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Welcome everyone to our monthly Better Mortgage Select newsletter, this is our March 2024 edition.

 

Brought to you by Daniel Patton, Michael Zanzini and Lorenzo Podda.

Today the Bank of Canada had their second of eight scheduled meetings for the calendar year, and as expected, they decided to HOLD interest rates at the current levels.  This marks the 5th time in a row, and the 7th of the last 9 meetings, where they have maintained the policy rate.  This is in stark contrast to 2022/2023, when we saw the Bank of Canada raise interest rates at 10 of 12 meetings, including increases for 8 meetings in a row (with some increases being as high as 0.75% and 1.00%).

 

At the press conference this morning, Bank of Canada Govenor, Tiff Macklem, didn't exactly come off his previously hawkish tone, however it did feel like more wording was being used to indicate that interest rate cuts were still very much in the cards for 2024, and that it was just a matter of 'when'.  

 

With the next Bank of Canada meeting only 5 weeks away, on April 10th, if we can see another decrease in the CPI inflation number in a couple weeks, expect Tiff's 'hawkish' tone to turn 'dovish'.  We still maintain our prediction that the Bank of Canada will begin its first interest rate cuts by either the June, July or September meetings, this year.

 

To watch the Bank of Canada press conference from this morning, CLICK HERE.

 


On Tuesday March 19th, we will find out if the Canadian inflation rate will break to new multi-year lows as we come off the heels of an unexpectedly positive 2.9% print last month - the 2nd lowest we have seen since April 2021.  It should be noted that most expectations are for inflation to be choppy until the second half of the year, so it should not be a surprise if we see the next couple of inflation prints come in a little higher.  However, if inflation creeps down towards 2.5% before the second half of the year, this could be a major catalyst to allow the Bank of Canada to lower interest rates before they had expected.      

   
   

It’s official!! One of Canada's 'Big Six' banks, The Bank of Montreal, is BACK!  A lot of you may not know or remember this, but BMO used to be a lender that mortgage brokers could use for their clients' financing needs until 2007, when at that time they experienced a change in leadership and made the decision to exit the channel and write mortgages solely through their BMO mortgage sales force.  Now 14 years later, they have reversed that decision and have re-entered the mortgage broker channel.  They have rolled out their mortgage products to 100 of the top producing mortgage brokers in the country - and our Better Mortgage Select team was one of them.  As of last week, we have been submitting mortgage applications for our clients to BMO and so far, the results have been very positive.  Below are a couple points where we see BMO's Mortgage products providing an advantage to our clients:

   

Do you know someone who is looking to buy their first home in the next couple years?  Maybe a family member, a friend, a colleague?  Well, our first webinar of the year is coming up in a few weeks, and it’s called the 'First-time Buyers Guide to Getting a Mortgage'.


On Wednesday, March 20th at 6:30pm EST, anyone who is a first-time buyer can join our webinar and take in a ton of great information from our expert panel.  We'll be going over the different perks that first-time buyers have available to them, we'll be discussing credit scores, debt service ratios, down payment requirements, and so much more.  We'll also be opening a Q&A session at the end of the session where attendees can ask our experts any questions that they may have.

 

Feel free to forward this email over to anyone that you believe may benefit from this webinar and have them CLICK HERE to register.

   
   

In addition to our March 20th First-time Buyer’s webinar, don’t forget to check out our other webinars scheduled for 2024 and pre-register now:

   
   
   
   

Tom Karadza, of Rock Star Real Estate, had our very own Daniel Patton and Lorenzo Podda on their podcast recently to talk all-things mortgages and real estate.  As usual, the guys did a great job representing our company and the mortgage industry. Check out the full video below!

   
YLYT
   

More Rock Star Real Estate news... they will be hosting their 'Your Life, Your Terms' event on Saturday, April 6th. These events are always a blast with over 1,000+ real estate investors gathered under one roof, and so much quality information and networking to be had.  We'll be at our usual booth - so come by and say hello if you are in attendance!

   
   
     
   

Our partners at Our Neighborhood Realty recently had Sr. Mortgage Agent, Michael Zanzini, out to their office for an information session.  There was some great conversation about the ever-changing real estate market and specifically how BMO re-entering the broker channel will benefit our mutual clients.

   
   
     
   

The Michael St. Jean Realty team has been buzzing to start the year. They've been focused on helping first-time buyers enter the market with some fantastic ideas and strategies.  We're happy to announce that we will be putting on joint seminars with them for their client-base, helping to educate on the benefits of the new zoning and by-law rule changes for the Hamilton/Ancaster area.

   
   
     
   

Just a friendly reminder to come visit us on our socials, where we put out a ton of videos with tips and information to help you navigate the wild world of mortgages! Check out the links below and give us a follow!

   
   
   
     
   

As always, if you have any questions or want to do some mortgage planning, feel free to reach out to us at: