Well it’s taken us several years of trial and error with various financial planners, buying mutual funds or stocks directly for us to figure out that WE actually manage our money better than anyone else can.

We’ve found that no one else has OUR best interests at heart. That shouldn’t come as a really big surprise, but it took us many attempts at people saying how “they” can do a much better job than another CFP or better than “the market” or ETFs (index funds) or guaranteed funds. Everyone giving us advice, insider tips, how to do puts and calls and how to cover these calls in case your prediction doesn’t come true.

The melt down at the end of last year kind of turned into a wake up call for us. We saw things sliding and these were supposed to be some of the best fund managers on the planet. We figured at this rate it would be better for us to sell. Cut our losses and re-invest when we start to see signs of life. I don’t recall when we pulled out (what was left) of the market, but well before the “STORM” of 2008 (has anyone named this event yet or are we still in it and can’t label it until we are clearly out of “IT”).

So we sat there and wondered what would be a good indicator as to when to get back in the market. Nothing showed promise and then all of a sudden the bottom fell out of the market. I think we were the only happy people at the time. If you know my wife, she doesn’t buy anything unless it’s on sale. Now we were looking at EVERYTHING being on sale. New problem. What to buy? When? How will we know it will recover? When will it recover if ever? What has survived previous recessions?

We decided upon things that are “blue chip”. The Coke’s & John Deere’s of the stock world. Bought low and sold on the way up. The one thing we did learn, never try to sell at the top, always on the way up.

So, we made back some of our cash, but not a lot or not enough to cover the losses for the last…ew… dare I say 10 years?

We decide to look at our overall portfolio and decide what was making us the greatest return and focus on how and why that worked. Guess what we discovered. All the funds we used in our RRSP and LIRAs that were lend out as mortgages were out performing every and all things (combined?) we’ve done related to the market/stocks/mutuals.

Now if that doesn’t make you stop and think for a minute.

Let’s get this right. We love the whole concept of investing in real estate to create positive cashflow. We didn’t know what to do with our LIRA, but found out that we could lend it out as a private mortgage to people who otherwise wouldn’t/couldn’t qualify for a mortgage with a bank (forget it)/sub-prime lender.

Major risk factor, I hear everyone saying. Well, not if you look at the overall deal. There’s almost always a story. Divorce. Death in the family. Illness. Even a double bankrupt (usually as a result of one of the previous). As long as you never exceed 85% loan to value (LTV) then there always should be some equity in the deal. If there is no equity, no story or you don’t believe the story… you walk. Too much risk.

If they stop paying, you can go power of sale or foreclosure. One gives you control the other ownership. These are not exactly fun options, nor quick but you do always have that security. Unlike the stock market, the value of the property isn’t suddenly going to go to zero overnight. You can rent out the property to cover the mortgages. There are creative solutions IF you are in the right frame of mind.

This leads us to MICs or Mortgage Investment companies. What the heck is this? These are companies that pool peoples investment funds and lend them out on various mortgages (first, seconds, thirds… forths). Rates increase with the higher risk of the position and/or remaining equity. Today most only go to 80% LTV. 85% if the deal is really strong. The interest earned then goes back into the pool and can be paid out as a dividend to the investors or re-invested into another mortgage.

Little known tip. you can earn dividend income up to $40K+ tax free. I know of one smart business owner that only pays himself dividend income. Sweet.

There’s even a company in town that does something similar only instead of pooling the funds they lend out one to one (lender to borrower). They try to match up what you have and what a borrower needs. They take their cut as the middle man. Everyone goes home happy. Client gets the funds they need. Lender gets great returns on their money/RRSP.

Along the way, we have also discovered a really nifty book called the Lazy Investor by Derek Foster. This is the ONLY method of buying stock (automatically, thus no broker fees) that I’ve seen that works. We’ve started on this (bought a few bank stocks with SIP & DRIP options) and are quite happy with the results. As long as the companies declare an stock dividend, we gain. Mostly independent of the stock price which I think is the cool part as I had watching stock prices rise/fall randomly. Time will tell on this option, but the only set it and forget it method that I’ve seen that so far seems to just work. Still not as good as today’s mortgages that we hold, but this is one of those snowball things that grows over time.

And the Mac? Well that’s just me. I’m a Mac fanboy as they say. And I’ve just heard that there are a couple people who will be buying (or have bought) a Mac for the office. New iMacs were just released and I can’t wait to see how that new “super mouse” works with touch technology. Me thinks I’ll be doing a little more IT work at work getting these people up and running.

Must come down…. Spinnin’ Wheel, got to go ’round. – Blood, Sweat & Tears. Love that song. Always think it’s the band Chicago.

Well all the excitement seem to start a little over a week ago when the Australian  central bank decided to raise it’s prime rate by a quarter point.

Can we say jittery markets in Canada? No sooner do I get what I have to call the lowest rate for the season and submit a deal I’ve been sitting on for months, then the following week do the rates jump. It’s like a game of cat and mouse. Well I have one really happy client at 3.74 (yes, I’m still having problems typing 3 as the first digit) and a couple of investors who just missed the rate drop literally by days.

So as far as I can tell, no real pressure in the market to jump the rates by 35 Bps or more and just today I received an email from a lender indicating that they are already starting to drop their rates again. I’m guessing over the next month… just like the previous 3 years… we will start to the rates drop slightly again as the slower Christmas season approaches. Come January, we’ll likely be back at 3.74 or maybe even 3.64 the lowest I saw it earlier this year.

