Cash Offers? Why Not Try This Instead?

Joel Olson • November 5, 2021

Instead of just going with the all-cash offer, give your buyers options and be a real hero in their eyes!

Okay, obviously, these days we hear a lot about people talking about cash offers.

Obviously, a cash offer seems like it's gonna be a pretty good thing to take advantage of.

I mean, what could go wrong with a cash offer?

Why couldn't that be the best possible client?

No conditions... no stress... no worries!

But are you missing an opportunity, having cash offers?

Those cash offer buyers may be people with a good amount of down payment to buy a home for cash, but they may not have a lot of monthly income coming in. Maybe moving to the area means they can take advantage of a higher amount of monthly cash flow.

Let me explain.

If a client comes in to a situation where they can pay cash for an $800,000 house, I realize that sometimes that number may be much bigger or a little bit smaller. But let's say it's $800,000.

Let's say instead of them buying the house for cash, you advise them to buy a home and put down 600,000 leaving a minuscule $200,000 mortgage and taking that other $200,000 and putting that into an investment property where they put $200,000 down as a down payment.

Now, there's a number of scenarios that might evolve here.

But on most properties without math, we are talking about that person because of the size of their down payment and because of of rental income, netting an additional 1500 to $2,000 a month.

How much of a hero would you appear to them by advising the client who probably may be at the end of their working years and not having the ability to earn extra dollars by going and getting a job or working some elusive side hustle?

How good would you look to suggest that they could put 1500 or $2,000 extra in their pocket?

Now many clients may still decide that the idea of having a mortgage at this age is not for them, but just the advice of giving them the option is going to make you seem like much smarter than your "average Joe".

Additionally, on top of that, for the clients that do take advantage of this, you're looking at more business for you, more business for me and a much, much better situation for the client where they're able to have monthly cash flow that significantly impacts their life.

So the next time you see the words "cash offer" come across your desk, or a client saying, "don't worry we'll go all cash", tell them there might be another option that they should maybe just consider in order to have a better quality of life.

I mean 2 deals are always better than one.

Do you have cash offers currently? Do you have challenging real estate transactions? Did you have someone get turned down recently? Let us have a look at your clients' situations and offer a fresh perspective to help you get more transactions done!

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What is a “No-Frills” Mortgage?

By Joel Olson • March 25, 2025

A no-frills service or product is where non-essential features have been removed from the product or service to keep the price as low as possible. And while keeping costs low at the expense of non-essential features might be okay when choosing something like which grocery store to shop at, which economy car to purchase, or which budget hotel to spend the night, it’s not a good idea when considering which lender to secure mortgage financing. Here’s why. When securing mortgage financing, your goal should be to pay the least amount of money over the term. Your plan should include having provisions for unexpected life changes. Unlike the inconvenience of shopping at a store that doesn’t provide free bags, or driving a car without power windows, or staying at a hotel without any amenities, the so-called “frills” that are stripped away to provide you with the lowest rate mortgage are the very things that could significantly impact your overall cost of borrowing. Depending on the lender, a “no-frills” mortgage rate might be up to 0.20% lower than a fully-featured mortgage. And while this could potentially save you a few hundreds of dollars over a 5-year term, please understand that it could also potentially cost you thousands (if not tens of thousands) of dollars should you need to break your mortgage early. So if you’re considering a “no-frills” mortgage, here are a few of the drawbacks to think through: You'll pay a significantly higher penalty if you need to break your mortgage. You'll have limited pre-payment privileges. Potential limitations if you want to port your mortgage to a different property. You might be limited in your ability to refinance your mortgage (without incurring a considerable penalty). Simply put, a “no-frills” mortgage is an entirely restrictive mortgage that leaves you without any flexibility. There are many reasons you might need to keep your options open. You might need to break your term because of a job loss or marital breakdown, or maybe you decide to take a new job across the country, or you need to buy a property to accommodate your growing family. Life is unpredictable; flexibility matters. So why do banks offer a no-frills mortgage anyway? Well, when you deal with a single bank or financial institution, it’s the banker’s job to make as much money from you as possible, even if that means locking you into a very restrictive mortgage product by offering a rock bottom rate. Banks know that 2 out of 3 people break their mortgage within three years (33 months). However, when you seek the expert advice of an independent mortgage professional, you can expect to see mortgage options from several institutions showcasing mortgage products best suited for your needs. We have your best interest in mind and will help you through the entire process. A mortgage is so much more than just the lowest rate. If you have any questions about this, or if you’d like to discuss anything else mortgage-related, please get in touch. Working with you would be a pleasure!

How to Handle Missed Payments

By Joel Olson • March 11, 2025

If you’ve missed a payment on your credit card or line of credit and you’re wondering how to handle things and if this will impact your creditworthiness down the road, this article is for you. But before we get started, if you have an overdue balance on any of your credit cards at this exact moment, go, make the minimum payment right now. Seriously, log in to your internet banking and make the minimum payment. The rest can wait. Here’s the good news, if you’ve just missed a payment by a couple of days, you have nothing to worry about. Credit reporting agencies only record when you’ve been 30, 60, and 90 days late on a payment. So, if you got busy and missed your minimum payment due date but made the payment as soon as you realized your error, as long as you haven’t been over 30 days late, it shouldn’t show up as a blemish on your credit report. However, there’s nothing wrong with making sure. You can always call your credit card company and let them know what happened. Let them know that you missed the payment but that you paid it as soon as you could. Keeping in contact with them is the key. By giving them a quick call, if you have a history of timely payments, they might even go ahead and refund the interest that accumulated on the missed payment. You never know unless you ask! Now, if you’re having some cash flow issues, and you’ve been 30, 60, or 90 days late on payments, and you haven’t made the minimum payment, your creditworthiness has probably taken a hit. The best thing you can do is make all the minimum payments on your accounts as soon as possible. Getting up to date as quickly as possible will mitigate the damage to your credit score. The worst thing you can do is bury your head in the sand and ignore the problem, because it won’t go away. If you cannot make your payments, the best action plan is to contact your lender regularly until you can. They want to work with you! The last thing they want is radio silence on your end. If they haven’t heard from you after repeated missed payments, they might write off your balance as “bad debt” and assign it to a collection agency. Collections and bad debts look bad on your credit report. As far as qualifying for a mortgage goes, repeated missed payments will negatively impact your ability to get a mortgage. But once you’re back to making regular payments, the more time that goes by, the better your credit will get. It’s all about timing. Always try to be as current as possible with your payments. So If you plan to buy a property in the next couple of years, it’s never too early to work through your financing, especially if you’ve missed a payment or two in the last couple of years and you’re unsure of where you stand with your credit. Please connect directly; it would be a pleasure to walk through your mortgage application and credit report. Let’s look and see exactly where you stand and what steps you need to take to qualify for a mortgage.