Why Did I Fail You? How This Calgary Independent Mortgage Broker Fell Short—And What I’m Doing About It

Why Did I Fail You? How This Calgary Independent Mortgage Broker Fell Short—And What I’m Doing About It.

Last week, I fell short. I was so immersed in meeting my client's needs that I didn't have time to share tips on saving money on your mortgage. For that, I apologize—but only a little. Why? Because my client’s needs come first, always. Whether it’s securing approvals, pre-approvals, handling possessions, rate holds, or getting crucial documents to underwriters, every task is time-sensitive. And let’s not forget about coordinating with lawyers—those timelines are non-negotiable.

I used to be able to squeeze in extra time in the evenings, but with a newborn at home, my nights are now filled with pacing, burping, changing diapers, and ensuring my little one is doing well. Life is intricate and full, but it wasn’t always this way.

A Glimpse Into Simpler Times

A few years ago, I lived in Banff, where life moved at a different pace. After locking up the bank, I would race home, hop on my bike, and ride into the mountains until darkness forced me back. I remember one evening vividly. I had just reached the top of Tunnel Mountain and was coasting down my favourite trail. I noticed a yellow sign on a tree but didn’t bother to read it—bad move.

Suddenly, I heard something crashing through the bushes like a tank. I glanced over and saw a massive elk charging straight at me. Instinct kicked in, and I swerved back towards the road, hurtling down a steep embankment. The elk was relentless, its hooves pounding the pavement right behind me. At one point, I felt a nudge from its snout on my back—she was trying to knock me down.

Adrenaline surged through me as I pushed my bike faster than I ever thought possible. Just as the elk was about to overtake me again, a car rounded the corner. The driver must have seen the terror in my eyes because they quickly pulled between us, giving me the precious seconds I needed to escape.

 The Motivation of Protection

Later, when the coast was clear, I cautiously returned to read the signs I’d missed. They warned of an aggressive elk protecting her newborn calf. There’s nothing more dangerous than a mother protecting her young and that day, I learned just how true that is.

This instinct to protect is universal, and it’s something I felt deeply when I held my son for the first time. It was as if a switch flipped in my brain—a whole part of me that had been dormant was suddenly wide awake. The flood of emotions was overwhelming, bringing me to tears. I was acutely aware of things that were hard to explain, almost like a heightened sense of common sense triggered by a cascade of chemicals.

This instinct goes beyond just wanting to be a good role model. When my children grow up, I want them to say my name with pride—not just because of my accomplishments, but because of the way I lived my life.

Creating a Legacy Through Passionate Work

So how do I create this legacy? By treating every single client like they’re family. I want to be there for my clients for years to come. If I don’t give my best when it comes to service, rates, products, and education, then how can I expect to grow and flourish? The easiest way to build a legacy is to have pride in your work. Be passionate. Find joy in what you do. These principles are the foundation of my work ethic, and they drive me to work well into the night, every chance I get.

The basics of being an Independent Mortgage Broker in Calgary may be straightforward, but being brilliant at the basics takes time, effort, practice, creativity, and a deep understanding of complex financial concepts. It’s like teaching—anyone can teach, but being a great teacher requires passion, creativity, and the ability to engage students so they don’t end up with drool on their desks.

You won’t fall asleep in my class, I promise. This is how I plan to make up for last week’s missed opportunity—I’ll keep you engaged, informed, and in the zone.

Let’s Connect—It’s Free, and the Value is Priceless

When you need mortgage advice, give me a call. It’s free, and the value you’ll gain is immeasurable. I’m here to ensure you get the best possible service, whether you're buying your first home, refinancing, or simply looking for better mortgage rates.  Don't want to talk to me?  I have an app for that!  Check out the mortgage app that will help as well!

Reach out today, and let’s start building your financial future together.

By: Michael Richmond

If you have $28,000 worth of credit card debt how long would it take you to pay it off making minimum payments?

Did you know all my lessons start with a story?

It was a warm Friday night that I peddled my bike up to the big metal gate topped with barbed wire.   I knew that gate would be closing soon, so I had to do something to get back home without going around the whole base.








I followed the fence line down a bit and hide my bike in some grass behind a shrub.  I then walked back to the road and the gate thinking I was so smart for planning ahead.  In the past, I realized that getting yourself over a fence, with a bike on your back is so much harder when there is barbed wire on the top, you are wearing shorts, and you may or may not have had a pint of Jupiler.    





