#8. Mortgage Moves & Missteps Every Divorcee Must Know

Two years ago, I transferred the title and mortgage of my matrimonial home into my name. Even with a temporary six-month bridge loan as we were finalizing our separation agreement, I was hit with an early mortgage termination fee of over $2,000.

I tried negotiating with my lender—one of Canada’s major banks—but they wouldn’t budge. And on top of that, I faced an additional $1,000+ in legal fees just to complete the title and mortgage transfer. 💸

Oh, did I mention how much mortgage penalty we had to pay when we sold our investment property? 💸💸💸💸

To help you avoid my costly mistakes, I invited Mortgage Agent Richard Castillo to discuss everything you need to know about navigating mortgage decisions during or post-divorce.

In this episode, we covered:

• The implications of recent interest rate changes in Canada and how they affect mortgage options, especially for those going through a divorce.
• Challenges unique to post-divorce borrowers, including qualifying for mortgages on a single income and the financial nuances of transferring home ownership.
• Why understanding different lending institutions matters and the key factors to weigh when choosing a mortgage.

Curious about how to turn a “no” into a “yes” for your mortgage approval? Don’t miss Episode 8 of Untying the Knot.

Richard Castillo
519-781-7424
https://dlcteam.ca/

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Chapters
00:00 Understanding Mortgage Options During Divorce
04:46 Navigating Interest Rates and Market Conditions
09:54 Choosing the Right Lending Institution
14:58 The Importance of Flexibility in Mortgages
20:07 Understanding Mortgage Penalties
24:52 Qualifying for Mortgages Post-Divorce
29:54 Transferring the Matrimonial Home
34:56 Planning for Future Home Purchases

Follow me for inspiration and tips on how to reinvent yourself through divorce:
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🌐 Facebook
▶️ YouTube
I'm here to support you to turn the chaos into clarity and create a life you love! 💪✨

Transcript

Lisa (00:00.056)
What are some other factors people should consider when they decide which mortgage lending institution they should go to? It depends on your strategy. What are your financial goals overall? What are your intentions? Do you plan to pay your mortgage faster? Do you plan to line up your mortgage with your retirement? Are you planning to sell in two, three years to upgrade your home? So all of these things, we need to analyze to see what the end goal will be and line up the mortgage to those goals.

Welcome to Untangling the Knot, your go-to podcast for all things divorce. We're here to share stories and strategies to help you untangle the knots in your divorce so you can navigate it with confidence and clarity and build the life you desire. I'm your host, Lisa Gu. Hello everyone. Recently, the Bank of Canada lowered its rate, interest rate to a half point that makes this the fourth rate cut.

This year, since June, at current rate is 3.75%. So I think it's a good time when we talk about getting a mortgage, especially during or post divorce. That's why we have Richard Castillo in my house, literally in my basement. He's a mortgage agent at Dominion Landing for disclosure. My mortgage is with them as well. So Richard.

brings 14 years of experience in banking and he has a background in financial planning. He's specialized in helping clients navigate the mortgage process to achieve their home ownership goals. He's very passionate about providing personalized financial solutions and building long lasting relationships. So welcome Richard. Thank you Lisa for having me on your channel. So yeah, interesting times now at the back of Canada. Last week I announced half of

percent cut on the interest rates. The overnight lending rate is sitting at 3.75 and the prime rate is sitting at 5.95. The reason why I make the distinct, the that the separation is because most people don't understand those two things. So the overnight lending rate is the rate that the bank can add lens to the banks and the prime rate 5.95 is the rate

Lisa (02:23.106)
that the bank lends to the consumer. So we got to make that a difference there. Thank you. That's why he's the expert, not me. And I just throw some numbers at you. Yeah. So we wanted to do a market checking because things are changing quickly. So I want to put a timestamp here. We are recording at the end of October and probably the episode will be launching the beginning of November as a lot of people are still watching. Things might be changing a little bit at the time. So just want to put that.

out and also how do you properly pronounce your last name? Richard? Casillo. There you go. That's why I was like too big earlier because I really wanted to get it right and by the way, Espanol is not there yet. So market checking and tell us a little bit more Richard about the interest rate environment and you talked about the current rates and a lot of people are thinking about checking and

What's the five-year fixed rate? What's the variable? Tell us a little bit more about that. So right now, I'll give you a little bit of context. The sweet spot for the best, the lowest rates are on the five years. The reason for that is because the five-year is linked to the Canada bond yields, which is a prediction of fixed rates are coming down or moving up, right? It's a projection of the economy in the future.

