Things You Should Know Before Going for a Second Mortgage in Toronto

If you own a home in Canada then you have probably have heard of a second mortgage at some point in your life. A second mortgage is similar to a first mortgage, in that it is a loan secured by your property. As time passes you will accumulate more and more equity on your property. A second mortgage is primarily intended to use the equity that you’ve accumulated over the years.

According to a report by Business Insider, almost 2 million Canadians have a second mortgage, and nearly as many that have a HELOC. Some Canadians will use their second mortgage in order to avoid having to declare bankruptcy. In any event, a HELOC, for those unaware, is also another form of a second mortgage, because it serves as a line of credit for home equity. In other words, the person will supplement a second loan over their first in order to access their equity. Below are some things that you should know before going for a second mortgage in Toronto.

Different Types of Second Mortgages

A revolving HELOC works similarly to a credit card. That is, the borrower will have access to equity in perpetuity as they continue to pay off the principal (what they owed previously) over the upcoming months and years. Moreover, a HELOC can be modified to become a closed second mortgage, which functions much like a loan for a vehicle. That is, the borrower will receive only one lump sum of money from their equity and they must pay it off in a gradual manner.

It should also be noted that it is difficult to qualify for a HELOC of any kind, because they tend to only be offered to those with an impeccable credit profile and who happen to live in a prosperous urban area. Hence, those who have a poor credit profile or have a meager income will only likely have one option at their disposal—a private mortgage.

The Two Main Reasons Why Second Mortgages are Used

The most popular reason why a second mortgage is used is to pay off a consumer debt that has high interest. Many homeowners will also use a second mortgage in order to upgrade their home for resale or to renovate it for their own recreational purposes. Leveraging a second mortgage is highly recommended at the moment because credit card interest rates are presently 15%. As such, you can save a large sum of money by opting for a second mortgage.

For instance, let us imagine that you owe $30,000 on your credit card. In such a scenario you would have to pay roughly $600 in minimum payments every month; This is of course assuming that a 3% minimum payment is required. Now, if your interest rate was 15% APR then you would owe $4,500 in interest charges after just one year has elapsed. This is before you even get to the principal amount that is owed. As can be seen, interest charges can make or break first time homeowners who aren’t too careful with their fiancees.

Due to the aforementioned problems, many Canadians turn to a second mortgage in order to pay off their credit card debts. The end result is that their interest rates will be reduced because their second mortgage is secured by their home, which serves as the primary asset in this case.

Remember that Your Home Will Be Used as Collateral

If you have decided to take out a second mortgage on your home you must remember that your home will actually be used as collateral to secure the loan. As a result, if you fail to pay it off then the lender can foreclose on your property the same way they could with your first mortgage. However, the tradeoff is in the significantly lower interest rates that you will be charged, as your home will serve as an asset that will back your loan.

Take Advantage of Interest Only Payments

It is possible to only make interest payments with many of the second mortgage products that various lenders offer their clients; this will allow you to have easier and more affordable access to your home before you opt to sell your house to the highest bidder. Your monthly payments will also be significantly lower.

To further illustrate, if you were interested in renovating your home before resale or are interested in renegotiating your first mortgage, then you could remodel your home using the funds procured from the second mortgage. You could also have the option to pay off the interest charges. Then after you are done giving your home a makeover you could then resell it at a higher price and then use some of the money that you’ve made to pay off your second mortgage.

Avoid Private Mortgage Insurance

When a person applies for a standard mortgage in Canada they need to acquire private mortgage insurance if they are unable to put a minimum 20% down payment on their house. The end result is that they will have to pay fees, known as Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation fees, which can actually be quite exorbitant.

For instance, if you were to take out a half a million dollar mortgage with a 5% down payment then you would have to pay 4% worth of Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation fees. In other words, you would need to pay almost $20,000 in fees because you weren’t able to make the minimum 20% down payment.

The good news is you can take out a second mortgage in order to avoid private mortgage insurance. Of course this also means that you will have to add additional expenses to your monthly budget but it can still be a more affordable alternative to having to pay private mortgage insurance fees.

If you would like to learn more about obtaining a second mortgage in Toronto, please visit our website or call us at 1-888-495-4825.

source: northwoodmortgage.com

Man firing into Toronto cafes shoots 14 people, killing 1

TORONTO  — A man firing a handgun into restaurants and cafes as he walked along a Toronto street shot 14 people, killing one of them, before dying after an exchange of gunfire with police late Sunday, police said.

