Episode 16: Ask A Mortgage Broker

[00:00:01] Speaker A: You are listening to therealestatepodcast ca, brought to you by jnc toronto real estate group. Well, hello everybody and welcome back to TheRealEstatePodcast CA, your source for all things Toronto real estate, everything you ever wanted to know about real estate but were afraid to ask. I'm John, along with my partner Cheryl. We, we are the JNC Toronto Real Estate Group and today we are joined by a very special guest, Jason Friesen with Outline Financial. Jason, welcome. [00:00:35] Speaker B: Long overdue. [00:00:36] Speaker A: Long overdue. [00:00:37] Speaker B: Long, long overdue. [00:00:38] Speaker A: Well, thanks for finally joining us. [00:00:40] Speaker B: Thanks for having me. [00:00:41] Speaker A: Yeah, you bet. So Cheryl and I have been working with Jason for about 10 years now. It's crazy how much time has flown, truly. And we've been meaning to have you on the podcast since we started it back in 2023. [00:00:52] Speaker B: Wow. [00:00:53] Speaker A: So, but we, you know, we wanted to really wait until we made sure if we could really trust you. Just kidding. [00:00:59] Speaker B: Better late than never. [00:01:01] Speaker A: You've literally helped dozens of our clients. They've all had a great experience. So it definitely is long overdue. We need to have you on because we want to have an expert on to cover one of the biggest pieces of the buying process. And it's one that a lot of people often don't fully understand and until they're right in the middle of it. And that's the financing. Right. So today's topic is Ask a mortgage broker. And our goal today is to give our listeners some info on how mortgage financing works, how to prepare, what mistakes to avoid, and what real world issues can come up along the way. This hopefully is helpful for first time buyer, move up buyer, Anyone thinking ahead for renewals, refinancing. And we wanted to do an episode that covers the basics, but also some of the things people don't think about until it's too late. So what, Jason, when we reached out to have you on the podcast, you thought that it might be beneficial for you to talk about some of the things that can make a buyer more attractive to prospective lenders. And we'll get to that. [00:01:58] Speaker B: Okay. [00:01:58] Speaker A: Okay. It's not just going to be me [00:02:00] Speaker C: talking, but this is your idea. Did fall on him. [00:02:03] Speaker A: It did fall. It didn't fall on deaf ears. However, we thought we would start with just a very simple question. [00:02:08] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:09] Speaker A: And really a question for those that have zero knowledge. We're going to dumb it right down because there's a lot of people out there that have no idea. First time home buyers especially. And so Cheryl, will you do us the honors? First really hard hitting question. [00:02:22] Speaker C: Well, first of all, the entire time you were talking, it was really hard for me not to like interject with jokes about Jason because we obviously are friends as well as colleagues. I'll get to the question. So the very first hard hitting question, Jason Friesen, is for someone who has never worked with a mortgage broker before, what do you actually do and when should they bring you into this process? [00:02:44] Speaker B: That's a good question. The answer is always at the start. So I'll answer when should I be brought into the process? And then I'll answer what I do. Before a client ever goes out and looks at a home, the first thing they should do is always make sure they have their financing in order. [00:02:59] Speaker A: Hear, hear. Say that again. [00:03:03] Speaker B: It's so true. You know, I think when a client goes out and finds a home and then starts the financing process, they're not working from starting with a budget. They're working trying to rationalize how they can make a house work. And I think it's always wise to start with knowing your numbers, sticking to a budget. And then once you have that budget, you can go shop knowing where your parameters are. But I think starting the other way, you're either going to find yourself in a situation where you find your dream house, it's outside your budget, and every other house you look at subsequent to that at a lower price point is going to disappoint you. Right. So totally. So I think it's important I always start with working with through a budget with my clients to make sure the mortgage fits both short and long term. Thinking about any changes to family dynamics, maybe you want to have kids, maybe you want to change your job or go back to school or become self employed. So I think it's always very important to work with someone that's not just going to quote you, this is how much you're pre approved for, but dive a little deeper and make sure that not only can you qualify for the mortgage, but you're actually comfortable paying it every month. That is the big key in what is the difference between buying a house and finding two years later you need to sell because you didn't do your homework or finding something that you can be at long term and know is comfortable in your budget. [00:04:15] Speaker A: That's really, really good advice. And you covered the second part of that question. Let's go back to the first part, Sheryl. [00:04:22] Speaker C: The first part was what is it you actually do? Yeah, right. [00:04:27] Speaker B: So we help clients secure mortgage financing. The difference between working with like a mortgage rep at a bank and working with myself a Mortgage broker. And also start by saying perfectly clearly that there's no cost ever to use a mortgage broker. If you're getting a mortgage from a bank or a normal lender, there's no cost, it's not hidden in the interest rate. I'm obviously biased, but I think working with a broker versus working with a bank puts a client in a better situation. So whereas if you go into TD bank, for example, TD bank is never going to say Scotiabank has a better interest rate or a better product for you. We shop around and find you the best rate, the best product that best suits your needs versus trying to sell you a narrow suite of products just because that's being offered by one institution. So at a very basic level, we help clients secure financing in order for them to purchase a home or refinance or renew their mortgage. So we wear several different hats. We do multiple, you know, types of financing, you know, buying rental properties, buying second homes, you know, it doesn't stop my business. I work with everyone from a first time buyer to someone buying their final home, you know, that they're going to be in for the rest of their life. So for me, I work with clients across all stages of the life cycle and then again, you know, helping clients renew when their term is expired and you know, helping them refinance if they need to do an addition or pay out debts. So we cover everything and what we do. But again, at a basic level, we help give clients the money they need in order to purchase a home. I think it's, you know, you've been doing this a long time, you do a lot of transactions. Very few clients are able to pay in cash, especially at a Toronto purchase price, you know, unless they're blessed with the bank of mom and dad helping. Oh, we're going to get into that. [00:06:17] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:06:18] Speaker B: And Right, even then. Exactly. [00:06:21] Speaker C: There's something that you said about, you know, the bank versus the broker and we say it to all of our clients that we recommend that people speak to a mortgage broker because yes, a bank person, a bank mortgage specialist might be great and you know, giving you good customer service, but they're trying to sell you the bank's product where the you, the broker is actually working on behalf of the client to find them the best fit for them. [00:06:44] Speaker A: Totally. And I can also say that working both with banks and communicating with ourselves as an end user, the experience with them compared to working with you and your team, it's, it's night and day for customer service. [00:06:57] Speaker B: We'll talk a little bit about that relationship building. Right. I think it's important that, you know, you have to realize a lot of bank employees, you know, transition through the whole bank cycle. You know, six months later, they're onto a new department, they're doing something different. And I think a big