Five year rates for first time home buyers at the moment can be as low as between 4.29 to 4%. And they can go as high as 4.89 depending on the term. So the lower the term, usually the higher the rate. The lenders want you to stay with them a little bit longer and they offer the best rates on the longer terms. Variable rate is prime.

which is 5.95 plus minus a discount. That discount is a fixed portion of your rate. So if variable rate goes down again, your prime rate goes down, then the fixed portion will continue to be there. So for example, if you're getting prime 5.95 minus 1%, your rate is 4.95. If prime rate goes down again, then your rate gets adjusted. And depending on what type of mortgage you have,

Lisa (04:46.038)
your principal and interest will get adjusted as the rates come down or move up. Awesome. Personally, I like a fixed rate because I need to know what my payment is, but it depends on the situation. A variable may be a better option in some cases. So today we're primarily focusing on what should you consider if you're going through a divorce, transferring the house to one spouse or you've been divorced, you're considering buying a house now, the market is stabilizing a little bit.

However, if you just solely wanted to understand how mortgage works, even if you're not going through a divorce, it can also help you as well. So let's go talk about a little bit big picture and research to help people understand because when I first started to buy a house within 10 years ago, the only thing I knew is that I can go to the bank to get some money for my mortgage. So what are different types of lending institutions people can get a mortgage from and what are some...

pros and cons of each. Okay, so most people will identify the big banks because they have a lot more physical presence. But if you deal with a broker, a mortgage broker, the mortgage broker has access to 40 plus lenders that could benefit you depending on your situation. And the good thing about going to a brokerage is that you don't have to shop around going from bank to bank to try and find the best solution.

you have the conversation with your mortgage agent and he takes care of shopping around your situation or your current profile to different lenders. There might be small differences between the lenders that can impact your capacity or get that mortgage approved. the pros and cons, when you're dealing with the big banks, you're dealing with one entity and you have to fit the box. When you're dealing with the mortgage broker, he

tries to fit your profile into the different lenders criteria to make it work, right? Taking into account all your goals and dreams. Yeah. And I think for me in life, having different options is always valuable. Cause I remember when we bought our first house, we went to different banks. They basically are offering the same product essentially. Then we got into real estate.

Lisa (07:03.424)
investing and it opened up a whole maybe can of warm to some degree because you have private lending, you have different lending. So go to a broker, we'll save you a lot of time. And as I found my later experience after my divorce, I started to shop around and then worked with Dominion lending. There are a lot of benefits on that front because banks are quite limited and also think about it. mean, you are, I don't know if you do recommend bank products to your

In some cases, maybe in some cases, it depends. work with a team that specializes in different areas. So I work with the financial planner. I work with some bankers as well. And depending on what the client needs, obviously I'm going to send them to the right person because I specialize on mortgages and I can't really do some things that the banks can do in terms of products. So depending on the situation and back to your point, we have monolenders, we work with

The A banks, monolenders tend to be a little bit more flexible because they only concentrate on mortgages. They don't sell the additional products that the banks sell like credit cards, lines of credits, insurance. Those lenders just concentrate on mortgages. So they need to think outside the box to make it work for the client. And back to your point, have, so we work with the A lenders, monolenders, credit unions, we do reverse mortgages, privates.

