Mortgage 101 – pride community and homeownership | July 2022 Part 1

In this episode of Mortgage 101 with Clinton Wilkins and Todd Veinotte, as heard on CityNews 95.7 and CityNews 101.1, the guys talk about the pride community and homeownership. Pride in Halifax is coming up, and Clinton Wilkins Mortgage Team is hosting a Pride and Homeownership Workshop you won’t want to miss! The panel will have a lawyer, realtor and mortgage professional on the panel to talk about all things related to homeownership and the pride community!

Mortgage 101 with Clinton Wilkins & Todd Veinotte: pride community and homeownership

Don’t feel like watching the video? Check out the transcript below.

Transcript:

Pride in Halifax is coming up!

Todd Veinotte: [00:00:00:03] So it’s you want to talk pride?

Clinton Wilkins: [00:00:02:02] It’s pride. And pride is starting next week here in Halifax on the 14th of July. If you’re downtown Halifax, you can certainly visit our office on George Street and you will see some beautiful pride decals that are going to be colouring our windows. And we are doing a workshop. We are doing a workshop around homeownership.

You know what’s open to everybody. We’re very inclusive here, and we’re doing it outside on our terrace, weather permitting, and we have a host that’s going to be hosting it and we have a realtor and a lawyer. And I’m going to be sitting on the panel and it’s going to be basically an hour workshop talking about homeownership.

Obviously, we’ll talk maybe a little bit about the issues and stigma around, you know, inclusivity and homeownership. I think some of the lowest percentage, homeownership percentage, is from the queer community. And I think that needs to change.

Queer community among one of the lowest home owner demographics

Todd Veinotte: [00:01:01:26] Why do you think that is?

Clinton Wilkins: [00:01:02:28] I think sometimes there are some socioeconomic challenges. I think there’s maybe some challenges like building community. I think, you know, in the past, there certainly have been probably some challenges around, you know, not being accepted and stuff like that.

And, you know, I think even when it comes to lenders, you know, we talked about this a couple of years ago. There were a lot of questions from lenders when there was maybe two male borrowers or two female borrowers, let alone someone who may be non-binary or whatever. You know, they asked more additional questions. And it wasn’t maybe about the risk, but maybe, maybe it was I don’t know. I think it’s just about having the conversation.

And I think that when you own a home, you can certainly build better ties in the community. And, you know, we’ve talked about it, owning a home sometimes is the biggest asset that a family has or a household has. And, you know, obviously, it’s the biggest purchase. It’s the biggest purchase of your life. And the mortgage can be the biggest debt. But I think breaking down some of that stigma and having the information, information’s power, obviously that’s why we do this show, Todd.

Attend our Pride and Homeownership Workshop

Clinton Wilkins: [00:02:15:20] And I think doing things like this workshop is going to be really cool. So if you want to come to the workshop, you can go to our website at TeamClinton.ca/Radio. There is a link right from the main page that you can go in. There’s an Event Bright, it’s a free event, and the event is also on the Pride website so you can get your tickets there. It’s on the 21st. So we’d love for people to come down.

Our listeners, love for you to come down and check out our panel. We’d love to have you. And you know, we’re going to be talking what the perspective is from a lawyer. You know, maybe there are some different concerns for the queer community around how do you take the title? In Nova Scotia you can take the title as joint tenants or tenants in common. What’s better? So we’ll certainly talk a little bit about that and what some of the legal repercussions can be. You know, maybe talk a little,

Todd Veinotte: [00:03:07:24] This must be one of the first of its kind? A mortgage company to be doing something like this?

We will have a lawyer, realtor and mortgage professional on the panel

Clinton Wilkins: [00:03:11:13] Yeah, you know, I think that people do workshops all the time. We’ve actually done a workshop for Pride pre-pandemic. We used to do them at the library and we used to have a really good turnout. And some of the people that came to our workshop actually became homeowners, which I think is really, really cool. You know, obviously some people came through us. Sometimes they, you know, they’ll go to a different mortgage lender. But having the information, I think, is so, so cool.

And we’re going to have a realtor there. So we’re going to talk about what that looks like and that and that process. And I’m going to be there to answer anything that you may want to know about mortgage lending. So as you know, I can talk about mortgage lending, obviously, for an hour long, many times a year. And I’ve never met a mic I didn’t like.

Why is homeownership the “Canadian Dream?”