part of this is knowing your clients and staying in touch and building that relationship long term. And unfortunately, that doesn't carry on when you go directly to a bank. Doesn't mean I can't take you to the bank that you currently bank with. But you still have me as your champion in your corner. And I think that that's very important because I'm giving unbiased advice. I'm not giving advice that best suits my bank stock price. I'm giving you best advice that best suits your needs. And I think that's a big difference between a broker and working with someone that works directly for a bank. [00:07:42] Speaker A: Yeah, well said. [00:07:44] Speaker C: Do I go on to the second? [00:07:45] Speaker A: Sure. Cheryl? Yeah. You're running the show now. I provided you with a good list of questions here. [00:07:49] Speaker C: I love this. [00:07:49] Speaker A: No pressure. [00:07:50] Speaker C: Makes my job really easy. Jason, another really hard hitting question. What is required for a mortgage? [00:07:57] Speaker B: Sure, sure. So what is required to do to secure mortgage financing? There's, you know, some basics. The first is always a mortgage application which includes a credit check. So everyone always asks, is it going to impact my credit? Having one credit inquiry is not going to impact your credit score. In fact, you can have multiple credit inquiries within a 45 day window if it's for mortgage purposes and it only counts as one inquiry. Yeah. So Equifax doesn't ding a client for shopping around for a mortgage. If they were shopping around for 10 credit cards, it would impact their credit score. But if you're shopping for a mortgage specifically, it doesn't impact it. [00:08:34] Speaker A: So I learned something new today. This is great. Thank you. [00:08:37] Speaker B: So getting back to the application, the application will check, you know, your income, your credit, your assets, your liabilities. So any existing debts you may have. It might be a car loan, it might be an existing mortgage, a rental property. So we factor that all in, there's an income confirmation check. Eventually down the line, you'll have to confirm where your down payment came from. You know, money can come from savings, from a gift from, you know, liquidating investments, selling a property, refinancing a current property. But over the last few years, banks have really drilled down on making sure that they have a clear source of where money has come from. So these are all checks that we need to do and documents you need to provide throughout the process, but at the very basic level, in order to get a rough idea of what you may qualify for a mortgage, it's going to be a mortgage application and then also income confirmation as well. [00:09:30] Speaker A: Cool. [00:09:30] Speaker C: The big things. You notice how John wanted lottery. Lottery. Lottery. He really wanted you to say yes. I work with all kinds of lottery clients. [00:09:37] Speaker A: Well, hopefully you'll be working with us because it's $70 million. [00:09:41] Speaker C: Convinced? Did you buy a tick? [00:09:42] Speaker A: No, but I'm going to right after this. [00:09:44] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, actually, you know, cash money in a shoebox. Yeah. Banks will have. They will absolutely have a hard time accepting money where they can't see a source of funds. I think there was a concern for a long time that there was money laundering going on in Canada, both from inside the country and outside the country. So the pendulum has swung so far the other way that confirming your source of down payment is a big. It's a pain spot for the amount of paperwork you need to provide. [00:10:11] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. Jumping through hoops. And we have to do that as realtors. Yeah, I was going to say fintrac. [00:10:18] Speaker B: We have fintrack requirements now, too. Yeah, that's new in the last year for us as well. [00:10:22] Speaker C: Really interesting. [00:10:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:10:23] Speaker A: Fintrack, for those who may not know who are listening, is Cheryl. Do you know what that stands for? She's going to look it up, basically to make sure that you're tracking funds and that it's not being used for money laundering, terrorism, terrorism, drug activity. Because real estate historically has been used for those types of avenues to move funds around. [00:10:42] Speaker C: The actual government is like the compliance department. It's called Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis center of Canada, fintrax. So basically, your realtor, your mortgage broker, lawyer, your lawyer is all going to ask for a lot of confirmation to make sure you are who you say you are. [00:11:01] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. So exciting. Okay, I shouldn't even ask that question. [00:11:04] Speaker C: This is a whole other podcast. Really boring. [00:11:06] Speaker A: A boring. Really boring. Can I do the next one? [00:11:09] Speaker C: Okay, sure. [00:11:11] Speaker A: Jason, what is the difference between a pre approval? Because I believe that's what you're working on getting by collecting all these documents. What's the difference between a pre approval and a full approval? [00:11:20] Speaker B: Sure. [00:11:21] Speaker A: And how much confidence should buyers really have in a pre approval number? [00:11:24] Speaker C: Great question. [00:11:26] Speaker B: So it depends on who you're working with. That's the big question. So a pre approval should vet your income, your credit, know where your source of down payment is coming from, and provide you with a rate guarantee as well. So us as brokers we underwrite a full pre approval and explain what the difference between a pre approval and a rate hold is before explaining the difference between a pre approval and a full approval. A rate hold is just that the bank looks on the surface on what you've put on your application. They don't do any checks on it, so they don't ask for any documentation. They hold an interest rate for you. So if you only have done a rate hold where your bank hasn't done a deep dive, I would have very little confidence in that. And I've had instances where, you know, a lot of self employed people may make $100,000 but it's not what you actually make, it's what your tax returns show. So you get their tax returns and it shows 50,000 because they write their income off or keep money in the corporation. So there's been a pre approval and a rate hold is that we would have all the income confirmation up front. We won't issue any kind of like approval. Whether it be a pre approval or a full approval. We without having a full confirmation of income upfront. That's the one thing that could derail a mortgage. And it has in the past. For most people, if they've had issues with a mortgage, it's because they properly didn't disclose their income. And then their mortgage broker, their bank's chasing documents at the last minute. I've been doing this long enough, I know exactly what documentation you're going to need. I get it all up front. So we do all the heavy lifting up front. So when you're pre approved, you've been pre vetted. Now the difference between a pre approval and a full approval is you know, you're pre approved, you're going ahead and starting to look at properties, you know how much you've been approved for. The full approval takes you as the borrower and the property itself into equation. So it's not just you that has to be approved. The property also needs to be approved. [00:13:16] Speaker A: They're just not going to lend that amount that you're pre approved for for a property that you potentially overpaid for. [00:13:21] Speaker B: Exactly. Or if it has, you know, issues with mold or water damage or foundation issues, wiring issues, they want to make [00:13:28] Speaker A: sure their investment is in good sh. [00:13:30] Speaker B: Exactly. So if you're pre approved, typically, you know, what I always suggest to a client, you know, when I issue the pre approval is if you're interested in looking at a property, send me the listing ahead of time. And then depending on the client's situation, some Clients are more comfortable moving forward without a financing condition. Some need to put that financing condition and maybe their qualification is very tight or they have less than 20% down payment, which we can talk about mortgage insurance next as well. But it really depends on the situation. You