Renewal Options

Tracy Head • January 26, 2024

It feels like I’m harping on the subject of mortgage renewals, and that may well be the case.


Many of my conversations with clients right now are deep dives into renewal options.


One of my calls this week really struck me. I was talking to Jim (name changed of course), a new client whose mortgage is currently with one of the big banks.


After we worked through the initial questions I start with, he shared that the renewal department of his current bank had started calling him in December. His mother had just had a stroke and he was at the hospital with her.


He tried to tell the renewal officer that it was a bad time. The person calling kept pushing him to commit to locking into a 5 year fixed term for his renewal and told him this ”great rate” would not be available if he didn’t commit that day.


He hung up. The renewal officer called repeatedly, sometimes up to three times per day.


Once I had a better idea of Jim’s situation and plans for the future we chatted about options for him.


As it turns out, he is on the home stretch towards having his mortgage paid out. More important is his plan to retire in three years, sell this home, and move to a smaller home that he already owns in the Oliver area.


He had no idea that he could even choose a three-year term. He has always gone with a five-year term thinking that was his only option.


We played with some figures to see how he could pay his mortgage off within his three-year plan. In his case, he will be staying with his current lender because that makes the most sense given his timeframe to retire and sell his home.


The eye-opening takeaway for me was the high-pressure sales tactic used by the renewal officer. Not all banks nor renewal officers operate the same way, but they often don’t take the time to get to know the clients they are working with never mind offer them options and solutions with the clients’ needs in mind.


If you have a mortgage renewal coming up over the next few months I encourage you to reach out to a mortgage professional to look into your options. Your renewal is the best time to make changes to your mortgage so it is important to invest some time to make sure you make the decision that is best for you, not your bank.

Tracy Head

Mortgage Broker

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By Tracy Head October 4, 2025
Is this the right time to buy a home? Who has your best interests at heart? Buying a home can be either an incredibly exciting experience or a very stressful time. Or it can be a combination of both. Part of the challenge can be committing to the decision to move forward with buying a home. How do you know if you are ready? How do you know if this is the right time to buy? I love working with first-time home buyers. I particularly love when they reach out well ahead of time to do their research and get their ducks in a row. I have been working with one such young lady. She has been watching for the right home to pop up. She fell in love with one of the listings that she viewed and moved forward with an offer. She reached out to her investment advisor to make arrangements to move the funds she needed for her deposit from her investments to her bank account. Oddly he did not reply to her three phone calls nor multiple emails. She was forced to walk into his office to deal with this. When she got there he essentially told her she was foolish for buying a home. She should leave her funds in her investments and continue to save with him. She agonized for a few days and ultimately collapsed her offer. He told her that this house, over the long run, was going to cost her $1,000,000. The purchase price was $650,000. The total of the purchase price plus interest over the long run seemed like an astronomical sum. He persuaded her that she would be better off continuing to rent and that at the end of the same time period she would have over $1,000,000 in her investment account. That’s all well and good in theory. In the meantime she still needs a place to live. And there are no guarantees as to what investments will do over time, nor what property values will do. I did some math to see what this actually looked like long term. We have to make some assumptions that the financial advisor is good at what he does and that her investments will do well over the long term. As a rule real estate appreciates over time and rent increases over time. That being said, here is the math I did. Making some assumptions that the mortgage rate stays the same and your rent never increases: $2400 rent per month x 360 months (30 years) = $864,000 $2833 per month mortgage payment x 360 months = 1,019,880 (monthly payments / I suggest you go bi-weekly to pay off quicker) At the end of 30 years renting you have nothing to show for the $864,000 you’ve paid out. At the end of 30 years paying your mortgage you will have a home free and clear – normally real estate increases in value over time so in theory it will be worth way more than what you’ve paid. If you wait another year to buy $2400 x 12 = $28,800 towards someone else’s mortgage. Here’s the wild card. If you choose to rent and choose to invest in a portfolio instead of buying, even if your portfolio is worth $1,000,000 at the end of the same time frame you need to subtract the $864,000 you paid in rent. This leaves you with a net gain of $136,000. If you had purchased a home, your payments of $1,019,880 would be offset by the value of the home you purchased. In this case, assuming no change in value, you now have a home worth $650,000 paid off. The wild card to run these comparisons is how much you need to invest monthly to accumulate the $1,000,000. Either way, you are making this payment on top of your rent payment. Another wild card of course is what property values and investment portfolios do over time. We know rent will continue to increase and mortgage rates will change but I think it warrants looking at this from another perspective. I am not a proponent of aggressive scare tactics so was disappointed in how this advisor handled his conversation with her.  Some people are more cautious with their financial plans and I appreciate that. Being certain about your long-term goals will help you navigate the path forward that suits your own situation. Make sure you have trusted people in your corner as you make these big life decisions.
By Tracy Head September 22, 2025
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