So pretty much the whole scope. And we also attend to commercial mortgages as well. Right? I think work with a broker gives you a lot more flexibility. And if you go to the bank, they're very standard in terms of underwriting. If you're working with insurance, you might know that term very well. So they look at the criteria very strictly. If it fits into the box, it's a yes. And if it doesn't, it's a no. So working with a brokerage mortgage.

broker can give you lot of flexibilities to turn that no into yeses. And we all know when you want to buy a house and that's very precious. So obviously there are different types of risks as well when you go through that and your mortgage broker should give you that good a device on which one is safer as well. when we shop mortgages around, well, first of all, you should shop around and compare. It's one of your biggest purchase in your lifetime. If you are spending

Lisa (09:26.774)
a month researching which type of computer you should be getting. Definitely you should be shopping around for your mortgage. And second point is that most people only focus on interest rate because that's the most obvious number they can see. So what are some other factors people should consider when they decide which mortgage lending institution they should go to? Well, it depends on your strategy. What are your financial goals overall? What are your intentions? Do you plan to pay your mortgage faster?

Do you plan to line up your mortgage with your retirement? Are you planning to sell in two, three years to upgrade your home? Right? So all of these things that we need to analyze to see what the end goal will be and line up the mortgage to those goals. So for example, some banks will allow on a fixed term to pay 10 % yearly as a lump sum and double up your payments. So doubling up your payment, meaning if your minimum payment is 1000,

you can pay up to $2,000. So that would allow you to pay your mortgage much faster. Some banks would allow you to pay 20 % lump sum payment per year, and some won't allow you to pay extra. So we have to line it up. Sometimes those that don't allow you to pay extra have a better interest rate, right? But it doesn't align up with your goal. Sometimes

They have a better interest rate, but you can't transfer the mortgage. If you were looking to, let's say upgrade, so sell your current home, pour your mortgage to the new home. It's not allowed. You have to break your mortgage completely and then you trigger penalties. We have to align your mortgage with your goals. If you're a real estate investor, you might need a mortgage with a line of credit attached to it to keep both in equity. And in case of an emergency, you can take that equity from the line of credit.

fix the house, do renovations. As landlords, we have to make sure we upkeep the house. So it all depends on your goals. Awesome. So there are some terms that we might want to unpack a little bit here. So interest rate is one consideration, as you said. So flexibility is another one. For a lot of people, they might want to prepay in advance. And for a lot of people, they say, no, I won't pay one penny more because I have other investments. Depends on your goal, which I love that.

Lisa (11:43.47)
So make sure that I like flexibility. So I would choose the one who would allow me to pay back. I think most of the term is 10 % monthly payment and the other 10 % is over a one year as a lump sum, right? Added up usually that's a 20%. Correct, it depends on the lender. Some lenders have different structures. So some have 10, 10, some have 20, 20, some have 15, 20. Yeah.

So it depends on which lender we're going with, right? Awesome. Then in exchange, if it's fixed, they don't allow, maybe they have a lower interest rate. Maybe that's a big, biggest attraction for you because we have tight cash right now and that might be a better option. So you talked about transfer and there is a term portable mortgage. What exactly does that mean? So portable mortgage, meaning that if you're planning to upgrade your home and you want it to pour your mortgage from the current house to the new house, the bank would allow you to do so.

However, there's some banks that won't allow you to do so. What they allow you to do is pay off the current mortgage and then get a new mortgage. But if you break your mortgage in the middle of the term, you are going to trigger some penalties. So it might not align with your goals if you're thinking of upgrading your home. Or things happen. On average, Canadians refinance or sell their home every three years. So some unforeseen events. Are they divorced?

that won't allow you to port. But that's another question because divorce works a little bit different. Yeah, and we'll get into. think the idea is that a lot of people don't think, especially first time home buyers, most people, like you said, don't stay the full term for five years. So you have to consider that, especially if you're a first time home buyers and really will we stay in the same house, especially when you are relatively younger between that.

30 to 50 year range because you might have more kids, you will upgrade. So make sure that you have that option may be important to you. But if you're close to retirement or you're not thinking about moving, maybe that's not important. So let's say I'm already staying in my house for three years. I have two year mortgage left. Now I'm upgrading. So how does that work?