know, we witnessed in 2020 and 2021. Regardless of if you had confidence you would be approved or not, a lot of clients were taking the risk of, of going in without a financing condition. You know, with the shift in the market, I will say the one nice thing is that a lot of offers now do have a financing condition. It allows us just to make sure 100% that everything's good, get the value of the property confirmed by an appraiser. So, you know, if you are, you know, pre approved, you make a purchase on a house, you put a condition in your offer during that conditional period, you should make sure that any concerns that the bank had before that are, you know, before that condition expires have been satisfied and you're completely locked in. There's nothing that's going to prevent the deal from, from closing or going sideways off from getting the funding. [00:14:56] Speaker C: It also the market now with being able to put in conditions helps for all those out there that are risk averse. We struggled to have to manage expectations of clients who were losing out on houses because they didn't have the confidence to go in without. And we always say too, you're saying, I think what you were saying is that there were people that were putting in no finance condition without actually understanding if they could even get financing. Exactly where we talk about often during our buyer's consultation that there may be cases where we go in without that finance condition. But it's because we've done that due diligence ahead of time and there's that comfort level. The mortgage broker says, okay, this is the risk, this is how I feel about it. [00:15:35] Speaker A: And we've worked with you on clients in a variety of different scenarios where you said, no, you know what, it's in the client's best interest to have that condition and explain why. And there's been other times where you've spoken with our buyer clients and looked at all the scenarios and even worst case scenarios and if they're happy to go in without that, it's worked out well. [00:15:53] Speaker B: You know, we both navigate within a process which seems flawed. You know, you have to make a, you know, substantial, you know, commitment for a million dollars plus without knowing for sure if it's locked in. It's unfortunately the reality of the way that it Works. We all have to navigate within it. So it's, you know, managing risk and doing your due diligence up front, which is, is very important. [00:16:14] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is it my turn? [00:16:17] Speaker A: It's just your time. [00:16:18] Speaker C: We don't usually run our. [00:16:21] Speaker A: No, it's. But we have a nice list of questions and it's a little back and forth. So. [00:16:25] Speaker C: Jason, Jason, number four, what costs beyond the down payment? Do buyers most often forget to budget [00:16:33] Speaker B: for the biggest one? Land transfer tax. [00:16:36] Speaker A: I knew you were going to say that. [00:16:37] Speaker B: Yep. Legal fees, you know, you're maybe looking, you know, two to $4,000. It's, you know, part of the process. But the land transfer taxes are always the big add on and keep in mind those can't be rolled into your mortgage. So those are an actual closing cost. Cash on top of your down payment. You're putting the land transfer taxes down. [00:16:56] Speaker C: Do you have a conversation with your clients about land transfer when you're talking about mortgage costs? [00:17:01] Speaker B: I do, I do and I provide, I always provide a budget in some different scenarios based on various purchase prices within the range of what they're pre approved for. And every one of those, you know, you know, ranges I provide shows what the land transfer taxes are. You know, if you're a first time buyer, there's some rebates and you know, we'll, you know, explain that to clients. One other point where I also want to touch on, you know, some of the basics because I think this is like a thing that comes up a lot and clients don't know the deposit. Making sure that you have money for a deposit and sometimes, you know, you have a client that's selling their house and buying a new one and they've got a ton of equity in their house. Oh yeah. They don't have $80,000 to put down, you know, a deposit on a house. And so I think a lot of clients are surprised that they need some consideration. Exactly. And if you're a first time buyer, you can't use your first home savings account or your RSP without having a purchase. So you can't actually access those funds until you have an agreement in place. So you know, for, for borrowers that are putting down, you know, a lot of money out of RRSPs under the Home Buyer Plan or using the First Home Savings Account, they don't have that additional consideration that they need. And it's typically 5%. [00:18:13] Speaker A: Right. [00:18:13] Speaker B: They need to put down. It's kind of standard in the area. Ye. [00:18:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:16] Speaker B: So there's been times where we scramble to help them get an unsecured line of credit just so they can have enough for the deposit with the intent that they pay it back once they can actually access their other funds that are locked in. Yeah, so that's a big thing that I find comes up a lot. [00:18:32] Speaker C: I really love that you said these two things and that you have the conversation with your clients as you're going through the process because we also like both of these items are included in our buyer consultation. We talk about making sure that you budget for land transfer tax and, and lawyer fees and all of that. And we talk about having the deposit liquid in case it's tied up somewhere. But now we can add that if it is a first time home buyer's account that they actually can't use that. That's interesting. That's good to know. [00:18:58] Speaker B: It takes a couple days to access your first home savings account. I'm going to say FHSA in case I have to say it again so long. [00:19:05] Speaker A: That's fine. [00:19:07] Speaker C: From now on acronym. That's really. [00:19:10] Speaker A: Hopefully you won't have to say that. [00:19:12] Speaker B: You know, your RSP and your FHSA can both be accessed within a couple of days once you've made an offer. So you know, if you can get an unsecured line of credit or potentially hit up family short term for, you know, a matter of a week or less. But yeah, this is, this is a problem for, for people that have all their money tied up in one of the programs or again, people that have equity in their home but don't have a ton of cash sitting around. Yeah, we are. [00:19:39] Speaker A: One of our clients lost out on a property because they had such a small deposit and we're like, no, we can get, we can get it within the. They were the higher offer of the two. [00:19:46] Speaker C: But I will say they weren't really ready to buy. And then they came across something accidentally and that's all they had at the time. So we had put a clause in the offer saying that the next very next day they'd have the remainder of that money. And the seller still chose the other offer. Seller was old school, didn't understand, was afraid that only $10,000. [00:20:05] Speaker B: The things have changed enough I think think that, that you know, realtors and homeowners have heard horror stories about things and you know, you only put 10 grand down and get cold feet. Maybe you walk away. You're like, I don't know. And then those four other offers are now on to something else. [00:20:20] Speaker A: Right. So exactly. [00:20:22] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:20:23] Speaker A: Number five. And you kind of touched on this costs to use a mortgage broker. I know for you there's not. There's not. Especially with a lenders, right? That's correct. [00:20:32] Speaker B: So the only time someone would ever pay to get a mortgage and this would be if you walked into your bank or went to a mortgage broker, would be if you had to start looking at alternative financing solutions. So if you have to get a private mortgage, which typically someone who's a first time buyer or someone that's purchasing a home, unless there's circumstances where they're a builder and maybe they're going to flip it quickly, I really don't recommend if you have to get private financing that's expensive too. It is. It's like credit card number to 10% and then there's fees on top of it. If you're buying a home and you need to get a