How New Mortgage Rules will Impact Hamilton

Hello everyone investing in Hamilton Ontario real estate!!

We took last week off from the newsletter/blog as the family and I (Erwin) were away in Florida and on a six night

Caymen Islands

Carnival Cruise in the Eastern Caribbean. It wasÂ our first time away with both kids, Bruce (7 months) and Robin (25 months). We had as good a time as can be expected when travelling with babies.Â During our past cruises, pre babies, Cherry and I would sleep in, read, brainstorm investment and business ideas, gamble, hit the gym, watch the evening shows and the later night 18+ standup comedy shows.Â Fast forward 2.5 years to the present, we’re back in our rooms immediately following dinner and the new definition of a great night is if the kids sleep the whole night through. 😛

On top of this being a busy, shortened week, we have our Mr Hamilton’s Inner CircleÂ MeetingÂ this Saturday where special guest speaker Tom M Karadza will be providing us an economic update on this crazy, roller coaster of a national and global economy.Â Me (Erwin), will be sharing how our family invests our RSP’s in real estate, followed by Mr Hamilton’s Street Smart Tour in Hamilton – so you don’t want to miss it!!

Quick story below to share from the cruise on Motivation!Â Skip to main article below if you’re short for time but if you’re a student of the psychology of achievement like I am, keep reading and hope you enjoy. 🙂

One night during the cruise, Cherry had to work, so she stayed in the room to prepare a tax return and watch the kids while they slept. I had some free time to work out (I love working out, so this is what I do in my free time). I’m in the gym, andÂ there is onlyÂ one leg press machine with this big, young muscular guy sitting in it, with malodorous body odor, staring at his phone. No biggie,Â as I can bench press and do V-upsÂ while I wait for the leg press to become free. But when I check back, it’s notÂ free! The big guy is still on his phone, so I politely ask him if I can share the machine as he’s just sitting on it and not using it. He replies that he has one set left and returns to staring at his phone. This poor gym etiquette, and I’m mildly annoyed, but I make the best of the situation by usingÂ my annoyance as motivation. When he’s finally finished, I do a quick warm up, then challenge myself to match the weight he was pressing @270 x 10 repetitions. Now the competitive drive in me takes over and I increase the weight load to the maximum amount the machine will allow @390 for three sets of five repetitions. This may sounds immature but, to be honest, in the absence of the smelly muscle head, I wouldn’t have pushed myself so hard. I find ways to motivate myself everyday in all aspects of life including business and investing. I create vivid images of events in my head e.g. my kids getting accepted to the university and program of their choice but in tears, forced to turn it down due to not being able to afford to go to University and this lights an INFERNO under my ass to make sure that future has ZERO probability of coming true. Sounds silly right? I’ve found this works for me so thought I would share it in case it might help one of you being that I’ve done alright as an investor and in business and now having been selected as one of Hamilton’s 2015 Top 40 Under 40. Find whatever it is that motivates you and use it to your advantage. Â Maybe it’s that mother-in-law who doesn’t think you’re good enough or the high school counsellor who said you wouldn’t amount to much or think about you having to work into your 70’s to make ends meet or raising capital for a “go to hell” fund so you can tell your boss to, you know…

How new mortgage rules will impact Hamilton

For the full article click here

Summary, quotes and my thoughts on the article:

New federal mortgage rules requiring higher down payment for homes priced over $500,000 take effect Feb 15

The rule works like this:

For mortgages being insured by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, homebuyers will still be required to put a minimum of 5 per cent down on the portion of a house that costs less than $500,000.

But for anything more than that, they’ll have to put a 10 per cent down payment.

In 2015 we were involved in only ONE residential deal that exceeded $500,000 where we fetched our investor/seller a premium sale price in a multiple offer situation for a 2.5 story home, 2,600 square feet, in the premium neighbourhood of Westdale near McMaster University.Â Basically I’m saying that these new mortgage rules will not affect the vast majority of you reading this, who are buying/selling residential investment properties because A) Investment properties require 20%, and; B) Itâ€™s rare in the Hamilton market to be above $500k.

However,