I was headed to this little place called “My Friends” which often was an off base meeting spot for many of us brats.   Half way between the gate and the little public house, I heard some loud noises which I immediately identified as fireworks, and everybody loves fireworks!   I picked up my pace so I would not miss the show. Moments later I saw in the bush a group of people running. I walked over to them and asked what was up, as I knew them all.   

 They said someone called the Military Police (MP) on them for the fireworks so they were running away.  Just as that was stated I heard a screech, a big flood light hit me like it was day again.   

I was like a deer in head lights.  Flutterpated so to speak.   My peers in the bush, shouted.  "RUN!  RUN! RUN!.."  What did I do? 

I ran. 



 I climbed over the fence that was separating us, and ran into the bush with the flood light on my back.   Sprinting was so easy back then will all the training we did every day.   What was not so easy?  The poison ivy, and stinging nettles and the branches that burned and scratched my legs as I sprinted through the trees till there was no more light from the MP's.

My legs were cut, and I was curdled in a ball in a bush listening to see if they were were being chased. When the coast was clear, I worked my way back to my bike, and it was gone!  The MPs had taken it according to an innocent bystander.   I went to a buddy’s house changed, and went down to the police station to collect my bike which by this time it was 2 in the morning.  

The hour long question period held all sorts of accusations.  They loved questions like, Why did you run?  What were you hiding?  Did you have anything illegal on you like fireworks or drugs?  The receipt of the bike claimed was mailed to my house, and the pick-up time was highlighted for my parents attention, and they did not seem too happy. I think I was in a little bit of trouble.

What does this have to do with saving money on your mortgage?  Two things.

1) If you do what you’re told before thinking things through you could be at risk of very negative consequences. Like signing a mortgage renewal notice from the bank without checking all the rates.
2) Going with the flow, and not changing or asking yourself why or is the a good move could get you into hot water.

Lets pretend for a second you are not very special, and just completely average.  I know hard to imagine.  But, please just imagine here ok?  

Do you know what the average level of consumer debt is?   

First, we take the national average of consumer debt of $28,853 and for the record this is non-mortgage debt!   Things like credit cards, car loans, lines of credit fall into this category.

Second, we average a rate on these credit facilities.  For ease of numbers we can use the average credit card rate of 19.25%

Third, using these numbers we figure out what we would pay per month to pay off just the minimum payments.  This would take you 364 payments to get it paid off.

Forth step is to figure out how long you would take you to pay it off.  We would be sitting at 30.33 years to get it down to zero.
You would have paid in total around $31,943 in interest as well.


What am I saying?  Two things. 
Pay down your principle as fast as possible by making more than your minimum payments when you can.

AND/OR

If you have existing equity take that consumer debt and roll that debt into your mortgage, then take the money you would have been paying on those debts and put it on  your mortgage. 

Why?  If you are paying that high interest rate you are paying most of your payment to interest and not to the principle.  You could save money by consolidating to a lower rate freeing up your cash flow to pay down more on your mortgage!   Lets do the math to make sure it works for and how much money we can save.  I have my calculator ready, give me a call.  I will do the numbers for you for FREE!  Email me.  Call me @ 4038078779.  Or even text if you are not in the mood to talk!

By Michael Richmond

CMHC made an announcement today that they are raising their insurance premiums.

If I was CMHC would I have increased the premiums??

That would not be my master plan that is for sure.   Yes, this could this open the door for the other two private companies can keep their rates the same and increase their market share. However we both know they will more than likely follow suit and raise their premiums as well.  

They stated they are trying to reach their capital targets, which strengthens the financial system.  What I think they might really be doing is still trying to cool off the housing market.
They made over a billion in the first 9 months of 2013, so I am sure that this might not the whole story. 

Last night I was speculating what other announcement would be made, and I thought about privatization, about them making the max loan to value 90% instead of 95%, about the inherent risk if defaults increase faster than the premiums.   For some reason the higher premiums I had doubts as too if this was what they were really going to do.

What is changing?  May 1st, the insurance premiums rate for a new home purchase by 15%.

Here is a chart, but for the 5% down client you are talking about a rate increase of 2.75% to 3.15%





What does that mean for a home worth 750,000 with 5% down?
Well the mortgage would be $712,500 plus the premium of $19,593.75

The new premium would now be $22,443.75

You are still paying interest on that over the 25 years which does work out to $1,323.75 and a monthly increase to your payment of $13.92

What are you paying on the total premium?   $109.59 a month and $10,429.40 in interest over 25 years.

