Trevor Hickey, B.A. - Calgary Mortgage Brokers | Mortgage Brokers Calgary | Calgary 2nd Mortgages

A recent study by Morneau Sobeco (Montreal pension consultants) stated that baby boomers are saving too much money.  What awesome news!  So, should baby boomers start spending and stop saving as much?  I wouldn’t say that you should make an abrupt change and start spending like crazy – but – you could start to enjoy the fruits of your labour a little more. 

Now, those who don’t need to necessarily save as much is “generation x” (the children of the baby boomers).  Why?  Well, baby boomers and generation x won’t be exactly contending for the same items ie. a 65 year old man (or woman) likely isn’t as worried about investing in real estate as a 35 year old would be.  So, with there being such a lack of competition among generation x (considering we (generation x) are so rare in overall numbers), prices are likely to drop for us.  I predict that prices will drop for us (no only because we are so few) but also because the baby boomers were before us and expanded all businesses with so little of us to rely on keeping these age-sensitive industries expanding.  This means that we will have a lot of dirt bike companies that were making a lot of money with the baby-boomers, however, are not anymore, with an oversupply of dirt bikes and manufacturing equipment left over from their hay day.  All this equals low prices for generation x.

Trevor Hickey, B.A.

Mortgage Associate

Concord Mortgage Group Ltd.

#107 – 1905 Centre Street NW

Calgary, Alberta

T2E 2S7

Bus: (403) 290-1990

Cell: (403) 860-8738

Fax: 1-888-587-1426

Email: trevor@concordmortgage.ca

Popularity: 18% [?]

THIS IS NOT A REAL STORY: I once looked at arranging a mortgage (as Calgary mortgage brokers) for a man who had pretty rough credit.  This is not uncommon, nor is it anything to be embarrassed about.  But I want to tell you why lenders (and you, yourselves) should be afraid of bad credit.  Bad credit simply means that you don’t pay your debts on time (or, sometimes, at all).  Getting back to this man who I considered financing – one day he called me up and said that he didn’t have enough money for the bus and therefore, couldn’t get to work (and therefore he couldn’t make any money).  This man, by virtue of his habits, ended up being broke, unable to make money, unable to provide for his family and certainly unable to pay his debts. 

The moral of the story:

               Save your money, pay your debts and put your needs before your wants. 

A scary statistic that I heard once was that “the average person is only two paycheques away from being homeless.”  Take my advice, work on having money in the bank and good credit.  It will help you in ways that you can only imagine.  It will even give you better relationships (considering that the majority of people argue about money).

Trevor Hickey, B.A.

Mortgage Associate

Concord Mortgage Group Ltd.

#107 – 1905 Centre Street NW

Calgary, Alberta

T2E 2S7

Bus: (403) 290-1990

Cell: (403) 860-8738

Fax: 1-888-587-1426

Email: trevor@concordmortgage.ca

Popularity: 3% [?]

I had a friend who I grew up with.  Then, one day, he moved away.  I ran into him years later (after I started working with Calgary mortgage brokers) and I asked him why they decided to move.  He told me that his parents couldn’t afford their home (and couldn’t for some time).  I asked him what he meant by that – he said his parents were unable to make payments on the house for the last 4-6 months that they had lived there.  “But”, I said, “I remember that the house wasn’t sold in foreclosure when it was sold”.  He agreed and said that his aunts and uncles were actually the ones making the payments during this time. 

The moral of the story:

               Family is crucial.  When qualifying for a mortgage – don’t get your shoes nailed completely to the floor, save your money – be there for your family when they need you and they’ll be there for you too.

Trevor Hickey, B.A.

Mortgage Associate

Concord Mortgage Group Ltd.

#107 – 1905 Centre Street NW

Calgary, Alberta

T2E 2S7

Bus: (403) 290-1990

Cell: (403) 860-8738

Fax: 1-888-587-1426

Email: trevor@concordmortgage.ca

Popularity: 2% [?]

Lending money is not rocket science.  The safeguards that are put in place would be pretty easy to get around if you really wanted to.  Buy why would you?  In many cases, when the lenders decline an application, they are giving free, sage advice.

An interesting, relevant, and true story:

               I have a friend who lives in a small resort village of about 85 residents (year round).  The resort is not near any large city centers and for all intents and purposes it is pretty isolated.  One year the mayor of this small village decided to found a small diner/restaurant.  He began by buying the land, buying a mobile home, buying the equipment and then by opening his diner and try and make money – but he didn’t have a mortgage, he did this all with his savings.  Now, in a town of 85 year-round residents you can imagine that he was far from becoming rich.  It wasn’t too long before he realized that he was nowhere near getting his investment back.  So, he put the place up for sale (and it stayed up for sale for a few years).

               THEN – along came a nice man who had just entered the world of retirement.  He had sold his house and had a few hundred thousand dollars.  So he bought an old motor-home and during his travels he came across this little village that my friend lives in.  Here, the man saw the diamond in the rough – a small resteraunt with BIG potential.  So the nice man bought it for the asking price (with his savings) and “gave it a go”.  It wasn’t long before he too realized that making money in this small resort was close to impossible.  He then tried to sell it – but no one was willing to buy it.  To this day the diner sits empty and depreciating while the once-pristine equipment slowly succumbs to the trials of time. 

The moral of the story:

               Neither owner of this restaurant did any market research.  They didn’t go around and ask the residents if they would frequent such a diner, which they could have easily done by going from door to door, or handing out flyers asking for people’s opinions.  Even if they used conservative estimates they could have easily seen that there was no money to be made in this town.  AND there is another way to get a good indication as to if the diner was a good gamble – talk to a lender.  Lenders are a great way to check if what you are trying to do is a good bet.  Since you are asking them to lend money in the same enterprise as you – THEY DO ALL THE RESEARCH.  So, if a lender declines you – take it as free advice that they don’t think you can handle what you are trying to get into. 

So, don’t try and fool the lenders with fake documents or fake data – their advice, when based on your real information, is priceless!

Calgary mortgage brokers

Trevor Hickey, B.A.

Mortgage Associate

Concord Mortgage Group Ltd.

#107 – 1905 Centre Street NW

Calgary, Alberta

T2E 2S7

Bus: (403) 290-1990

Cell: (403) 860-8738

Fax: 1-888-587-1426

Email: trevor@concordmortgage.ca

Popularity: 2% [?]