I’ve got a massive Butternut tree behind my house that needs to come down, 4’ in diameter at the base. They’re protected but turns out this one is a “hybrid” so apparently it can come down without any red tape. We’ve been getting prices in the $10,000 range.
How`s your house pricing doing?..
- Thread starter Glenn/RZ500
- Start date
What's their plan? I am assuming climbing and chunk it down as that seems cheap for a crane job. Removal of all wood included? Stump removal?
He’s going to climb it and drop it down in pieces, get rid of the wood and grind the stump. We had an option to use a crane to drop it down in larger pieces to sell the wood, apparently Butternut is very desirable but there seems to be a surplus due to recent storms.
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I have no sympathies for those milking systems although I do think Canada could have done more with licencing degree and certificate mills.
I lived in Brampton for quite a long time.. moved out last fall. I watched that all happen.. and am seeing it come undone. There’s not many place you can live in Brampton.. and not have one of those “rooming” houses on your street. From apartments to townhouses to 15k sq/ft mansions… even industrial units.. everywhere. Most often.. those houses get bought and renovated for that purpose and ruined.. there’s a couple of RE agents and a councillor that are know for it.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
Some banks are starting to roll back HELOCS in Peel and Halton, an acquaintance who lives in Burlington just had theirs rolled back by $120k to bring it into the banks comfortable ratio.
Looks like the day of HELOCs = ATM is coming to an end for some.
Mine rolled back last year. A trivial amount, about 1%. Total HELOC+mortgage is ~50% of FMV. Doesn't really matter to me, I don't plan on maxing HELOC.
Friends HELOC was rolled back when she was recently widowed , they said it was to balance her ability to repay if maxed out . That’s probably fair ( for the bank) . Mine sits at several hundred k , in case there’s an emergency and I need to buy a cottage or a yacht . Hopefully never going to need it .
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Meanwhile my friends are close to 1,000,000 in debt and banks keep calling to extend their HELOC.
House
2 investment properties
Cars
Vacations
All financed by HELOC on their 200k combined salaries with only minimum payments being made.
‘We’ll start denting the principal next year’ is the same line every year.
All loans are sub 2% and renewing this fall and spring of 2027.
410001661
Well-known member
This is the best news I have heard in a long long time
Could be. But that 'harsh reality' has been predicted for them for a decade...yet they continue to prosper and thrive. In all honesty all they'll probably do is just extend the amortization on the loans, get more credit, and go on another vacation.
I don't have the balls to take on that type of risk, and sometimes want to get back into landlord game...but in the end I'd rather just invest.
Turns out I'm fairly lazy when it comes to that stuff.
Glenn/RZ500
Well-known member
A while back I read that Global News reported that Canadians had about 231 Billion outstanding HELOC debt at the end of `25, up from 219 the previous year. Wonder how many kids are planning on a big inheritance? BZZZZT ! ...wrong answer honey.
Same experience, "Sorry for your loss, please use your heloc for unexpected expenses, btw we're cutting it by 50%"
Or not.
If they've been paying about 2% and just making interest payments they're in for a massive shock when these loans get refinanced at rates 2.5 - 3 times the rate they're now paying.
On $1M @ 2% they're paying $20k in interest alone. At 5% it would be $50k.
Add to this issue is that one or more of the house they live in or the 2 investment properties may well be worth less than they were valued at for the original loan, potentially limiting what the bank will approve in the refinancing.
So far they've left my mom's alone. When my dad died, family income dropped by ~40%. I told her to expect it to be cut so she isn't caught off-guard. Thankfully, she just has it for quick liquidity, so even if it was cut 75%, it would fulfill her needs.
In your case, that was especially egregious as their risk exposure was far less after she died even without touching heloc.
Add this to the list of reasons I try to keep heloc much larger than I need. If they make adjustments, they don't matter. If it was sized to what I want access too and they trimmed 10% of everyone, that would be annoying. Also large availability keeps utilization low which makes credit score happy. It's all a game but you might as well play when it costs nothing.
On a slightly related note, I have a bunch of room I can add to heloc. I want to open multiple helocs (up to three I think) to make borrow to invest easier and cleaner to track. If I add the room to existing heloc, it is at prime. If I add it to a new heloc at same institution, they want prime +0.5. Wtf. I need to talk to them and see if a human can override that stupidity. I am ok with the same total room, I just want it in three buckets instead of one.
Very possible.
I'm sure they'll be fine and be able to weather the storm.
There's a certain mindset that can deal with that level of stress...I'm not that risky, and prefer to be much more conservative in my approach.
The jump from <2% to 3-4% in rates will probably sting, but a lot can still happen.
I'm up for renewal in Jan...and while I was planning on going fixed...I may just stay on the variable band wagon.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
What you might consider is converting a portion of your HELOC borrowing to a FRO. This changes a portion of your HELOC from revolving to installment credit, which is cheaper for you -- about 95 basis points difference at TD these days. The overall amount you're approved for doesn't change. You can have as many FROs inside a HELOC as you like.
You save on interest however, the FRO payments are a bit higher because you're amortizing the FRO portion over a term of up to 30 years.
FROs are not well understood by consumers -- or bankers! If you use a HELOC and plan to pay it down over time, a FRO is a no brainer way to save money. $100K paid back over 25 years would save you $32 over the term.
RIght now, HELOC balance is zero. I am just setting things up as when markets inevitably fall, I borrow to dump money into markets. The last time I did it, some money went into TFSA, some went into non-reg. All dividends went to loan payments. As more TFSA room became available, I'd move securities across. That meant that the eligible vs non-eligible percentage was constantly changing. I tracked it all in a spreadsheet but it would be cleaner to have two separate accounts for this purpose.
I hadn't heard of FRO's. Will add that to my list of things to investigate. I don't think they give me the flexibility I need for the above scenario (as TFSA loan increases yearly) but an FRO to track the non-reg (and deductible) loan might work. The goal is to pay off the loans as quickly as possible with dividends (especially the TFSA loan as it is non-deductible). It looks like Scotia includes FRO's in their three account limit within HELOC. That may come back to the lack of understanding by bankers/web team.
Never heard of FROs...but will look into them now.
Thinking of either a mortgage / HELOC on the cottage.