private mortgage, I typically recommend that you reconsider that because if you're in a situation where you're not qualifying through a traditional lender, you're likely going to have a harder time with the payments at 10% versus if you were paying three and a half or four and a half percent. Right. So I'd say 99% of clients, there's no fees to use and it's, there's no difference between going to your bank directly and coming with me. It's not hidden in the interest rate. Again, there's no, no fees to use a broker in that regard. It would only be if someone has to get private financing and regardless of who you went to for the private financing, there's going to be a fee involved. [00:21:47] Speaker C: Right. [00:21:47] Speaker A: Okay, that's good to know. [00:21:50] Speaker C: Benefits to use a mortgage broker. I mean, we've been talking about benefits the entire time. [00:21:55] Speaker A: Yeah, but you and I talk about this a lot in our buyer consultation because one of the things we want to make sure is first things first, get your financing sorted. [00:22:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:04] Speaker A: And we'll ask questions. Have you spoken to a broker or have you spoken to your bank? And then if they've only spoken with their bank, we'll tell them that there's a lot of benefits. [00:22:14] Speaker C: Stop. Just stop. Stop. [00:22:15] Speaker A: What would you say the main benefits [00:22:17] Speaker B: of working with a broker are? I think the unbiased advice, the speed, also the confidence. If your clients are making offers. Again, getting back to that and not to just dump on banks, but if you're dealing with someone that's been doing mortgages for six months at a bank branch. [00:22:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:22:29] Speaker B: They're not going to instill very much confidence for you. To feel like you can make a, make an offer if you need to and you're in a situation and need to move quickly and unconditional without no condition, without any conditions. Right. So that's a big benefit. And then I think the way that I work, it's never about my best interest, it's always about the client's best interests. And so you're gonna get advice from me that. I know it's cheesy when you say that, but it'd be the same advice I'd give to my parents. You know what I mean? And it is true. And some of my best referrals have come from people I didn't do a mortgage for because I told them what they had was the best deal that they could get. So I'm not saying all mortgage brokers are cut from the same cloth, but at least the way that I operate has always been about thinking about my clients first. And if you don't feel like that, you should probably shop around and find someone that makes you feel that way. We're very like minded there, buddy. [00:23:24] Speaker C: Well, we, and we've honestly, we've said not all mortgage brokers, same with realtors and lawyers, are not, they're not created equal. And one of the. You said it. We're very like minded. It is one of the reasons why we love working with you because we think you're very client focused and your level of service is in line with how we want to be treating our clients as well. [00:23:44] Speaker A: So, yeah, you've been very unbiased and you've let them know that what they currently have is probably the best option. [00:23:49] Speaker B: I'm not going to feed someone BS just to get their business to get a deal not in their best interest. I know, Listen, you know, we're obviously in this business, you know, for a reason, but at the end of the day, I know if I do the right thing, my business always takes care of me. So love that, you know, so I think that that's always the mindset that I've always had is do the right thing in your business. [00:24:10] Speaker A: And I love you said cut from the same cloth to use that. It's a very sophisticated way of saying not all created equal. [00:24:17] Speaker C: What would you say to somebody who, you know, from our perspective, when we're trying to let our clients know that they may be better served by a mortgage broker versus the bank and especially if they're dealing with a mortgage specialist who is very new, like you said, they pop around from position to position. But this is my bank, though, like my bank always, you know, gives me the best rate or I banked with my bank for 25 years. What do we say to them in those cases to get them to understand? [00:24:43] Speaker B: You take 15 minutes, talk to someone, get some unbiased advice. At the very least, you'll reconfirm what you're doing with your current bank is the right thing. [00:24:53] Speaker A: That's a good way to approach it. [00:24:55] Speaker C: I'm writing this down, but there'll be video so I can just watch it. [00:24:58] Speaker B: I'll make some notes when I'm editing it. [00:24:59] Speaker A: CHERYL okay, so that's cool. That's part one. That's covering the basics. Okay, we now get to part two, which was recommended by you when we had our conversation. Part, part two is how to get ready and to be more attractive to lenders. And I don't mean looking good if they're popping into your office, you know, brush your teeth, there you go. What would you recommend people do to really put themselves in the best position? [00:25:24] Speaker B: I think if you're talking like, you know, looking at wanting to set yourself up in the next six to 12 months probably doesn't hurt. First things first, to check your own credit and go to Equifax and check your credit score. You ideally want to make sure that you're carrying low balances on all of your credit. Make sure that you know, you do have credit. Believe it or not, it's harder to get a mortgage without credit than it is to have bad, bad credit. It is. No credit means that you've never had any experience in and managing debt before. So I think checking your credit, speaking to a broker early I think is wise. You know, I have lots of clients, I'd probably say five clients a week I speak to that are thinking about buying in the next 12 months. So it's not someone buy, I speak to someone, they want to buy tomorrow. Yeah, but just setting yourself up, understanding, maybe you're self employed and you don't. Should you be super aggressive in writing off your income or should your income be a little higher so that when you're, and we're close to tax time now, so it makes sense to, you know, have that conversation before you file your taxes, but get an understanding of where you're at and what you need to do to put yourself there again, paying down debt, if it's there, if it's more down payment, more savings that you need to work on doing, you know, so that you have enough money to pay for the down payment and the closing costs, if you haven't set up an FHSA account, set it up, contribute your RRSPs. So I think there's stuff you can do if there's a longer Runway, the stuff you are, you know, if you're thinking about buying now, like what's the best thing you can do? Get all your documents in order, you know, if you're salaried, get a job letter, a pay stub, have your last couple years T4s. If you're self employed, make sure that you filed your last couple years of taxes. You're going to have to provide, you know, what are called T1 generals, which are the income tax documents you file with Revenue Canada, your notice of assessments. If you owe money to cra, you better make sure it's paid. If you've got debt, figure out a way to potentially pay it down. I think earlier on in the conversation, having that at least initial conversation, that initial kind of mortgage qualification conversation just allows you to move forward, you know, without being reactive. You need to try to be as proactive as possible in this process, but make sure everything's clean financially. You know, if there's things that are lingering, make sure you've taken care of it. Very challenging if you're self employed, if you haven't filed your tax, get to that for sure. [00:27:43] Speaker C: With Equifax, do you feel like the younger generations now are checking their Equifaxes more regularly? Because there's so many of these free apps out there. [00:27:50] Speaker B: So a lot of them connect to TransUnion, which most lenders don't actually use, they use Equifax. So the credit score should be roughly close to the same, but it's not identical. [00:28:00] Speaker C: The credit score is usually higher. [00:28:02] Speaker B: It can be. Sometimes it's lower. Sometimes debts report to one that don't report