Police Chief Mark Saunders said the shooting in the city’s Greektown neighborhood was not random and he did not rule out terrorism as a motive.

“Other than the shooter we have a young lady that is deceased,” the police chief said.



Saunders also said a 9-year-old was in critical condition.

A video from one witness shows a man dressed in black clothes and a black hat walking quickly and firing three shots from the sidewalk into at least one shop or restaurant. Toronto’s Greektown is a lively residential area with crowded Greek restaurants and cafes.

The condition of the other victims was not known yet, police spokesman Mark Pugash said.

Witnesses heard many shots and described the suspect walking past restaurants and cafes and patios on both sides of the street and firing into them.

John Tulloch said he and his brother had just gotten out of their car when he heard about 20 to 30 gunshots.

“We just ran. We saw people starting to run so we just ran,” he said.

An army of police, paramedics and other first responders soon descended on the scene, while area residents, some in their pajamas, emerged from their homes to see what was happening.

Toronto Councillor Paula Fletcher told CP24 she heard that the gunman was emotionally disturbed.


“It’s not gang related. It looks like someone who is very disturbed,” Fletcher said.

Councillor Mary Fragedakis also said she heard the gunman was disturbed.

Fletcher said for this to happen in an area where families gather for dinner is a tragedy.

Mass shootings are rare in Canada’s largest city.

“We were so used to living in a city where these things didn’t happen,” Toronto Mayor John Tory said. “But there are things that happen nowadays and they are just unspeakable.”

This past weekend Toronto police deployed dozens of additional officers to deal with a recent spike in gun violence in the city. Tory said the city has a gun problem.

“Guns are too readily available to too many people,” Tory said.

Police urged people to come forward with video or witness testimony.

The mass shooting comes a few months after a driver of a van plowed into pedestrians on a Toronto sidewalk, killing 10 people and injuring 14. Authorities have not disclosed a motive. But they have said the arrested driver, Alek Minassian, posted a message on social media referencing a misogynistic online community before the attack.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Motive elusive after van driver kills 10 on Toronto sidewalk

TORONTO — Police in Canada’s biggest city are piecing together witness accounts and surveillance video trying to determine why a driver plowed a rented van along a crowded sidewalk, killing 10 people and injuring 15 in what many said seemed a deliberate attack.

A 25-year-old suspect was quickly captured in a tense but brief confrontation with officers a few blocks away from where his van jumped the sidewalk Monday and continued for a mile, leaving people bloodied and dead in his wake. But authorities so far had not disclosed a possible motive or cause even as the police chief agreed with witnesses that it seemed intentional.

“The incident definitely looked deliberate,” Police Chief Mark Saunders told reporters at a late-night news conference.


Saunders said the suspect, Alek Minassian, who lives in the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill, had not been known to police previously. An online social media profile described him as a college student.

Officials would not comment on a possible motive except to play down a possible connection to terrorism, a thought that occurred to many following a series of attacks involving trucks and pedestrians in Europe and the presence in Toronto this week of Cabinet ministers from the G7 nations.

Asked if there was any evidence of a terrorist link, the chief said only, “Based on what we have there’s nothing that has it to compromise the national security at this time.”

A senior national government official said earlier that authorities had not turned over the investigation to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a sign that investigators believed it unlikely terrorism was the motive. The official agreed to reveal that information only if not quoted by name.

Authorities released few details in the case, saying the investigation was still underway, with witnesses being interviewed and surveillance video being examined.

“I can assure the public all our available resources have been brought in to investigate this tragic situation,” Toronto Police Services Deputy Chief Peter Yuen said earlier.

The incident occurred as Cabinet ministers from the major industrial countries were gathered in Canada to discuss a range of international issues in the run-up to the G7 meeting near Quebec City in June. Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale called the incident a “horrific attack” and said the G7 foreign ministers extended their condolences.

The driver was heading south on busy Yonge Street around 1:30 p.m. and the streets were crowded with people enjoying an unseasonably warm day when the van jumped onto the sidewalk.

Ali Shaker, who was driving near the van at the time, told Canadian broadcast outlet CP24 that the driver appeared to be moving deliberately through the crowd at more than 30 mph.