Making the total cost to you: $32,873.15   

I used a low rate of 3.29 as well, so if interest goes back up over the next 25 year you would be paying more!

Call an Alberta Mortgage Broker to get your deal done before May 1st, to save you a little bit extra! 403-807-8779

I was naked, but she was drunk every night!

Being a mortgage broker in Calgary I have three goals.  

1. Making you comfortable with the mortgage process, while making that information relate-able.
2. Saving you the most amount of money possible.
3. Making you fall in love with how I do things so you will share and tell others.

My challenge?  If the goal of a blog is to entertain, gather followers, educate, tell a good story while keeping it real, then where is the line between fun and education. Where do I throw in the awesome that makes you want to share? 

My life is an open book.  Get to know me.  However, you have to keep in mind that if all I do it entertain you with my life's worthy tidbits, you might not learn anything extraordinary or even bother to share.  You would be just sitting back laughing out loud while you should be working, sleeping, or doing something on your priority list.   I hope this will fill the void for both your entrainment needs and your inherent desire to better yourself. After all its easier to like, share, comment on after you have smiled.   

Why do I love helping first time home buyers as a Calgary Mortgage Broker?   Much of it was due to where I lived in the past, as I have seen my fair share of strange from being a renter.

It all began with my first roommate, hours after I moved in, he strutted by me looking in the mirror in the living room and with a straight face asked me if he looked fat.  It did not help that he was in his tightie-whities.  Staff accommodations at the Banff Springs were like that. Needless to say, it was a college dorm, with you having no control over your roommates.   I had a string of people in for a couple of weeks then they were gone from my life.  I had the let's fight on the phone in the middle of the night with my ex, let's bring home girls and have a party at 3:30am, the I don't speak English so I won't talk to you, rather I will just read my book to name a few.

There are so many long stories to tell, and many are not proper for this blog. One of the more interesting roommates was from when I had just moved to Calgary.  I lived in Marda Loop with two girls.  One was a sweetheart who went on to be a realtor....the other?  Where do I begin?

Well, the other loved her red wine so it was a standard event for her to pass out in front of the TV with an empty bottle or two and the red-stained teeth were common.   My bedtime was around 3am back then due to a bad online gaming habit, so often I would get a big glass of homo milk and see her passed out on the couch.   I would drink my milk, rinse my glass, and change the channel to Treehouse. By the 25th time, she was threatening me with bodily harm as it also seemed to be getting just a little bit louder each time.    

OK OK!  I know you are thinking there is no way you were a perfect angel, quit being so judgmental! My confessions?  I would lock myself in my room for the weekend to watch Stargate, or play games with my cousins to the wee hours and geek out.   How I miss the LAN parties of the boys coming over and playing some games.  My current roommate does not let me have those anymore, and she even joined the Facebook group wives against World of Warcraft.  

There is also the morning ritual of shaving my head.  Nobody really likes those tiny little hairs that fell out of my razor when they landed around the sink, on the floor, around the garbage.     

Ohh, and I would occasionally sleep "activity". I say activity because I was never one to just sleep talk or sleepwalk, I took it to the next level.  I would sleep marathon!   Once in a dream, I was the closest to the finish line, and the prize was one million dollars.   I was living paycheque to paycheque so that was a dream come true.  I jumped up, ran to my window, popped out the screen which then fell 15 feet to the ground.  I crawled through the window and went across the tiny window ledge dangling and somehow jumped over to the balcony.  Lifting myself up and started running to the finish line.  Midway across the balcony, I was woken by the realization that in a marathon I should be wearing spandex which kept my private parts from moving to rambunctiously this way and that.    It was dark thankfully, and my arms were bleeding from the ledges of the window that had cut me as I crawled out.  It would have been a much harder time figuring out a way back in the house in the middle of the day with no clothes on.  I tried the back door, and it was locked, and I did not want to try that window again and make my arms worse.  I crept to the front of the house and tried the front door.   It was open.  Now to just sneak back to my room.  I crept up the stairs and I heard it!  Treehouse was still on, and it was loud enough to drown out the snores and my creeping feet on my way back to my little room.

Did you get the moral of the story?  No, it’s not don't sleep naked if you sleep activity.  Its: why rent when you can own!!!??  If you can afford to rent, chances are you can afford a mortgage to buy a home.  Save 5% down, and purchase your own home.  Of course, there are some other costs you should consider, which we can review when we put together your plan.  You can even go in with a buddy if you are feeling a little nervous of the payments.  Or rent out a room or two after and keep it in just your name, just put some good window locks on my room if you are going to rent a room to the likes of me.  