Lisa (13:59.086)
Let's say my rate right now is just making it up 3%. I've been in this house for three years. I'm buying another house. Correct. But the current interest rate is 4.5%. So how does that work in this case? I can keep my 3 % interest rate for the next two years, or can I merge it into a five-year new mortgage with 3 % plus the 4.5%. It all depends on the lender that you're working with, But generally what they do is

they will have some rules about the porting. If you are increasing your mortgage by the standards $10,000 or more, you won't get penalized on porting your mortgage. You will? You won't get penalized. You won't, okay. And then when it comes to the rate, say you have a five-year rate term and you are porting on the third year, that means that you have two years left on your term. And the rate is 3%.

So they will take your current rate, 3%, and check out what's the two year term that you have left. So two year you have left term with the current 3 % rate that you have blended, do a blended rate, and then give you an average of those two for the new mortgage. And you still keep the five year term going. So it will be a blended rate most of the time.

And really it's depending on the market rate at the time. If you want to do that, sometimes it's a little bit gambling. Let's say if you keep your rate for the two years, 3%, you're betting the rate will go down when you start to renew it. So there is a lot of art in that. Again, back to Richard's point, what's your goal? If you want a stability, knowing how much you're paying for, maybe you want it to blend it. Maybe you want to gamble a little bit, just betting on the interest rate to drop.

maybe you wait. there is a lot of art in really align with your goal, which is so important rather than just making a random decision. So I love that. Yeah. Yeah. So we have to look at the factor cashflow. If we, if we do break the term, what is the penalty going to look like as opposed to blending the rate, right? So at end of the day, looking at all angles to make sure that aligns with your goals, right? Is it worth it to just break it now and, and, have a better

Lisa (16:19.638)
new five-term rate maybe, who knows, depending on the market. Speaking of penalty, which is a huge one, and I personally learned it the hard way, okay, because when we sold out two investment products, was like, shoot, that's a lot of penalty we had to pay, you know? And this is something we definitely didn't consider when we signed with one of the big banks because the rate was very attractive. They had some other attractive terms that which worked for us at the time, again.

divorce is usually unexpected. how does penalty work and why should people consider a penalty when they sign up for their mortgage documents? Well, again, Lisa goes back to what are your financial goals and anticipating things that are foreseen such as divorce or loss of job, maybe, or debt, disease. Or maybe you are planning in two years have another child. okay, maybe.

things like that where you have to break up the mortgage. We don't really think about that, but it does happen often. Like I said, every three years that shows that people refinance or sell their home. So when you're looking into penalties, you got to make sure that the lender is more flexible. So there's two ways of calculating the penalty, three months interest or interest rate differential. Three months interest is pretty straightforward, but interest rate differential, how it works is let's say you have a five year fixed term.

and then you're breaking your term, the three-year mark. So what they do is you have two years left on the term. They'll take that two-year rate and subtract, to make it simple, subtract it from the current rate that you have. And the difference of those two rates will be multiplied by 24 months, which is the two terms, the mortgage balance. And that will give us a penalty.

Right. So then the bank will compare what's more, the three months interest or the interest rate differential, whatever is higher. That's where you are going to pay most of time with model lenders or works a little bit different. They tend to go with the three month interest. So you have to decide, right? Depending on the lender, what's going to make more sense. So let's, let's put a dollar amount in there. So people have a concrete idea. Let's say if we talk about half a million dollar mortgage. Okay. And what, what's that?

Lisa (18:43.726)
turn penalty turn into a dollar amount is that 10 grand or depends on the rating say 5 % rate I'm you to do really something math right here quick no I that it all depends because we have to analyze what the rate is at the time of that current environment right yeah so if you're closer to your ending the term or you're in the middle of the term or just beginning the term great point

the timing too. Yes. So the timing and what's happening with the rates at that specific moment. So it's very, very hard to answer and unresponsive. So, but, you know, there's two ways, three months interest rates or interest rate differential. And which will be specified in the mortgage document, lending document contract. Yeah. And, for my experience, it's, it's think we broke it like halfway maybe.

