Menno van Driel

Buying a home can be stressful – but it really shouldn’t be. If you have the right professionals working for you, the whole thing can be fun. Let’s see what we may do for you!

Stressful? Buying real estate should be fun. You'll be meeting various professionals as your deal progresses, however they all work together to make things simple for you.

The process of buying (or selling) a home, as ...

Very few people will want to go without insurance on their home. Insurance is quite affordable in relation to the umbrella of coverages that one receives, including building, contents and liability.

Home insurance is an important part of your ownership package: along with your mortgage planning, you should also look into the various types of insurance that will be available.

Since just abou ...

Selling a home is easy – if all goes well and smoothly. In real life, there are bumps, hick-ups, surprises and a host of tiny little things that may just throw the buyer. Making a sale is much like walking a tight rope!

Driven by "first impressions", most buyers will make up their minds almost immediately when they first see a home. To change a mindset afterwards is possible but hard.

DEAL ...

That’s a simple question but the answer could be either straightforward or complicated. If you have loads of equity, a stable income and an excellent credit score, well yes, most likely. If not, hmm, let’s see what should be done.

Mortgage qualification is not a simple topic. Quite a number criteria have to match before a lender will provide a mortgage loan. There are only slight variations ...

People crave clarity – that’s why we often talk about it being either a buyers market or a sellers market. Most of the time, however, the truth finds itself somewhere in the middle: that’s when we have a “balanced market”.

Buyers wish for a buyers market. Sellers wish for a sellers market. In reality, a balanced market would be fair to all that are in the market: to both the buyers and selle ...

I keep on getting questions on the topic of “SOLD” and what it actually means; when it occurs and what can still go wrong after the property is considered “SOLD”. Here are some thoughts.

Sold or not? That's the question. In virtually all cases that a property is marked as SOLD, it will close as scheduled. However, there are some situations where things go wrong.

Because, even when you’ve ju ...

We all like to plan for the future and create a feeling of stability. At the basis of such a plan would have to be the premise of general economic and financial stability. How are we doing on that?

An economy that wildly flops up and down will benefit a small group of people. However, the majority of people will thrive under conditions of economic and financial stability.

In reality, the fi ...

They say it so nicely: mortgage loan insurance is optional. However, if you borrow more than 80% of the value of the home you’re buying, then it actually is mandatory. A mortgage loan can’t be taken without it.

Nice! If you don't pay your mortgage instalments, then the mortgage default insurance will pay the bank. Sounds like a great plan; of course then you'll have to pay back the insurer.

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Almost every real estate deal starts out as being “conditional”, meaning that there are certain conditions that need to be met. That could be financing, insurance, inspection, water test, septic review, zoning verification, and so on.

Buying real estate conditionally is quite normal. What we mean by "conditionally" is that you'll actually end up buying it if the conditions have been met.

Mo ...

A lot of people say that when you pay rent, you’re actually paying off the landlord’s mortgage. Others are quick to point out that paying your own mortgage is much the same thing. How true is that?

Mortgage payment or rent payment? Cash is cash - it's both money out the door. Yet there are some differences that are important to a large group of people.

When you’re paying off your own mortga ...