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Financial windfall could Dealing with all bring new facility that clutter
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Sherry JenkinS
403-804-3694
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sherry@wemortgage.ca 133 First Street NW, Airdrie, Alberta T4B 0R3
WeMortgage.ca
FREE mar 25 to mar 31 2011 issue 01-10 www.creb.com
BMO Eco Smart Mortgage and CREB ’s Go Green Challenge give buyers environmentally friendly alternatives ®
cody stuart managing editor
S
cody stuart, CREB® Staff
SINGLE FAMILY
New mortgage contents rules now news briefs in effect event listing $461,786
$441,341
$454,163
$455,460
$444,744
$445,617
$460,278
$464,655
$481,964
$483,240 $460,378
$471,269 $441,217
$451,349
$458,254
$464,444
$462,465
$459,085
$454,130 $436,782
$447,142
$436,427
$426,311
$420,354
FEB09 MAR09 APR09 MAY09 JUN09 JUL09 AUG09 SEP09 OCT09 NOV09 DEC09 JAN10 FEB10 MAR10 APR10 MAY10 JUN10 JUL10 AUG10 SEP10 OCT10 NOV10 DEC10 JAN11 FEB11
$416,568
MLS® AVERAGE PRICE* FEB ‘09 – FEB ’11
*All statistics based on monthly data compiled by CREB via MLS activity. ®
®
Great family Home in tHe Heart of midnapore! Open floor plan with main floor living room, dining room, kitchen, 4 piece bath and 3 spacious bedrooms. Numerous upgrades throughout. Wonderful front porch and a south exposure, pie shaped backyard with RV swing gate. Great location close to schools, shops, parks, transit, Fish Creek Park and lake privileges for Midnapore Lake. Great value! Only $349,800! MLS®C3463720
For more details call the “Home Hunters”
Grant
& Steve Hunter 403-278-9208
sutton group canwest vista • www . thehomehunters . com
upport is growing for Calgary homeowners looking to go green, with the recent announcement of a mortgage plan from BMO Bank of Montreal designed to encourage and reward Canadians looking to reduce their energy usage, and save on home expenses. People whose homes meet the list energy efficiency criteria will qualify for the BMO Eco Smart Mortgage with a five-year fixed rate of 3.89 per cent. A typical customer with a $300,000 mortgage amortized over 30 years would save thousands of dollars over the five years on an Eco Smart Mortgage. “The BMO Eco Smart Mortgage is designed to encourage homeowners to lower their energy usage and ultimately reduce the cost of owning a home,” said Katie Archdekin, head of Mortgage Products, BMO Bank of Montreal. “Canadians want to decrease their carbon footprint and recognize that their home is one of the key ways they can do so.” The mortgage also aligns with a pilot program currently underway at CREB® designed to get REALTORS®, consumers, and corporate partners working together to reduce the ecological impacts of Calgary homes. The Go Green Challenge, which runs until June, introduces new energy rating and rating date fields to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS®) System that identify a home’s energy efficiency based on the EnerGuide rating system. “The idea is to help buyers and sellers in identifying how renovations and upgrades can improve a home’s energy efficiency,” said CREB® president Sano Stante. “As the number of homes included in the program grows, REALTORS® will be able to search for homes with an EnergGuide rating and provide potential buyers with a custom report of the energy-efficient features of a home.” REALTORS® taking part in the Go Green Challenge are trained on green homes and energy efficiency, communications collateral to promote the benefits of energy efficiency to prospective clients, given an opportunity to participate in community
information sessions and have their participation in the program available on a publically accessible website. Participating REALTORS® are also required to take the NAR® Green Real Estate Professional Designation (or equivalent) and attend an orientation session. Reinforcing the growing importance of eco-friendly homes is a new Leger Marketing survey that shows 47 per cent of Canadian homeowners plan to make energy efficient upgrades in the coming year, underscoring this appetite among Canadians to lower home energy costs. The survey also showed that the majority of homeowners (51 per cent) cite utility costs as the biggest surprise financially when it comes to owning a home. Reducing energy usage is one way that Canadians can significantly cut back the cost of running a home. To qualify for the BMO Eco Smart Mortgage, homes must meet a list of criteria including: high-efficiency heating and cooling systems, high quality attic insulation, solar, tank-less or ENERGY STAR qualified hot water system and ENERGY STAR qualified windows, doors and major appliances. The introduction of the new mortgage brings from BMO adds to the options available for eco-friendly homebuyers. Other major financial institutions like TD Canada Trust and RBC already offer incentives for those interested in purchasing a green home. RBC’s Energy Saver Mortgage offers a refund of up to $300 on a homeenergy-related improvement, and TD Canada Trust’s Green Mortgage refunds homeowners up to 1.5 per cent on the cost of a mortgage with qualified purchases. “Financial institutions offering environmentally-focused programs like the Green Mortgage program is great news. It demonstrates a commitment to sustainability, the environment and to the real estate industry,” said Stante of BMO’s new mortgage offering. “BMO is recognizing that there is a need to consider sustainability and our environment in our buying decisions. Purchasing a home is one of the biggest buying decisions that we make, and now we can make that decision while having the peace of mind that we are doing something for our environmental future.”
mortgage rates
CREB® Staff
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ignaling a major change in the way homebuyers approach the mortgage process, new rules regarding government-backed insured mortgages took effect on March 18. Designed to support the long-term stability of the Canadian housing market, the new rules include reducing the maximum amortization period to 30 years from 35 years for new government-backed insured mortgages with loan-to-value ratios of more than 80 per cent.
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