Useless Thread

[Rick C.]

Seems every 5th tweet from 680 news for like the last two months is about a pedestrian being struck in the 416. Just what the hell is going on down there?

It's a sport. 

Actually, in all honesty, several women in the Cambridge area of the 401 have purposely walked out in front of big trucks when standing at the side of the 401.  Their suicide acts will last in the hearts and minds of the truckers who hit them forever.  I've went through suicidal periods in the past year, but each time I've come close to the act I can't stop thinking how the act will affect others, especially my kids...

Thanks Sarge.  Appreciated.  In the Cambridge ones, I can only assume copycat acts.

 

[Peter D.]

I have no use for the stock market because a big part of me believes it's one big scam, but I find this whole Facebook IPO intriguing.  Is it wrong of me to take some weird pleasure in seeing the stock price taking a hit and hope it drops like a rock?

 

[maplesyrup]

Any bankers (or gypsys) out there?. It's mortgage renewal time. Rates are rather low right now thank God so I get lucky with the timing and with that, I'm certain I'll go with a fixed rather than a variable. My question is; 5 years @ 3.69 or 7 years @ 3.9?

 

[Bullfrog]

I'd say shop around and see if you can get even better.

 

[leafsjunkie]

Any bankers (or gypsys) out there?. It's mortgage renewal time. Rates are rather low right now thank God so I get lucky with the timing and with that, I'm certain I'll go with a fixed rather than a variable. My question is; 5 years @ 3.69 or 7 years @ 3.9?

Why pay all that interest now? Get a variable rate, you can then lock in if rates go up. I got my variable rate @ 2.25% instead of fixed @ 3.75%, that's a whole lot of interest savings and I can lock into a fixed anytime I want, if/when rates go up.

 

[maplesyrup]

Where will the rates be in a year or two though?

Edit: Sorry, you're saying you can flip to a fixed when they go up?... and if so, what if they go back up to 5+% and you don't catch it in time?

 

[Bates]

Sarge I am no expert but I would doubt with today's economic uncertainty you would see a rate increase of more tham 1% at any time in the forseeable future???  So even if you see an increase you should still have time to react and lock in before it goes too high.  The benefit of course is that your mortgage should always be higher in the present than in the future so a lower rate now should benefit you more than a rate increase will hurt in the future.

 

[maplesyrup]

Makes sense.

 

[Leafaholic99]

Thanks guys!

So I was in a car accident last August, ended up with a neck/shoulder injury, MPI (car insurance) only covered 24 physio appts, those are over now so I have to go back to my Dr and get looked at and determine what the next step is. This is almost a year later and I am still having issues with neck and shoulder pain :/ Hopefully something can be done and correct this soon.

I was in a car accident last January (2011) as well and had the same issue but after a few months of Physio, I was back to normal.

 

[leafsjunkie]

Where will the rates be in a year or two though?

Edit: Sorry, you're saying you can flip to a fixed when they go up?... and if so, what if they go back up to 5+% and you don't catch it in time?

You can negotiate rates, when I spoke with my mortgage specialist, I said that same thing when she said I can lock in anytime and I was like, yeah, then I get locked in at like 6% or something dumb, she said no, I should just watch the rates and if they go up she would give me the fixed rate before it goes up (this was a year ago, so I think I would get locked in @ 3.85 or something, even if they went to say, 4.5%, if I decided to lock in)

The interest savings is huge, I'm paying $430 bi-weekly for my mortgage, if it was fixed it was going to be something like $580 bi-weekly. That's a no brainer to save that much money. Plus you can always contribute more to your mortgage bi-weekly, so if you are worried about rates, get the variable and set up an option (I can do it via internet banking, not sure who you bank/mortgage with but I'm sure they have that option) where I can pay $100 - $430 more per bi-weekly payment without any penalties, that would go against the interest, paying off the interest faster.

Banks are the biggest rip offs, nickle and dime all of us for EVERYTHING, then record massive profits (like TD bank had over a billion in profit or something the first quarter of 2012, like WTF), so do what ever you can to keep your hard earned money in your pocket, not theirs.

 

[maplesyrup]

You know what? Eff it. I'm just going to lock in for 1 year on a fixed closed @ 3.1%. I know what my payment for certain for the next year and I'll deal with it again a year from now.

 

[Zee]

Where will the rates be in a year or two though?

Edit: Sorry, you're saying you can flip to a fixed when they go up?... and if so, what if they go back up to 5+% and you don't catch it in time?

I'm no expert either but wasn't there a study done which showed from like 1950 - present day variable rate mortgages beat out fixed like 90% of the time?  I'd echo other comments already made on here, with the constant economic uncertainty (not just in Canada but we react to the global market too), what are the chances of the Bank of Canada hiking rates significantly in a quick time period?  We got a nice variable rate (prime - 0.8 ) and we're laughing it up now.

