Tips for dealing with a renovations contractor... Some good tips for clients wanting to renovate. With the changes to refinance loan to values, remember to suggest using the MERIX Purchase Plus Improvements program to renovate at the time of purchase instead of waiting until there is equity to refinance. Your clients get the upgrades sooner and the home they really want.
• TSX -16.53 to 13,892.57 recovered from earlier triple digit losses after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it expects a moderate economic recovery to continue but will leave interest rates "exceptionally low" for "an extended period."
• DOW +95.59 to 12,690.96 Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke held a historic news conference, the first time in the Fed's 98-year history that a chairman has begun holding regular sessions with reporters. The Fed left its key lending rate range unchanged at between zero and 0.25 per cent for at least the next two meetings, while it signalled that its $600-billion Treasury bond-buying program will end in June as planned because the economy has strengthened and companies are starting to hire more.
• Dollar +.16c to 105.22c USD as the US dollar touched a 3 year low
• Oil +$.55 to $112.76USD per barrel
• Gold +$13.60 to $1517.10 per ounce setting another new record high.
• Canadian 5 yr bond yields markets +.06bps to 2.65. The spread (based on the NEW MERIX 5 yr rate published rate of 4.34%) is above the comfort zone at 1.69.
(courtesy of Barb Morgan, DBD Ontario Southwest)