to the other. Some banks exclusively use TransUnion, RBC being one of them. But RBC doesn't deal with brokers. So we won't talk, we won't talk about that. But yeah, I think it's important to check your credit. I know a lot of apps are free. A lot of banks actually have a free credit tracking app now. Right. So yeah, yeah, I think it's wise to understand, you know, where things are at. You know, I have, I think there was some kind of identity breach on something. So I have free monitoring. So if anything ever I get a notification as well. Right. So yeah. [00:28:37] Speaker C: So therefore we tell often to people when we're doing a buyer consult. That means don't go and get yourself a car if you're planning in the next 12 months. [00:28:45] Speaker A: We're going to talk about that in do's and don'ts. [00:28:48] Speaker C: Never mind. I always get ahead of myself. Don't change jobs. [00:28:50] Speaker A: No, that's cool. I want to talk about the long Runway because we connected you with one of our dear, dear friends, dear, dear, dear, dear friends who has called us. He's been thinking about buying for a long time but he had to get some of his ducks enrolled self employed. And you gave him some really good advice after having that initial call with him. And he's excited to look into how he's going to structure his own payments for the next year just so that he can help him get a larger budget. So that was really good advice and that's a lot. That's what a lot of self employed people don't understand. Yeah, you can make it look like you make zero on paper and actually, you know, be more well off financially but it doesn't make sense. [00:29:28] Speaker B: And frankly there's not a ton of self employed programs that are overly beneficial to small business owners. Even though how many times have the government said small businesses are the backbone of the Canadian economy. Listen, even being a commissioned real estate agent, you're essentially self employed. Trying to get a car loan is always more challenging. Trying to get, you know, whatever. And the big thing about how income works is self employed borrowers, it's backwards looking. So they look at the two most recent years. Whereas if someone salaried, it doesn't make a difference what you made yesterday, it only makes a difference what you make today. So if you made $50,000 yesterday and got a promotion, if your salary to make 100 grand this year or today, we're using a hundred thousand. Whereas if you made 2 years ago 50,000, when you're self employed in 100k last year, they'll take it to your average of that income. Right. So backwards looking for self employed and commission sales, anyone that has fluctuating income, someone that's just salaried standard, you know, you know, salaried position. We use what your current income is. [00:30:29] Speaker A: Yeah. So like you're covering kind of. The second and third question here, one of the biggest things buyers can do to improve their mortgage qualification and the third question was what advice would you, you give to self employed buyers or buyers with non traditional income. [00:30:41] Speaker B: Again, getting close to it being tax time. If you're thinking about looking to buy, it's probably wise to, you know, claim more. Exactly. Have a conversation with your, with your broker. A lot of clients Will connect me and you know, I'll be conversing back with their accountant and themselves. This is where we need to be to be able to qualify for this mortgage. So they know, okay, I'll be a little less aggressive on my write offs and I'll make sure my income is this high so that I'm able to qualify for a mortgage. [00:31:06] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:31:06] Speaker B: Down the road, once you've got into your house, as long as you're not moving, you typically don't have to re qualify again so you can go back to writing off your income. Right. [00:31:14] Speaker A: Okay, now that's good. So that's part two. Is there anything, well, is there anything else you want to add? [00:31:19] Speaker C: Oh, you forgot a question. [00:31:20] Speaker B: I think just having all of your paperwork in order up front and providing all of that up front is important also because when someone's going through the process of giving you a pre approval and it's based on having all the accurate information, as I said, I'm not going to tell someone that they're good to go if I haven't looked at every piece of income confirmation that I need to see. It's just not worth it. [00:31:43] Speaker A: Smart. I'm wrong. [00:31:44] Speaker C: He forgot a question. We are not done part two. [00:31:48] Speaker A: Okay, Cheryl, what is the final question of part two? [00:31:50] Speaker C: If parents or family want to help bank mom and dad, what's the smartest way to structure that support and what are the issues with this? [00:31:58] Speaker A: Sure. [00:31:58] Speaker B: So there's, you know, multiple ways that parents can help. You know, the big two are does someone provide a larger down payment so that you can get into a house with, with a helping hand, you know, lowering your mortgage amount or in some situations parents are willing to go on as a co signer. Again talking about the challenges with self employed borrowers and not having on paper what they actually earn or someone that you know is just know maybe cash rich but doesn't have the income they need to qualify for the mortgage they want. A parent can step in and help co sign. So if you get a cosigner, basically it's a combination. It combines the strength of all the borrowers. So if it's yourself and your partner and your parents, all four of you combined versus any debts that you may have, you know, if your parents have a mortgage that will factor in. If your parents have debts, that will factor in. But it's the strength of all of you combined. So lots of people need to go this route just like lots of people do get family gifts. You know, I wasn't blessed with the ability to Get a family gift when I purchased my house. But hats off to those who are fortunate enough to get that. [00:33:10] Speaker A: So basically, you know what, if your kids are really nice to you, maybe, maybe you can pay that fortune. [00:33:14] Speaker C: Well, I was gonna say, basically, anyone listening to this right now, if you need to adopt any children, the three of us are available. [00:33:22] Speaker A: Okay, that's really good advice for the folks. [00:33:24] Speaker C: For the folks. [00:33:25] Speaker B: One last part on that. I think the stats were, I know in like 2020 and 2021 that first time buyers, I think it was like 30 to 35% of first time buyers were getting family gifts. Wow. Yeah. With the markets being a little wonky right now, I would say that that slowed down a little bit. And I would also say that, you know, when I'm looking at the mix of buyers, it seems like, yes, there still are lots of first time buyers, but there's also, it seems to be a big percentage at least of my business are move up buyers that have lots of equity in their property. And so there's not that need for that family gift. And then there's just a lot of clients up for renewal as well. So there's, there's no gift usually on a renewal. [00:34:08] Speaker C: With the 30 to 35%, when the market was a little bit better, do you think a lot of that came from parents being like, hey, we've been in this house for 25 years, there's so much equity in it right now. Like we can pull equity out. Or was it people who just had. [00:34:19] Speaker A: That had cash? [00:34:21] Speaker B: There was a stat, I think over 2021 to 2026 or something like that. I can't remember the exact years, but there was like $2 trillion that was going to be handed down from that boomer generation to a younger generation. So I think a lot of people were getting early inheritances and it was one of those things where if your kids have to move to Hamilton and you live in Toronto because they can't afford it, why not keep them in Toronto and give them a couple hundred thousand dollars so you can see your grandkids. [00:34:48] Speaker A: Right. [00:34:48] Speaker B: So it seemed like it was a lot of that kind of stuff where parents were willing to give that money versus waiting until they pass. [00:34:57] Speaker C: Right. [00:34:58] Speaker B: So that their kids could enjoy getting into the market and stay closer? [00:35:01] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:35:02] Speaker A: Okay, what if, here's an interesting scenario, um, how would you position someone that makes like crazy money that's like working in nightclubs or restaurants? So cash, cash tips, like, how do you handle those people? [00:35:16] Speaker B: Those people are likely going to be looking at the alternative alternative lender. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cash income is a big challenge. It's a very big challenge. And anytime you can't confirm on paper what you earn, you're likely looking towards alternative lenders and or private financing. It's always been a big challenge. [00:35:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:35:36] Speaker C: I will say from the perspective. I used to work in restaurants and bars and I it was all cash back then, but now more than ever the cat, the tips are coming through the system so it's a little bit more helpful. [00:35:49] Speaker A: Although they're also paying tax on that stuff. So. Yeah. [00:35:52] Speaker C: Okay. [00:35:53] Speaker A: Interesting. Cool. That's part two. Let's go to part three. We're getting to the fun stuff. Do's and don'ts is part three. Part four is horror stories. We'll save that for the end. But let's talk about some do's and don'ts. What should someone absolutely not do after getting pre approved? Jason? [00:36:09] Speaker B: Take on more debt in most cases change their jobs. Those are the big two right there. [00:36:18] Speaker A: And why is that? What have you got the pre approval already and then all of a sudden you lease a Hummer or you finance one? [00:36:28] Speaker B: The bank reserves the right to check your credit when you actually turn a pre approval into a, a, a live approval. And if as I mentioned earlier, everything when you qualify for a mortgage is a function of income to debt ratios. So that'll skew it. If you add $1,000 a month car payment and you were on the cusp of qualifying, that's going to push you over. So don't go out and, and buy a bunch of furniture on credit or take out new debt. Do anything that may impact your credit score or add to monthly expenses and then ideally not change your job. It happens from time to time. Definitely don't change your job from being a salaried employee to a self employed person because that is a big challenge. But you know, it happens. Clients you know are in the middle of purchasing a home and also get a great job offer. Typically if it's in the same field, it looks like career progression. Even if a borrower is on probation, it's usually not a deal breaker. But these are all things you absolutely need to speak to your broker about. For sure, 100%. [00:37:25] Speaker A: Okay. So I guess are those the most common mistakes that people make that hurt their finances? [00:37:30] Speaker B: Definitely for sure. [00:37:31] Speaker A: Is there any others that you can think of? [00:37:33] Speaker C: Not as common. [00:37:35] Speaker B: I think what can hurt your financing is this isn't like actually hurting if you qualify or not. It's waiting until you find a place to start the process, I think that's it. [00:37:46] Speaker A: That's foundational more than anything else. [00:37:48] Speaker B: It's a big scramble. You know, you're giving piecework. There's a risk that if you're not giving all the information, you know, the approval may come back approved, but without having the full story. So again, for me, I always just suggest clients go through a pre approval up front so that they, they aren't hit with any surprises. And again, that's full income confirmation as well. Yeah. [00:38:09] Speaker A: Being prepared. Be a boy scout. [00:38:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:38:11] Speaker A: Or girl scout. We have one last question before we get to horror stories. [00:38:18] Speaker C: Are you doing that every time? [00:38:19] Speaker A: Yeah, pretty much. Cheryl, do you want to ask the last thing? We may have already covered it. [00:38:23] Speaker C: What's one thing lenders care about that buyers often overlook? [00:38:28] Speaker B: That's a good question. I think some things that buyers are willing to accept being wrong with a property. Banks will have a big problem, something minor, but like if you looked up in the corner and saw water damage and an appraisal had to come through, an appraiser had to come through. Some banks will not touch the that until they have an understanding of what was going on with it. [00:38:47] Speaker C: So it could be a 50 year old leak that's been fixed for years, just not painted. [00:38:51] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, that's something that, like, you know, problems with the property. That, that's really it. [00:38:57] Speaker A: So that's really good for us as agents working with both sellers and buyers to consider prior to appraisals just to make sure the property is looking in good shape. Thank you for that. [00:39:06] Speaker B: Buyers, I think, you know, having recent credit issues they don't think are a big deal. But even missing one or two credit payments, you know, it's minor in nature from kind of big picture. But if those are recent, it makes the lenders, you know, pause and, and you know, it could be the difference between being approved or not. And I would say that in the environment we're in right now with there just being so much uncertainty coming out of the COVID years, the post Covid years, you know, rates all over the place, prices up, down flat, whatever's going on, I would say banks now are doing a lot more due diligence than they did in the years past. If you wanted to push a mediocre client through that maybe has some credit problems and that kind of stuff, it was, I shouldn't say mediocre. [00:39:51] Speaker C: I was gonna say, what is a mediocre client? [00:39:54] Speaker A: Less than desirable or, I don't know, on paper. On paper, yeah, but they could be great People, they could be lovely human beings. [00:39:59] Speaker C: You're a mediocre client if you want. [00:40:02] Speaker B: You know, if you have a client that had some credit problems in the past and maybe didn't look as great on paper as. As they should, 2020 and 2021 was the time to get that done. I will say that now, you know, banks are still fully staffed, but the amount of business versus looking at the peak from a sales numbers perspective is down quite a bit. So banks have more time now to do more due diligence on things. So that's really it. [00:40:28] Speaker C: That's actually a really good point because everybody was especially. Do you remember when everyone started working from home and the banks didn't have enough people. People to process anything and they were like throwing people into jobs that didn't know what they were doing? [00:40:39] Speaker B: Totally. [00:40:40] Speaker C: Like you're just pushing things through to get through the list. [00:40:43] Speaker A: Okay, now we get my favorite part. Part 4. Horror stories or myth busting? Without naming any names, what's a mortgage horror story that still sticks with you? [00:40:54] Speaker B: Sure. And I think there was a period of time, 2022, 2023, when the market started to shift a little bit and, you know, clients. My job is to explain the risk to you, and that's a choice if you decide you want to take that risk or not. And I would say it wasn't one individual story, but multiple stories of people that thought that they would be able to sell their place in three days and buy a new house without selling their house without any backup plan in place or the ability to carry both properties needing the down payment from the sale of their house, and three months later, the house hasn't sold yet. Yeah, you know, there were lots of those horror stories, you know, without having a solid backup plan in place. You're always taking a risk if you buy a house first without selling that. That's the reality of it. If you need to sell your house to realize the equity gain, to be able to use as down payment on the. On the new purchase. Yeah. And you're buying without selling your house. You can do things to minimize the risk by, you know, depending on the neighborhood. You know, we're in the East End. Properties sell at a certain price point fairly quickly in the East End, but there's no guarantees. Right. You can't be 100% certain. So for me, it's never me saying, yes, you're going to be fine. It's me saying there is a risk in doing this and explaining what that risk is and allowing clients to decide if they want to make that choice or not. But without a backup plan in