Todd Veinotte: [00:03:55:05] So when it comes to homeownership, you talk about the biggest purchase and we know all of that, but you call it the Canadian dream. Why do you think, I guess it’s self explanatory in many ways, but what are some of the main reasons why it’s such a dream and such a thrill for people to get into a house? You see this all the time.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:04:15:00] Well, I think when you own a home, you’re kind of controlling your own destiny. So many Canadians rent, whether that’s in the queer community or heteronormative community or whatever. There’s are so many renters out there. And as you know, right now with rentals, we had like a 1 per cent vacancy. So rentals are challenging and the rents are increasing.

When you own a home, you know, you can pay down your mortgage, you can improve the property, you can do renovations, you can make it your own. And it’s a safe, secure place for you to live. And I think when you own a home, it provides that level of security. And I think that’s why Canadians love homeownership so much. We have one of the highest population percentages of homeowners in the developed world, and homeownership is typically more affordable than it is to rent.

And I think, even with the interest know increase in borrowing costs, I think it’s still more affordable today than renting and you can control that. And I think that’s why Canadians are, you know, have such pride in homeownership. And, you know, I think homeownership is part of the Canadian dream.

Some people never want to own homes, and that’s okay

Todd Veinotte: [00:05:33:01] So there are people out there, though, there are exceptions, I guess, is what I’m getting at. And for some people, they don’t want the liability or any of that. They just want to pay their rent and that’s fine and it’s not for everybody.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:05:43:29] I think that’s easier. But the one thing that you don’t get when you pay your rent is you don’t get an asset that appreciates and you don’t have a debt that you’re paying down. So I think if you’re if you’re paying if you’re renting, that’s cool, too. But you need to put some money aside. The challenge is it’s really hard to put as much money aside as it is to pay down a mortgage and to have the appreciation of a home. And obviously, homeownership comes with a risk.

As we know in Halifax, the average home price is around $500,000, which means the household income needs to be. Above $100,000 to qualify for that type of home. And that is above our average household income in Nova Scotia. So typically you need two borrowers to buy a home. And I think in the queer community it’s not always two people that are in a relationship.

Multiple borrowers on an application

I have certainly seen many more applications that have three borrowers. That is becoming more normal. And I think with the cost of real estate, we’re going to see that happening more and more. And are the three people in a relationship? I think sometimes they likely are.

Todd Veinotte: [00:06:50:13] You don’t even have to live in the house.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:06:52:02] No, you know, there certainly have been situations where there have been a couple and a co-signer. There have been maybe three friends that buy a home together. Maybe there’s three people that are in a relationship together that are buying a home. That is acceptable and, honestly, it’s more of the norm now than it ever used to be.

When I started 18 years ago, if they were two men on an application, they asked what the relationship was. Legally, unless you are domestic partners in the province of Nova Scotia, we put single and single and then I have another pull down that I’ll say, What’s the relationship to each borrower, and I’ll put couple and they still come back and ask.

But now, guess what? There’s not as many questions about what the relationships are, because I think there’s so many different scenarios out there. Lenders included are certainly becoming a lot more inclusive, and I think that is really kind of paved the way for more people.

Todd Veinotte: [00:07:50:04] Again, it’s good business for them, right? Obviously.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:07:52:16] It certainly is. It certainly is. And for me, I think building the community and I think buying a home, it’s a great way to, you know, support, support the community as well.

Check out our website and blog for more great information!

Todd Veinotte: [00:08:04:10] All right. So if people want to know more about Clinton Wilkins, what’s the best way to do so? Because there’s so many things to know about what you guys do.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:08:10:17] Yeah. The first place to start is to check us out online at TeamClinton.ca/Radio. Lots of great information on there. Recently we’ve hit now over 600 blog posts and you can also find the link to our Pride and Homeownership Workshop. It is right there on the website.

Todd Veinotte: [00:08:28:00] Clinton always a pleasure. Thank you so much. We’ll do this next month.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:08:30:12] Thanks for having me, Todd.

Todd Veinotte: [00:08:31:07] All right. That’s Mortgage 101: Your Guide to Homeownership with Clinton Wilkins, and myself, Todd Veinotte. We’ll see you next month.

If you have any questions, get in touch with us at Clinton Wilkins Mortgage Team! You can call us at (902) 482-2770 or contact us here.