It's not a small amount is what I'm saying. Especially if you are working with a big bank and big banks, they're very, very strict on that. So you just got plan. It's not a small amount. It can be very substantial, especially if you sign up with some other conditions, the mortgage penalty, maybe more basically, whatever favorable condition they gave you at the beginning, you got to pay back when you. So something to really consider. It's something to add is when it comes to that, those two.

forms of calculating the penalty are for the fixed term so interest rate differential or three months but when it comes to variable rates it's generally three months interest rate okay three months interest okay that's why you pay for the for the penalty just something to really consider it's a question you should ask whoever you're lending money from what about the penalty right i have another point is that knowing that if you're not working with what we call a lenders like typical banks usually

other mortgage specialized lending institutions, they're much more flexible on their penalty. They're really here to work with you, whether it's portable or something. So again, work with a broker, we'll give you that insights and options. Awesome. We'll get into more divorces specific questions. It only took us 20 something minutes to get there. When you are getting a divorce, when you qualify for mortgages, for most cases, your income from double income,

Lisa (21:04.172)
and reduced into one income. I think that's the challenging part a lot of people are facing when they go through divorce or in the process of divorcing is they know they can afford the mortgage payment, but to qualify for that with one income is hard. So what are some other challenges you're seeing when people going through a divorce and qualify for mortgages? So yeah, right to your point, when you qualify for the initial mortgage, you are qualifying on both.

incomes. So to the bank, the numbers look much better, a two stream of incomes, but to keep the same mortgage, especially if when you did it with both incomes, the numbers, you took your capacity to the maximum. Now you're taking away one income to keep the mortgage, the numbers don't line up. So that is why it's very important to speak to a professional about it. Because if your goal is to keep the mortgage,

but your income hasn't increased yet, then we have alternative solutions. Qualifying with one income, especially if the numbers were tight at the beginning, is probably not going to happen. So that's when the A lenders tell you, you don't qualify for this mortgage, you might wanna sell it. But if we give you an alternative option, then you at least can make the decision whether you wanna keep it or not. So back to your point, sometimes we do have the cash flow, but it's not reporting on paper.

Right. We have a lot of business for self clients. They do make the cash flow, but you know, it's not necessarily on paper. So the lenders will look at the income taxes, T1 generals and OAs and say, your net income is not enough. And also if they operate a business, they write off a lot of expenses. Maybe they can be considered into income and different ways. And which is why divorce can be difficult in calculating spousal support and stuff, especially for people who have business. Right. It's hard to put that.

income number so accurately. That's right. That's right. And not only that, but when you're dealing with a divorce is so difficult to deal with the bank and the lenders and then the lawyers. Yeah. And you have too many things on your mind. If you speak with someone for the mortgage broker or a mortgage agent that has access to all of these lenders, it just takes away the headache of shopping around through banks.

Lisa (23:24.054)
And also it's a big relief, I think, for a lot of people to not losing their home during divorce, right? I know Richard is speaking from personal experience and who've been through this and me too. So anything would work and help at this time to take your load off. I would say go for that. Right. And what are some things people may not know are considered income, especially when you're going through a divorce, let's say spouse or support or child support. How are the lenders looking at those income?

So they will take the spouse support 100%. Obviously, it has to be stipulated on the separation agreement and the separation agreement has to be signed, finalized, right? Which can be a tedious, long process. Yeah. Trying to negotiate back and forth. Yeah, child support, alimony, child tax benefit. Most lenders will allow child tax benefit until the child is 12 years old.

But there are some lenders that will allow for up to 15 years old. Why 12? Why 12? Because that is the rule. That is the rule 12 years old. It's above your pay rate. rate. It's regulations. I think the main reason for it is because after 12 years old, the child tax benefit starts to reduce. Yeah, it's maybe too small to consider or it's not consistent.