Dependably yours, 

By Michael Richmond

PS:  If you currently rent, ask me about my mortgage management course.   It has a couple good sections of ways to save for your down payment.  We should put a plan together to ensure your dreams of homeownership happen 

Something missing from that new house you just looked at? Let me show you a way to have your perfect home.

This week there has been bidding wars, homes have been sold in a day with multiple offers.  We are looking like another Calgary boom in my humble CIBC Mortgage advisor opinion.  

The question then becomes, do you want to go to war and try to outbid someone for the perfect home?   Or would you consider a fixer upper if you knew I could find a way to renovate it and put that cost into your mortgage?   Why not try for that home that might have been overlooked?  Instead of buying someone else’s dream home you can turn that home that needs a little bit of extra love and make it your dream home.  

I understand the let’s fix it up mentality, as this was one thing my father, and my grandpa had in common.   They loved to fix things up, take things apart and put it back to together in a new an often better way.   This in its own right, is worthy of its own post.   I will get into that one day.

Why buy a house that needs upgrades?  Why buy a place with a less than perfect kitchen, or bathroom?  Why buy a place that is missing a certain type of marble counter top, or did not have two sinks in the bathroom.

Well, often it’s priced knowing that it’s less than perfect.  Did you know that 80% of people walk away from a home because of one small detail?  That leaves just 20% with the imagination, the cash reserves or the knowledge that they can fix up this property and finance it into their mortgage.   You don’t have to keep on shopping for a perfect house which might be far more expensive.

 

It’s called the purchase plus improvement program and it available with 5% down through CMHC, Genworth, and Canada Guarantee.   Each have different guidelines which we will go over below.

How does the purchase plus improvement program work when buying a home?

1.   You can finance on top of your mortgage up to 20% of the “as is” purchase price of your property for improvements after closing so long as it does not exceed $40,000.  You can have more more under one of the programs.

2.   The allowable improvements are vast: Anything that you can’t remove from the property like a dishwasher, or fridge, UNLESS IT’S A BUILT IN.  Complete remodel of kitchens, roof, bathrooms, flooring plumbing, and electrical are often the goal of these projects.  Not allowed is fixing something like a furnace that should have been working in the first place!

3.   The property must be appraised based on current value and then on value after improvements.

4.   We get a couple of bids from contractors, and the lenders approves one.  The funds are held with the solicitor until the work is completed, which means that unless you have the cash upfront we have to make sure we use one that will take payment from the lawyer when it’s complete.  Left overs go back to the lender and applied back on the principle.

What are the benefits and strategies to using the Purchase plus improvements program?

Perfect for that one little issue you might not like, or needs to be improved.

Ideal for first time home buyers that do not have the additional funds for improvements after closing and cannot afford the upgrades they desire to modernize or improve their new property. Not to mention, you are immediately increasing the value and equity in your property and spreading the cost over a 25 year amortization in your mortgage.

These three improvements programs give you the ability to look at homes that need a little more love.  You can actually build up several thousands of dollars in equity using this process.  This was instead of buying a home that has already been renovated the way someone else loved and for their ideals it’s then all about you. Why pay more for something that you don’t think is perfect? Just include the renovation costs in your mortgage loan and renovate to make it yours!

What is the fine print in the purchase plus improvements for each insurer?

Each insurer is different when it comes to premiums, Loan to Value, Amortization, and eligible properties, and they are very competitive in most cases.

There are difference when it comes to how much money you can get from them as well.

• CMHC Improvement: 

  10% cap on the as improved market value they will put into the mortgage.  Currently they don’t have a cap for dollar amount but will not insure over 1 million, with a 2.75% premium, and if you have a non standard down payment its 2.90%

• Canada Guarantee Purchase Advantage Plus: 

  Full Appraisal required for improvement exceeding 20% "as is" value of $40,000.  This premium is 2.9% for 5%

• Genworth Purchase Plus Improvements: 

  20% of initial value not exceeding $40,000.   Government grants will be considered if pre-approved. With a 2.75% fee with 5% down.

Just remember that you will have to tell your realtor to add a condition in your Agreement to Purchase that says you want a contractor to inspect the home before closing. Then the contractor will provide a quote that breaks down the work and the costs.

Tell your realtor that you want to do purchase plus improvements and get them a Mortgage Advisor who knows how to structure the deal and who to call to get things done.  Yes, I am always more than willing to help clients through the process, all for the very low fee of nothing at all.

Dependably yours,

Michael