 

[Corn Flake]

Where will the rates be in a year or two though?

Edit: Sorry, you're saying you can flip to a fixed when they go up?... and if so, what if they go back up to 5+% and you don't catch it in time?

Rates won't be any higher in a year than they are today.  I would bet my house on that (I did... sort of.)  Stay variable for now.

There is no way the prime rate will end up back at 5+% any time in the foreseeable future. And certainly not something you wouldn't notice if it was creeping in that direction.  At best, we will start to see the prime rate inch up by .25% per quarter and I doubt that starts to happen in the next year with the economic issues going on and that inflation is under control in Canada.

 

[Corn Flake]

Where will the rates be in a year or two though?

Edit: Sorry, you're saying you can flip to a fixed when they go up?... and if so, what if they go back up to 5+% and you don't catch it in time?

I'm no expert either but wasn't there a study done which showed from like 1950 - present day variable rate mortgages beat out fixed like 90% of the time?  I'd echo other comments already made on here, with the constant economic uncertainty (not just in Canada but we react to the global market too), what are the chances of the Bank of Canada hiking rates significantly in a quick time period?  We got a nice variable rate (prime - 0.8 ) and we're laughing it up now.

That is a fantastic rate, and yeah you are sitting pretty on that for at least a couple of years.  I had prime - 0.9 until last year when we moved and took on a bigger mortgage so now I'm at prime -0.2.

I have done four new mortgage deals in the past year for various investment properties and the best deal I have seen out there right now is on a 2-year fixed for 2.55%  That's what I would go with right now if I was refinancing my own home and not planning on going anywhere any time soon.  After those 2 years, the prime minus X% deals will start getting better again.

Sarge the BIG problem with those 5-7-10 year mortgages are if you ever want to break them, the penalties will be gigantic.  Interest rate differential calculations on fixed rate mortgages are killer, never mind the super long term ones.

 

[Zee]

Where will the rates be in a year or two though?

Edit: Sorry, you're saying you can flip to a fixed when they go up?... and if so, what if they go back up to 5+% and you don't catch it in time?

I'm no expert either but wasn't there a study done which showed from like 1950 - present day variable rate mortgages beat out fixed like 90% of the time?  I'd echo other comments already made on here, with the constant economic uncertainty (not just in Canada but we react to the global market too), what are the chances of the Bank of Canada hiking rates significantly in a quick time period?  We got a nice variable rate (prime - 0.8 ) and we're laughing it up now.

That is a fantastic rate, and yeah you are sitting pretty on that for at least a couple of years.  I had prime - 0.9 until last year when we moved and took on a bigger mortgage so now I'm at prime -0.2.

I have done four new mortgage deals in the past year for various investment properties and the best deal I have seen out there right now is on a 2-year fixed for 2.55%  That's what I would go with right now if I was refinancing my own home and not planning on going anywhere any time soon.  After those 2 years, the prime minus X% deals will start getting better again.

Sarge the BIG problem with those 5-7-10 year mortgages are if you ever want to break them, the penalties will be gigantic.  Interest rate differential calculations on fixed rate mortgages are killer, never mind the super long term ones.

Yeah we're pretty happy.  If rates stay near what they are now, we'll pay off the house in the next 6 years. 

 

[Leafaholic99]

Yesterday I went and bought a pack of smokes, they were $17.75, I was shocked but paid anyways, then when I got to work I started thinking that is a lot of money and I refuse to pay that much for a pack, I just smoked my last one and am going to attempt to quit now, I have the nicorette quick mist spray which I have used on occasion and seemed to help out. I quit last year for a few weeks, hoping this is my last attempt to kick the habit! I just quickly figured out how much I would save a month if I were to quit at this current price for a pack, $540 a month :|

Tips are welcome!

 

[Rick C.]

Yesterday I went and bought a pack of smokes, they were $17.75, I was shocked but paid anyways, then when I got to work I started thinking that is a lot of money and I refuse to pay that much for a pack, I just smoked my last one and am going to attempt to quit now, I have the nicorette quick mist spray which I have used on occasion and seemed to help out. I quit last year for a few weeks, hoping this is my last attempt to kick the habit! I just quickly figured out how much I would save a month if I were to quit at this current price for a pack, $540 a month :|

Tips are welcome!

Don't have any tips as I never tried smoking, but my hat's off to you for quitting - even if today is Day 1.  You can do it - we're cheering for you!

 

[TML fan]

I know it's not quite the same, but I used to chew tobacco. I had a tough time quitting but I've been off it for about a year now. I found that chewing gum and eating sunflower seeds whenever i had a craving helped me with fighting the oral fixation. I found that the nicotine was the easier craving to fight.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Pretty crazy what happened at the Eaton centre eh?

How very American of you.

 

[maplesyrup]

Sad.