Because child support usually is paid up to when the kids go to college. It's usually 18, but if they're going to secondary education, further education, will still continue to be paid. That's interesting. I didn't know that. Any other income that people may not know that may be considered? Well, it depends on the lender. those are the specific to a divorce. But if there's other avenues that...

other other streams of income we can try and review it but there's now you have airbnbs you have rental income rental income but more more of the complex ones airbnb income can be used depending on the lender yeah because they might consider that rental as a market rate they might use market rate or your actual income right in some cases you can use income from the if you have family members living with you

Lisa (25:50.486)
you can use some of their income as rental income. Because they're living with you. Great. That I didn't know. I don't know the question. What about inheritance? Unless it's an investment that's streaming some income. Then yeah, because the bank is looking at the lending institutions looking at cash flow. Yeah, cash flow. So if it's an investment that's streaming income and it has been in place for two years,

So let's say there's a trust fund and it's giving you $50,000 a year and it's been reported and there's some documents to support that you're gonna get this stream of income for a certain number of years. They might consider that, right? Interesting. It's tricky. think it needs to make sense. Yeah. It needs to make sense. Awesome. It's also very common. So when people are going through a divorce, one spouse is keeping the matrimonial home.

I mean, in a lot of cases you have to say, unfortunately, but one to say, okay, I'm good. I'm going to just get the half of the asset, right. Transferring to me, I'm okay. What are some things people should pay attention to when they're transferring their matrimonial home from the couple's name to their own name? We talk about qualifying for mortgage, but what are some things, other things they should pay attention to, other fees that may incur or other conditions?

So most of the time when one of the spouses decides to keep the property, you will have to break that mortgage entirely because now you have to qualify on your own. And if you're paying out the other spouse, your mortgage is probably going to increase. So it's the first thing you need to be aware of is that you're breaking the mortgage entirely and qualifying on your own. So there's going to be penalties attached to breaking that mortgage and discharge fees. And second, you will have

legal fees to set up the new mortgage and if rates depending on the on the rate market or the rate environment sometimes you had a good rate with your spouse but now the rates have increased so now you're going to a higher rate environment so your mortgage payment will increase obviously given that you bought additional funds and interest rates have gone up so you will inquire legal fees for sure discharging the current mortgage penalties

Lisa (28:08.094)
and setting up the new mortgage with the legal fees and whatnot. Basically, it's treated as a new mortgage entirely. And as you were talking, I was like, yep, here. Like before my divorce, think compared to after I got the new mortgage, the mortgage amount is smaller. My monthly payment was like one third more or something just because the rates like went up.

Phrasily compared comparatively so something that you need to prepare and also all the legal fees and also mortgage penalty You may have to pay you know sometimes you may be able to order if you stay with the lender You can't really order you can because it's just you're switching from two names to yeah You're right so even if I stayed with my that bank I was with I still had to pay a penalty correct Yeah, can't just there's no way like yeah

This is Canada for years. have to pay legal fees and tax and stuff. We want to share this with you. Just want you to be prepared so that some significant amount of fees will be incurred, right? Something to consider in your divorce negotiation. If you are the party that choose to keeping the matrimonial home, be aware, maybe in some other places, you can be a little bit more firm in your negotiation, even though you are keeping the

but it depends and maybe it's a your biggest goal is to keeping your kids in the house like I did so then you might have to sacrifice a little bit on this front. That's about transferring. So what if someone has been divorced and they had to sell their matrimonial home but now they've kind of couple years has passed they have their set their foot again on the ground and a little bit more stable in their financial situation they wanted to

buy a new house now. So what are some suggestions, a device that you can give to them? My suggestion is, and as you mentioned, going through a divorce myself. When you're going through the divorce, you might want to think about doing these things, but unfortunately we don't have time on our side when it comes to planning. the quickest way to set yourself up is right away.

Lisa (30:24.302)
sit down with a professional that can help you plan. Don't wait for two years to pass in order for you to start planning, especially in this house environment where houses have increased in value. Two years might be the difference between paying 50,000 more for the house or a hundred thousand more for the house. Or a townhouse or a semi-detached or a single family home. So if you can take care of it right away, that'll be the most beneficial for you. What do I need to do now?

to be ahead. What do I need to do now to be in that position to buy in two years? I think planning now is the key to get ahead. I love that. And I think during divorce, building your team is very important, whether it's a realtor or mortgage broker or financial planner. Most people only focus on the legal front to your lawyer. Your family lawyer doesn't look at all of the financial side of things. They're only looking at the legal side of things.