Rest assured come February the rates will go up again like clock work in anticipation of an upswing in purchases. Call it an early thaw in the market but it seems we Canadians can’t hold off from buying real estate for much longer than 2 months (Dec/Jan). By the time March hits, the snow is starting to melt and the deferred maintenance project rear their ugly heads.

Speaking of ugly heads, got an email from one lender “touting” how they kept their rates down as long as they could, which naturally attracts more deals than anyone lender can handle and now they’re back to 4 day turn arounds. I’d argue they never left the 4 day mark, but that’s just my perspective. You know them. Heck, I even dedicated an entire blog post to them, thanks to their overly complex lending matrix. I just got the impression that they were saying “hey, look at us. we did our very best for you brokers.” Ya, except that his has to be the ONLY time I’ve ever seen them NOT lead the market change.

In other somewhat mysteriously unrelated news, variable rates keep coming down. Funding for this segment of the market is obviously continuing to rebound. Curious how it seems independent of the fixed market. Who knows, maybe by January we’ll be back to prime minus 50 bps and all those people renewing will begin to breathe again.

Absolutely bonkers couple of weeks. I finally sat down with my new admin (I’m sure she’ll post a comment shortly after I post this missive) and a new broker that I’m trying to get up to speed to share the load. I keep looking at the active files and the time I have and figure I’ll just have to give up sleep for a week or so. I’ll be fine… really. (Says he who’s eyes are now tired and red, having problems focusing on this page, trying to think of that one critical item he thinks he’s forgotten to do…)

I must say having an assistant has been a Godsend this week. I can focus on clients requests and have the administration side of things be taken care of at the same time.

I knew eventually I would get to this point. The first thing my coach told me was I needed to find an assistant.For those following along at home, yes this is part of the mortgage marketing package I’ve spoken about previously. It’s almost like they knew my world was about to explode.

Well let’s hope with my “new” team that I will be able to close 3/4′s of the deals that are currently active in my queue. We’re still working on coordinating electronic documents between us. Unfortunately I’m the bottleneck… Hm. Maybe I can get faxes to go to two different email addresses simultaneously. I’ll have to check into that idea… or use that Gmail account I set up about a year ago and give everyone access.

If I could just get a Google Wave account… would that even work? Each wave could be a client. Client could have “sub” waves if there is such a thing for buying rental properties. Sounds cool.

For now I’ll just smile & wave.

Well folks, it’s been a SUPER busy… month? Quarter? It’s been so long I can’t remember when it started. I recall a break for a vacation and then a short lull at the end of August.

This week I managed to accomplish something I’ve never done before. Close a deal, start to finish in 5 business days. No, not a typo. Five (5). Like the number of fingers on your hand.

Folks, I really have to recommend you not try this at home or at least with your local mortgage broker. They might have to put you in the insane asylum. Believe me I thought this guy was nuts when he told me it HAD to close next week. Aye carumba! I put up the usual defences, like the lender requires 5 business days just to confirm all the documentation. To top it all off, he’s self-employed (franchise owner). I’m going to need a stack of paperwork from you. “OK, what do you need?”

At this point I decide to call a lender who has given me the straight goods in the past. I’ve tried 3 day closings in the past with other lenders only to get an auto reject. I had to avoid that and at the same time give the lender the heads up that indeed we seriously needed to close in a week. I make the call and they say as long as it is in well before the close of business today, they should be able to do it. What are the critical documents you need? Personal taxes (NOA) and proof of downpayment. I was stunned the list was so short, but didn’t complain.

Phone call came in at 1PM. I had the requested documents in my inbox at 3PM and submitted the deal by 3:30. BOOM! Got the commitment Friday 3PM. Didn’t sign until Monday, which the lender was none too pleased about. Submitted ALL the documents and checked with the lawyer on Tuesday. He had just received the instructions. I couldn’t believe it.

So, I have to say Kudos to Laurentian for getting this deal done for me. Who knows I might have a client for life now, unless he comes to me 5 days before closing again. In which case, I’ll just have to shoot him.

The silver lining in all this? In order to get deals done this fast, I had to get my “status” upgraded to PMPP (preferred mortgage partner …person?). What this means is now I owe them deals as I now have a funding target/ratio I MUST maintain. The real goal here they say is to feed them deals regularly. The do check stats, but as long as I can send them at least 3 deals a month (from my “to be” franchise group), I should be able to maintain this status. Benefits to my customers? 20 Bps off the lowest discounted rates, which today is THE best rate, for fixed and an additional 10 bps off variable. How sweet is that?

For those following along with the marketing saga. The update this week is I just seem to keep running into either little obstacles or some lead generation marketing plan that starts off well, but then ends with some new monthly expense. Of course the idea is if it even generates 1 deal that closes, it’s paid for itself. I just get the impression I might die from a thousand cuts before I get that one deal. I persist. I have to give it my best shot, but man it can get discouraging when I run into a little snag & then start to investigate some new strategy and discover a new cost.

Fortunately he has a forum where the owner himself answers all the questions and/or points you in the right direction. Lets hope he can answer my latest diatribe when I get around to writing it. I’m hoping for a few hours tomorrow.

It’s like a small whirlwind has touched down and suddenly my expenses just went through the roof and I see someone nickel & dime me and all I can think is I need to plug the wholes in the boat before she sinks. The proverbial, cutting my nose off to spite my face.

There’s not much to get excited about but I think the stress of being so busy and doing so much is starting to wear on me.

“Captain, I dunna think the engine’s can handle much more.”

“Ya, canna break the laws of physics.”