place, it's not something that I would ever advise. That's right. Sure. I think it's in a weird market like we have been in the last few years. It's a much different story than it was in 2020 and 2021. Any. I mean there was, there's what 70, 80,000 realtors. I can tell you that 59 of the thousand of those are not very great realtors. And they could put a for sale sign on any lawn and have it sold. And then the market shifted and people got caught in that. So those are the types of horror stories. And I felt terrible for a lot of clients that found themselves in this situation. They thought that it was a calculated risk that they were comfortable taking. They thought they wouldn't have any problems. They could have been sold some false promises from realtors that they were working with, but they ended up in a bad situation because of it. And you know, in some cases walked away from deposits. In some cases, you know, it wasn't that we could qualify through a traditional banks or we had to go to a private lender and put a mortgage across both properties. And it just, it get. Got really messy. [00:43:20] Speaker A: And I wonder if a lot of these horror stories are the result of incompetent agent. [00:43:24] Speaker C: I wrote that down. [00:43:26] Speaker A: And it's, it's unfortunate that people don't realize how important it is to be working with someone that you trust that can an expert. They can also educate you on best and worst case case scenarios. And the, the one thing is you can't guarantee a sale of a property [00:43:40] Speaker B: no matter what kind of market that you have. Exactly. [00:43:43] Speaker A: And I just also want to say that with some of these horror stories, I would imagine that there are some horror stories that you have heard from about other brokers. So about. Because just like we're talking about because we've, we've sent you clients before that have had terrible advice both with their agent and with their mortgage broker. And it seems like sometimes we're the [00:44:05] Speaker C: ones that try to clean up the mess, the pieces. [00:44:07] Speaker B: Yeah, a lot of do. And it's funny because in the last couple of months I'm very fortunate that the realtors I work with are all very competent. That's the thing. And you know, but you know, I have a client come to me sometimes and I'm questioning just by osmosis. Being in the industry, I have a fairly good understanding of how the real estate market works. You know, I've done enough transactions and you just have to shake your head on the advice that's, that's being given. But I had an instance where one of the big banks, I won't say their name, rbc, but had told a client that they were pre approved without looking at their income confirmation and they were about to waive. And one of my realtor partners said, hey, can you just speak to this client to double check. And I was like, you don't come close to qualifying for this. You are not going to qualify for this. And thankfully they were able to get out of the deal. It was like last minute. It wasn't even conditional. It was like they were in the negotiation part of it and ended up like walking away from it. But had that client move forward, they would have either had to come up with $200,000 extra that they didn't have or hopefully that find a co signer that would be able to help them. So that's just like what I hear a lot. And that's just incompetence from someone that isn't asking the right questions and doing the right, the right job. [00:45:25] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:45:25] Speaker C: We had something similar with a sale last year where we were representing the sellers and the buyer got bad information from their lender or their mortgage broker and their realtor. I guess the incompetence was on both of those people and at the 11th hour found out they didn't have at the 11th hour after waiving a finance condition, found that they didn't have their financing. Yeah, it was a shit show. But am I allowed to say that on our podcast? [00:45:48] Speaker A: Of course you are. This is, this is pg. [00:45:51] Speaker B: I wonder if I feel like I had a conversation with him. Yeah. And that, that's common with like I've had that happen. Happened a few times with, with my agents that are representing the sellers where they're like scrambling, trying to keep a deal together where it should have been taken care of by the buyer's mortgage person and buyer's realtor to begin with. [00:46:08] Speaker A: Right. Next question. Cheryl? [00:46:10] Speaker C: Well, what's the most last minute financing problem you've seen? I think that basically his horror stories are kind of those. [00:46:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:46:16] Speaker A: And what's caused it. [00:46:17] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:46:18] Speaker B: Or clients that are not. Again, I'm so diligent about making sure I get documents, documentation up front. But I think over the years looking at, you know, where things go sideways or get delayed is not providing the documents that you've been asked to provide. Right. And waiting until the last minute because you have to keep in mind that part of the process Is, you know, you get the approval, the bank issues an approval, and there may be some conditions you need to complete. They send a commitment. The broker walks you through the commitment, you sign the package, send it back to them, and then they send instructions to the lawyer. And the lawyer is the one that basically quarterbacks it at the very end. They get the money from the bank, they get your down payment, you pay them the land transfer taxes, they get the deposit funds from the seller's realtor. They take care of doing everything. And until that is what's considered to be a file complete. So any conditions with the bank have been fulfilled and signed off on and the file has been given that rubber stamp, the lawyer doesn't get their instructions. So the lawyer can't do their work until the broker has done their work on that side. So delaying some. Sending paperwork back to your broker, that's the type of thing that can cause can stop major issues. [00:47:23] Speaker A: The lawyer being instructed. [00:47:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:47:24] Speaker C: Actually, that made me think of other horror stories about last, like day of closing, lawyers still waiting to be instructed. [00:47:32] Speaker A: And then if they're not instructed and that time passes, then clients in breach and just. [00:47:37] Speaker B: It's not good. [00:47:38] Speaker A: Anyway, we try to avoid those at all costs. And that's why it's always important to use competent people on your team. [00:47:44] Speaker C: Well, to have experts. [00:47:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:47:45] Speaker C: Combat enemy. An expert mortgage broker, an expert lawyer, an expert realtor. Because there are so many that look like experts that are not out there. And it's. We're the team that makes sure that [00:47:56] Speaker B: I wear a T shirt and jeans. I'm not walking around in a flashy suit with like a flashy watch on. [00:48:02] Speaker A: Those are usually the ones that. [00:48:03] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly, exactly. I like to just give clients the right advice and do my work and make sure clients are happy. I don't really care about the image that I'm setting out there. [00:48:14] Speaker A: I love it right now. [00:48:15] Speaker C: Actually, I was gonna say the same thing. [00:48:17] Speaker A: It's from reigning champ. [00:48:18] Speaker B: I really like them. Yeah, it's Canadian company. [00:48:20] Speaker A: It's comfortable, but it's put together so classy. [00:48:22] Speaker C: Classy like you. [00:48:25] Speaker A: Is there a mortgage myth that you [00:48:27] Speaker B: wish buyers would stop believing 100% that your bank is always going to be looking out for your best interests? [00:48:33] Speaker A: Interesting. [00:48:34] Speaker B: That's it. It's a myth. As I've said before, you know, your bank answers to their shareholders. They don't answer to you. [00:48:42] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:48:42] Speaker B: They're about profit. Everyone that works at the bank is about, you know, kind of their agenda of making profit. Right. So the unbiased advice that I give, it still always is. There's always a roadblock to get clients to think my bank isn't doing what's best for me. It usually requires