So it's so important because sometimes when you think it's a no, like there is no way can afford buying a house in two years. Planning now, which is free to give Richard a call, for example, or a realtor a call to just get to know, understand the market will set you ahead of the game. Always be planning and be intentional of what do you want to achieve in the next couple of years.

which I know it's very hard to foresee when you're in the messy middle of the divorce, but more reason to plan out. I'm just curious for you personally, are you for, are you supporting refinancing or are you against refinancing? It depends on the strategy, right? It goes back to what I was saying at the beginning. What are your financial goals and what do you want to accomplish? If you're telling me I want to refinance to go travel the world,

That might not be a good idea, right? on your cash flow, depending on what is your end goal. If you're telling me, okay, I want to pay off my mortgage and line it up with my retirement, but I want to refinance to travel the world, it'll be conflict, right? Or if you're refinancing just to buy random items that you don't necessarily need. But if you're refinancing to do an investment, second property or even to

Lisa (32:44.128)
take equity and invest it with your financial planner that can be considered a good debt a good liability productive productive productive right so it depends never opposed to it in some cases you need it you know life takes a lot of turns right especially with what being

a single after divorce, if you need that extra cash flow to maybe consolidate some debt that has been racking up because you haven't been able to work as much or something happened, then we have to do what we have to do. And then it all depends. talk about it with the professionals and see what angle they might have for you and make a decision. Yeah, I love that. That's what exactly I would say. So if you're going to refinance to buy that model,

bike that you had your eye on for two years, don't do that. But if you're refinancing that, say 50,000 and this 50,000 can produce some kind of income, whether it's short term or long term, I would say do that, but don't gamble. Don't just withdraw 50,000 to throw in a, I don't know, penny stock or something, think that it will make you rich, that I don't recommend. Just really have an eye on the long term, your long term financial.

well-being before you making that decision. And also I was curious as you talk, is it common for you to have a meeting with that person's financial planner at the same time? Sometimes we do and we can work together. I have a team behind me. I concentrate on the mortgages and that takes a lot of time. So I don't have time to put a financial plan together or go in and analyze the cashflow and debt. So yeah, I have a team behind me and everyone does their part. Yeah.

Awesome. I think that's also very helpful when you have a collective team of expertise. don't go and you don't need to go anywhere else, right? Just come to Richard and you can get that. And also another advice I always give people and especially when they go to their lawyers is that have all of your documents and numbers ready to present to your lawyer, which is the same thing. Working with a mortgage specifically, they're going to very needy greedy of all of your assets, all of your debt, your income. So you want to go in.

Lisa (34:56.396)
prepared this will save you time and also speed up your mortgage process right because you guys work with the underwriter they may have questions because yeah I have this answer because I know already so it can all help with that achieving your goal as Richard said many times so that's all my question anything else that you wanted to add? No I think we covered a lot and if

the audience has questions they can reach out, right? Yeah, awesome. And I think what really impressed me with Richard is that first time we chatted and clearly you're very, very caring about your clients, their personal life as well and to align that and also he himself has experience going through. we all, I say all divorces are tough in their own scenarios have to like really work through really hard professionally and personally. So

Yeah, he's your guy. you're going through a divorce and wanting to buy a house or wanting to keep your house and wanting some professional advice and maybe something you think is impossible could be possible and that would have a huge impact on your life. So where can people find you? Well, they can find me through you. I work for Dominion Lending, Dan Simpson Morton's team. So we have an office in Waterloo and a two-room kitchen, a 50 sports world crossing, Kitchener.

That's one way to find me and then, else you can Google my name, Richard Castillo, mortgages, mortgages, and you'll find me there. Awesome. And do you want to leave your number to people or it's too public? No, 519-781-7424. Awesome. And thank you for tuning in today and thank you Richard for joining my basement. And I have two cats here and he's allergic to cats. that's why he's...

Having tears right now, but we're so glad to bring you this and hopefully we'll publish it soon so you can get some great insights. And I just wanna say things may seem very hard right now if you're going through a divorce and looking at all of the numbers and also the emotional turmoil you're going and it will get better. Just stay strong. Thanks again for tuning in. you next time.