basic situation, that of an individual building a home for themselves, a business building a property for business use, or an investor building a property to rent out, the fundamental guideline is for the lender to imagine once the loan has been fully extended and converted into a normal mortgage and the building is occupied, whether the individual, business, or investor can afford to pay back the loan on a monthly basis. In the case of the individual, where the lender attempts to predict whether the individual can pay each month the loan payment that would occur once the person moves into the house, the lender would be primarily looking at the amount of income the individual receives. In the case of the business, a similar analysis would occur. In the case of an investor building rental property, a special appraisal would be ordered which would attempt to predict what the rents will be and whether they will be enough to pay back the loan, plus all expenses and still give the renter a certain minimum amount of income. The key point here is that no matter how valuable the building might be once completed, almost no lender would extend a loan for more than what the occupier could afford, because even though they will not have to make any payments during construction they would have to make monthly payments once completed and there can be no assurance that the owner would pay down the loan enough to make the monthly payments affordable once the project is completed.

Beyond this guideline, the next most common rule is a minimum cash injection requirement. Even if, for example, a business might be able to afford a monthly payment of a loan high enough to pay for the entire construction project, many lenders would require them to instead use a certain minimum portion of their own cash to complete the project. The reason for this is both to psychologically and economically tie in the owner with the project (hopefully making it less likely that they would walk away from the project if something goes wrong), and to give the lender a cushion whereby if something goes wrong they are more likely to be able to sell the real estate at a value that would better cover the loan amount. This guideline is often termed a “loan to cost” requirement, ie. the lender will only loan up to 85% of the project costs.

The final major guideline is the maximum loan amount the lender will allow relative to the completed value of the project. This rule is designed to help ensure that, after the project is completed, if the borrower stops paying the payment, the lender can sell the property and hopefully recoup all the funds loaned.

Construction loans are often extended for developers who are seeking to build something but sell it immediately after building it. In this case, a special appraisal is ordered to attempt to predict the future sales value of the project. The first guideline above, affordability, is usually not used because the owner would immediately attempt to sell the property. However, it is used sometimes for example when a developer is building condominiums, the lender might evaluate whether if the project was changed from condominiums to apartments if the rents received would more than repay the loan each month. Cash injection requirements are often higher due to the added risk (the immediate need to sell). The loan to value requirements however are often the most impactful. This is because the value is often calculated differently then how people might assume. For example, if a developer is building a 20 unit condominium project, a lender might not just loan a certain percentage of the predicted future total value of the condominiums, but only a certain percentage of the value of the condominium project if, because of an emergency or unforeseen circumstance, the entire building had to be sold at once to one buyer (known as a bulk sale). Since the realizable sales price in this case might be much lower, the maximum loan many lenders would extend would be much lower.