Avoid being haunted by bad mortgage decisions!

Don’t get spooked, but making mortgage/financing mistakes will cost you more than your weight in candy!

People often look at me with fright when I tell them about some of the difficult financings I have handled in the past. I’ve dealt with people who have had bankruptcies, consumer proposals, non-payments of municipal taxes, non-payments of government taxes, days or months being evicted out of their own home! Although there are exceptions to every rule, these horrors usually happen to good people who get involved with bad partners, or people who give them bad advice.

Just to give a few examples of the nightmares I have experienced with clients: I recently advised a woman who had a home free and clear with no mortgage on it whatsoever. She was working but could not afford to put money away for a rainy day. She was 24 hours away from the city repossessing her home for non-payment of her municipal taxes. Her bank was not helping her out with the $4,000 owing, despite the equity in her home, showing once again that your bank isn’t your business partner or your friend when times are tough. I see many people learning that your own bank can sometimes wear a mask and, before you know it, the mask comes off and you see their true colours.

I recently dealt with a gentleman who went through the misfortune of losing a close family member. Around the same time, he was also released from a bankruptcy and was with a lender that stopped lending in Quebec. When he approached his TD branch for a lifeline, requesting some help in his time of need, they showed him the door. I managed to get him approved with another lender and, had I not managed to do so, the current lender would have exercised a judgement to get its money back via judicial sale, thus removing him from his home.

If all of this is not a living nightmare, I don’t know what is.

It is important to get solid financial advice when the decision can affect your long-term financial future. If not, you can find yourself the victim of a trick, rather than a treat!!