Mortgage 101 – Love Your Home

Dan Ahlstrand and Clinton Wilkins discuss the concept of “loving your home” and provide advice on home ownership at different life stages.

Dan Ahlstrand
Welcome back to this edition of Mortgage 101. I’m Dan Ahlstrand, and he is Clinton Wilkins. And those last two segments, Clinton, I think, were beneficial to all of our listeners, because I certainly learned some stuff.

Clinton Wilkins
Oh, for sure. And we love having guests come on and give their perspective. You know, having a family law lawyer on in February, maybe a little bit controversial, but, you know, we like kind of being on the edge of pushing the line, edge of glory. But I thought there was some really great advice. And you know what, if you need to seek more advice, I just want to give them a shout out for sure. Derek was from MDW Law, and you can visit them online at MDW Law.ca.

Dan Ahlstrand
Now it is the month of love, and people that we’ve depressed for two segments now are like, oh man. They’re like, we’re not in love anymore. This is a month not only to take a look at some of the stuff that Derek raised and in our segment, but also to love your home.

Clinton Wilkins
I mean, this is what this month is really all about in our business. And you know what? Not everyone loves their home. Maybe people want to buy a new home this year. Dan, maybe they’re renting, and they want to become homeowners in 2026. Well, obviously,y we’d love to help with that, whether that’s the new government program or whether you’re going to go through gonna go through traditional channels, we’d love to help. What happens if you own a home already, and you know, you don’t love it? Are you buying a new home? Do you improve your home? You know, what’s the best path?

Dan Ahlstrand
I would imagine it would depend on your situation. I know many people in my circle who are into their would be their second home, right? And are trying to find that fit where the where they’re going to retire to, right? So there are people in different stages of home ownership, right? There are the first home-to-home buyers that we talked about earlier. Then there’s that kind of second home where you get the kids kind of grounded in school, and then now the kids are starting to think about maybe post-secondary education, and maybe they’ll actually leave the nest. You’re leaving the nest, and now you’re looking at that retirement plan for a home. So, Clinton, I imagine you deal with all three of those daily.

Clinton Wilkins
I have some people who have owned 20 properties, and there are some people who are just buying their first home. And let me tell you, first home buyers are coming in all shapes and sizes. We have these people who are in their 20s, and we have people probably in their 60s or 70s, buying their first home. It’s a very wide range of what a first-time home buyer looks like. And I think the right time to do a transaction is the right time for you, and that is, you know, taking into account your income, your assets and your credit. These are all important things to look at when you’re making a big life decision. That doesn’t matter if you’re renting an apartment, or buying a home, or refinancing your home, you know, we need to look at all of these things. And I think, I think consumers in general need to look, you know, at their finances before they’re making any of these big decisions, and obviously, building equity, obviously, is the most important part. Yeah, and it is nine times more likely that a homeowner is going to have a higher net worth than a renter. That’s just reality. Part of that is because A, the property is going to appreciate, but B, they’re going to pay down the debt. Oftentimes, renters are not putting enough away to offset that value growth in the property. That’s just reality. And I’m not saying that renters are hard done by, I’m not, but I think sometimes it’s just that culture of renting. You know, we’re not offsetting the difference that a homeowner would normally make in investments.

Dan Ahlstrand
So if you’re in a home and you don’t love that home, and you’re sitting around,d and you’re listening to us on a weekend, and you’re enjoying your cup of coffee around the kitchen table, and there are two kinds of options that you can do with that.

Clinton Wilkins
February is a great time to plan renovations. And so many people are deciding that they’re going to renovate in the spring, but then it doesn’t end up happening until the fall, because they need to get their finances together. They need to come in and, you know, do a refinance, figure out how much money they have to work with, you know, get three quotes from a contractor, for example, and hire a contractor and all this stuff. It’s great to do the planning. Now, get the quotes. Now, get your financing together, so then maybe by the time spring rolls around, you’ll be in a position that you can really get going with these renovations. We have a ton of clients that are doing renovations, even from 2025 that are now carrying into 2026, and sometimes we have to do it in steps, like we can finance as improved,d so basically, you get a quote, you do the work, and then we can finance the as improved value. But oftentimes, when we’re financing renovations, we’re financing it based onthat-iss value, and we can always do a refinance up to 80% of the market value. So, just to do quick and easy math, because I know our borrowers probably want to know how the mechanics work. The average host price in Halifax is around 600,000, so if you’re going to refinance that, we could do a new mortgage, new credit facility, up to 480,000 and pay out any secured creditors. So that could be a mortgage or a home equity line, or any type of combo process.

Dan Ahlstrand
Maybe the renovation angle isn’t, isn’t for you, or maybe you’ve already done it, and you still don’t love that home. What does the market look like now? What can we expect? Heading through February and into spring, with the real estate market in HRM, with the Bank of Canada holding its rate steady, maybe some people are maybe a little hesitant to get into the market.

