In The Beginning…

Hello,

This is the first of hopefully many blog posts that I will be doing in the future. I am a Mortgage Broker working out of the downtown core of Vancouver, Canada, and have noted a widespread lack of information available to people regarding mortgages, financing, how it works, tips, tricks, and strategies to maximize the amount they can be approved for, and minimize the amount of interest they pay. Whenever I attend industry trade shows, I am boggled by the amount of information out there that I need to assimilate on a daily basis, and have become aware that there is simply not enough time for the average person to try and fit this info into their daily lives.

The purpose of this blog is not just to cram the web with more mortgage product details, arcane jargon, tales of sub prime woe, and debt / leverage fear mongering. The purpose will be to teach people, in everyday english (hopefully with some humour thrown in for good measure) how they can use mortgages for a variety of purposes such as:

1. Buying their first home
2. Upgrading to a new home
3. Buying an investment property
4. Consolidating debts
5. Leveraging for investment purposes
6. Bailing out of a foreclosure
7. Developing land
8. Constructing new homes

There are lots of very valid reasons why using debt is a good thing. Owing money is not always bad, and there are times when it can be very good depending on the use to which it is put.

I also invite other industry professionals to post on this blog and have their say as well. There are many conflicting strategies on how best to use a mortgage and debt, and I’m happy to have my opinion swayed and changed by other articulate individuals whose opinion may run contrary to my own.

Hopefully there are a few other mortgage brokers out there that can see the noted lack of info and discussion available on these topics, and will post and add their insight where possible. If there is one thing that I’ve learned in the years I’ve been in banking and finance, it’s that experience does matter whether you are advising people on first time buying decisions, or complicated land/development situations. If anyone has a focused, unique background that can add to the dialogue, please please please add your input. I’d rather have constructive, accurate discussion occuring rather than random speculation.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to email or contact me directly if you have any questions that relate to your personal situation and would like me to answer them, not on the blog, to preserve your privacy. Any questions of a personal nature that are brought to my attention will be dealt with privately unless the affected parties provide me permission, in writing, to disclose the nature of their question on this blog. I presently cannot see any reason why this would arise, but I’d like that fact to be clear.

Sincerely,

Rowan Smith, AMP

~ by merc359 on December 5, 2007.