them to go to their bank, get bad advice, get a higher rate, and then come to me before they realize that. But that's it. That your bank is always looking out for your best interest. I think that's the biggest myth. [00:49:08] Speaker A: Well, you don't know unless you don't know what other. [00:49:11] Speaker C: Take 15 minutes and get an unbiased opinion. I'm going to use that line. I always say that. [00:49:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:49:19] Speaker C: Everything you just said, I always say it. I truly believe that if you're looking to be taken care of and have the best advice and unbiased advice and often the best customer service experience, you're going to want to work with people who are actually their job is to take care of you. [00:49:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:49:39] Speaker A: And you've taken care of a lot of our clients. You've taken care of us, you've worked on one of our mortgages. It's, it's, it's like a busy baby. Well, I want to thank you first of all for breaking it down in a way that actually feels understandable. I think for any of the first time buyers out there that have never gone through this process, we'll have a lot to take away from the things that we discussed today. Speaking of takeaways, do you have any takeaways after our little discussion here? [00:50:04] Speaker C: Cheryl, that Jason's smart and he's a good customer service guy with a nice shirt and so funny. [00:50:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:50:15] Speaker C: No jokes were told at all. [00:50:17] Speaker A: It was very professional put together, which I. [00:50:20] Speaker C: How are you? [00:50:22] Speaker A: For me, I think the biggest takeaway here is for anyone that's listening and considering buying this year. Start the conversation with Jason. Earlier the earlier the better the better. Like you can never have too much knowledge and be more prepared earlier the better just so you can set yourself up to be a winner. [00:50:39] Speaker C: Can I piggyback on that? Because you know how so many people will start looking at how Sigma at houses, they'll contact a few listing agents, they'll go to open houses because they're trying to, to also do their forward due diligence before bringing in their mortgage broker and their realtor. I think that that's a good point. Like actually before you start doing that, like contact the mortgage broker and realtor and let them help guide you through that process. [00:51:02] Speaker B: Okay. [00:51:03] Speaker A: Where can people reach out to you if they want to connect with you and start the conversation? Jason? [00:51:07] Speaker B: Sure. My Email address is Jason Friesenoutline. Cat. You'll maybe put it on the screen. [00:51:16] Speaker A: I'll do it perfectly for sure. [00:51:18] Speaker B: Outline CA is our website. Feel free to reach out. I'm always up for a chat. And that is it. [00:51:25] Speaker A: That is it. [00:51:25] Speaker B: Thanks for having me. [00:51:25] Speaker A: Okay, well, it's been a pleasure to have you. As a matter of fact, I'm so enthusiastic about Jason, his team, the things that they provide to both us and our clients that I, I, I took the liberty of making a bit of a commercial. I loved it. I loved, made you laugh. So, you know, AI is such a big thing and I thought, you know, if, if I could do one thing for Jason, to repay him for, for giving us such great services is, you know, I don't think there's as many good mortgage brokers that are out there with the radio spots, TV spots, and I'm a big fan of jingles, so, so I made a little jingle here I'm going to play for everyone. [00:52:01] Speaker C: Can you hear it? [00:52:02] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, I'm going to put it in when I edit it in, but you're going to be able to hear it as well. [00:52:08] Speaker C: And this is John. [00:52:09] Speaker A: This is me. Just making some fun. Tired of renting, done releasing, Ready to own your own home. [00:52:19] Speaker B: Catchy. [00:52:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Don't throw your money away each day there's gotta be a better way if you're sick. A leasing. Call Jason Friesen. Call Jason Friesen. Call him to today. [00:52:40] Speaker B: Wasn't there another one as well? [00:52:42] Speaker A: There's one that I did that actually has a video. It's a little bit more monster truck inspired. So here it is. If you're tired of leasing, call me Jason Friesen. Call Jason Friesen. Okay, now you, you may or may not ever want to use that. Probably not. It's just I was just having a little bit of fun with you. [00:53:02] Speaker C: And here you said now that AI is, you know, such a big part of our business, I thought I'd waste it a couple hours making this video, Jason. [00:53:08] Speaker A: Took me 15 minutes. That's the best part of it. Okay, so we always like to wrap things up by giving a shout out to some local business. For those of you that have been listening to our podcast for the last three years and or following us for the better part of a decade, you know that one of the things we love to do is support local businesses for our community. And I just wrapped up volunteering to shoot another series of videos for the Riverside BIA for a series that we did called Good in the Hood. Such a Great neighborhood. [00:53:35] Speaker C: He knows. He used to be. [00:53:36] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. So this year we featured five local businesses. Amavia, Atelier, Broadview, Hot Yoga, Album Hair, Happy Burger, and Ilponte. And I'm going to recommend checking all of them out, but I want to give a shout out to Giancarlo at Ilponte restaurant. He and his team were great to work with. Chatted with a lot of the patrons at the restaurant, sampled some food, saw the chefs. [00:54:01] Speaker B: Great food. [00:54:02] Speaker A: Oh, my God, it is fantastic. Sorry, Cheryl. It's at 625 Queen Street east, if you want to check it out. It's right by the Riverside bridge. And Il ponte is Italian for Cheryl. Bridge, Bridge. Oh, there you go. That's probably how they got the name. [00:54:16] Speaker B: I thought you said it's the birds. Italian for Chero for Cheryl. Oh, yes, yes. [00:54:20] Speaker C: If you want to say my name in Italian, there it is. I feel really good. [00:54:25] Speaker B: So many great businesses in the Riverside community and great people as well. Yeah, yeah. [00:54:30] Speaker A: We get to know a lot of people. [00:54:30] Speaker C: Miss living there. I mean, having your business there. Yeah. [00:54:33] Speaker B: Well, I'm now in Leslieville and it's not that far of a walk, so. Yeah, I still go to butchers of distinction all the time. Yeah. Best butcher shop, I think. Yeah, yeah. Like that place. [00:54:42] Speaker A: The thing I love about the Riverside community is it's not a lot of national brands because a lot of mom and pop, Great retail, great restaurants, great shops, art galleries, clothing stores, a lot of vintage shops and. And their BIA director, we shout her out all the time. Jennifer Leigh. She's amazing. [00:54:57] Speaker B: She's absolutely fantastic. She's great. [00:54:59] Speaker C: Go, Jennifer. [00:55:00] Speaker A: So, yeah, we will leave that then as the end of the podcast. I want to thank Jason Priest from Frontline Financial once again for joining us. If you want to reach out to him, you can reach out to him at the email that I'm putting here on the screen. [00:55:14] Speaker C: And with regards, Freesin with an S, because it almost sounds like it should be. [00:55:18] Speaker A: Yeah, Freesyn. And is it I, E or E? I, F, R? [00:55:21] Speaker B: I, E, S, E, N. Perfect. [00:55:24] Speaker C: Thank you. [00:55:24] Speaker A: Thank you, Jason. You can follow us, John and Cheryl, at JNC Toronto Group for Insta, Facebook, YouTube on the web. We are also @therealestatepodcast.ca. that's where you can find out all of our 16 episodes now that we have. And you can also subscribe on all your favorite streaming services. So on behalf of all three of us, hope you're having a great day. [00:55:48] Speaker B: Having a great day. [00:55:49] Speaker A: Hope you took a little something away from all the best. [00:55:52] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:55:52] Speaker A: All the best. Take care. Bye. Bye. Bye. You have been listening to therealestatepodcast.ca visit our website for more episodes and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube @jnctorontogroup.