Clinton Wilkins
You know what? I think it’s going to be a busy year. I think overall, from you know, a mortgage finance perspective, I think also it’s going to be busy, you know, from a real estate perspective, I think last year, for us, we had our best year. I think real estate is certainly still churning away. Here in Halifax. Across the country, the average home price is down about 20% that’s in Nova Scotia, we’re up about 3%, right? So we’ve not had that kind of reset. The one thing that I will say is I think the bank handout will lower the key overnight rate. I know I gave a prediction last time you heard it here, first I was like, Okay, it’s a plateau. We’re at a plateau. I think it will be reduced by the end of the year, because guess what? On BNN today, Bloomberg, this is this week. Okay, they said Canada’s economy is on life support. So that means, basically, we’re almost in a recession-type situation. I think we are really, I just don’t. No one’s admitting it. No one’s admitting it. When I talked to you, when the Bank of Canada met. I had just heard Steven Poloz speak, the former governor of the Bank of Canada, yes, and he kept on using this word stagnation. Okay, so basically, where inflation may be high, GDP is low. Job numbers, we’re going to be looking at all of these things. GDP came out already, and it was like, was like zero or negative. The job numbers are coming out on Friday. So even before our show is going to be on, because we’re on Saturday and Sunday, the job numbers will come out. So I’m very curious to see what’s going on with the job numbers and where things are going to land in Canada. So you look in quarter point, half point, through 26, I think it’s too soon to know, but the bank can be meeting again in March, and let me tell you, expect the unexpected, and I think a lot can happen between February and March, especially with our friends south of the border. What’s going on in the markets? We’re going to be very, you know, we’re going to be watching, I’m going to be watching inflation, I’m going to be watching GDP, I’m going to be watching the job numbers. And even if we continue to be at a plateau, I would not be surprised, and I will predict that the bank is going to cut the key rate before the end of the year.

Dan Ahlstrand
Besides the fact that the new first home buyers plan may put some pressure on the lower end of the real estate market here, yes, in Clinton, Clinton, you said that the rest of the country is seeing a spike, is that eventually going to work its way here to Halifax? Or do you think that we’re, we’re kind of insulated from that?

Clinton Wilkins
You mean, like a spike in price decreases? I think we’re insulated, just because we don’t have enough homes for the demand. This business is a business of supply and demand, and we do not have enough homes to make up for the amount of demand for people who want to buy homes. I can tell you, the last couple of years, we had so many people pre-approved that basically sat on the sidelines the last three years because of what’s going on with the rates. The one thing I will re-emphasize is that I think the rates have re-normalized. You know, some people are getting rates with a three. Others are getting them rates with a low four. We are in an average situation from a rate perspective. Yes, the rates could be lower, but a rate at 4% is really not that bad in the grand scheme of things. And when you’re buying a home, you’re basically marrying it. Let’s bring it back to love and back to you know, February, you are marrying the home when you buy it, but when you get an interest rate from a mortgage broker. Date the rate, marry the home.

Dan Ahlstrand
Still a good idea, given some of the plateauing or some of the instability in the financial markets these days, to go with a variable. Or are you still recommending that? Or are you looking, perhaps more towards fixed?

Clinton Wilkins
Big spike in clients wanting a variable, risk tolerance for a variable. I think primarily, or maybe not even primarily, I think that maybe our clients are a little bit more willing to take on the risk. Dan, I think because they’re getting the communication from us, we send an email and an SMS every time the bank can and meets. And I am on 95.7, giving my perspective. I’m not an economist, but maybe I’m a barstool economist, I don’t know. At least I can bring the perspective from the real estate market, specifically from Mortgage Finance, into this Bank of Canada conversation. And we watch it like it’s a hawk. I’m watching all these, these economists putting out their tripping. We’re watching the articles that are coming out. And, you know, I’m trying to bring the most up-to-date information to our listeners on mortgage 101, and on the radio station where you work. For me, I’m in a variable rate. I believe that historically, the variable is less. And you know, we are typically in a situation where a variable rate is always going to be less than a fixed rate. Was it the last two years? No, we were in this reverse kind of situation, but nothing in the world was right. And I think the world is starting, hopefully, to write itself, and I’m cautiously optimistic that the rates are going to continue to decrease. How about

Dan Ahlstrand
Those who are looking to renegotiate your mortgage? Clinton? We saw a bunch of people take shorter terms because of like, three-year fixed were so popular, we’re getting close to those coming for renewal. Now. What are you recommending? Or recommend five years, or just kind of steady the course.

Clinton Wilkins
The good news story is, the ones that we did the three-year fix for three years ago, they’re getting a lower rate regardless of what type of product we take. Those borrowers are a lot of borrowers going into a variable. Some are still going into a three-year fix, but a five-year fix certainly has not regained popularity. And if anybody wants to check us out, you can certainly visit us online at TeamClinton.ca/radio. See you next month.