We hear so much about the 99% and the 1%. Self-appointed agitators for “average people” (the 99%), are protesting the greed of the top corporations, the so-called “1%”.
Particularly irksome are the huge bonuses paid to the top wigs at these corporations, especially the banks. These are the same guys who got bailed out when they nearly brought down the economy 3 years ago. The little guys, the 99%, many of whom lost their homes in the crisis, didn’t get bailed out. In fact, in the U.S., some of the bailout money came from the taxes paid by the very people who lost their homes!
In Canada, the situation was not nearly as serious. No banks got bailed out because no banks were in serious trouble. Did their top dogs get bonuses? Yes, huge! The CEO’s of Canada’s top five banks each got between $6.5 and $8.6 million in bonuses in 2010 (besides their salaries of more than $1 million each). But, at least we didn’t feather their bed with tax-payer’s money.
The reason Canadian banks didn’t need bail-outs out was because we had rules. Big rules. Our laws didn’t let the banks take the kinds of risks American banks took, and didn’t leave them vulnerable to collapse. So they stayed strong through the crisis, and even bought up a whole bunch of failed American banks.
Which was a good thing, of course, because yours and my money didn’t go to those guys (except, of course, from our bank fees, etc.). And few Canadians lost their homes.
But it was also a bad thing! It was a bad thing because it helped to create the 40%. Never heard of that group? Well, it’s estimated that 35-40% of Canadians who can afford a mortgage cannot get one because of bank rules—both Canadian laws and bank policies. And the banks have to apply those rules across the board, no consideration of special circumstances or creative solutions. So what’s good for Canada isn’t necessarily good for you.
So, if you’re short of 5% down, if your credit score is a little lower than they’d like, if you’re self-employed, recently divorced or a new immigrant, or have gone through bankruptcy recently, they won’t (and in some cases, can’t) consider you for a mortgage.
Rent-to-own programs are designed to help exactly those people in the 40%. They can be creative to address individual circumstances. They provide short-term solutions to get people out of renting and into their own homes, providing the time needed to meet bank criteria, while already enjoying their new homes.
At Fraser Valley Rent 2 Own, our goal is to help you meet the bank criteria within a period of (usually) 2 years. We can’t work miracles, but if we think that, within that period, we can work together with you to elevate your situation to where the banks will say YES, then we will approve you for our program.
If you are in that 40%, I urge you to check out our program. Just fill out a brief online application on our web site to get started.
Click here for an instant application.
Click here for previous blog posts.