“He just went on the sidewalk,” a distraught Shaker said. “He just started hitting everybody, man. He hit every single person on the sidewalk. Anybody in his way he would hit.”

Witness Peter Kang told CTV News that the driver did not seem to make any effort to stop.

“If it was an accident he would have stopped,” Kang said. “But the person just went through the sidewalk. He could have stopped.”

Video broadcast on several Canadian outlets showed police arresting the driver, dressed in dark clothes, after officers surrounded him and his rental Ryder van several blocks from where the incident occurred in the North York neighborhood of northern Toronto. He appeared to make some sort of gesture at the police with an object in his hand just before they ordered him to lie down on the ground and took him away.

Witness Phil Zullo told Canadian Press that he saw police arresting the suspect and people “strewn all over the road” where the incident occurred.

“I must have seen about five, six people being resuscitated by bystanders and by ambulance drivers,” Zullo said. “It was awful. Brutal.”

Police shut down the Yonge and Finch intersection following the incident and Toronto’s transit agency said it had suspended service on the subway line running through the area.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his sympathies for those involved.

“We should all feel safe walking in our cities and communities,” he said. “We are monitoring this situation closely, and will continue working with our law enforcement partners around the country to ensure the safety and security of all Canadians.”

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Canada flooding forces evacuations, military deployment

OTTAWA, Canada — The Canadian army has begun to deploy in eastern Canada, where flooding from heavy rain forced new evacuations on Saturday ahead of peak floods expected on Monday or Tuesday.

Water levels continued to rise on Saturday from Toronto and Lake Ontario up to 500 kilometers (300 miles) downstream of the St. Lawrence River, especially in Quebec province, where some 400 troops have been dispatched.

The worst is yet to come, Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard warned on Saturday.

“The water will continue rising over the next two or three days,” he said after visiting the town of Rigaud, east of Montreal, which has been flooded for more than a week.

The government ordered the troop deployment on Friday.

“Our troops are responding quickly and professionally, and are already beginning to deliver critical support to Canadians affected by the flooding,” Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said on Saturday.

Torrential rains have added to runoff from melting snow that has caused rivers to overflow their banks, posing a critical situation from Ottawa to Montreal.

The emergency services warned that rising waters would reach regions east of Montreal, where precipitation by Sunday night could reach between 90 and 125 millimeters (3.5 to 5 inches).

Near the Atlantic, the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization warned residents to remain on alert until Monday, saying water levels are near or above flood stage in many regions and expected to rise.

In Quebec, the province hardest hit by the flooding, more than 1,500 homes have been flooded in 121 towns and cities and nearly 1,000 people evacuated, the emergency services said.

“I understand people are reluctant to leave their homes,” Couillard said, “but if you’re asked, do it for your own safety. CBB

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

LOOK: Canadian PM Trudeau parties with Filipinos in Toronto

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended a local Filipino food festival in Toronto on Saturday.

Sporting the barong tagalog that he wore during the Asia Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) welcome dinner last November, Trudeau cooked barbeque with the members of the Filipino community.

“Serving up a Taste of Manila with Toronto’s Filipino community today. Mabuhay!” was Trudeau’s caption in the photos which he posted on his Facebook account early Sunday.

Canada is home to more than 700,000 Filipinos.

source: globalnation.inquirer.net

Trudeau makes history, joins gay pride march in Toronto

MONTREAL, Canada — Justin Trudeau made history Sunday by marching with tens of thousands of people in Toronto’s Gay Pride parade, becoming the country’s first sitting prime minister to participate.

Thunderous applause greeted Trudeau as he paraded down a main Toronto artery, waving a Canadian maple-leaf flag bordered with a rainbow.

The youthful politician, whose popularity is soaring, donned a salmon-colored, button-down shirt and white jeans, taking selfies and shaking hands with those lining the parade route.

The colorful procession observed a minute of silence to pay respect to the victims of the June 12 nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida that left 49 dead.

The city tightened security, but kept the enhanced measures discreet to maintain a festive spirit. Toronto police have not released an official attendance count, but organizers had expected one million attendees.

Trudeau also walked in the annual parade last year as head of the Liberal Party, then the opposition leader facing former president Stephen Harper’s conservative government.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne — Canada’s first openly gay head of a province — and Toronto Mayor John Tory marched alongside Trudeau.

The three politicians attended an outdoor worship service Sunday morning in the city’s gay district.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net