Ariana Leroux Mortgage Blog

When you invest in a brand new home, you want to have a fresh and well-manicured lawn. The appearance of your yard can dramatically impact the curb appeal of your home. After winter, performing lawn care maintenance has never been more important. After a long rest throughout late fall and winter, your lawn will wake up hungry and ready to grow. If you take the time to learn how to feed your lawn, strengthen it, and get it off to the right start in the spring, your yard will be the envy of the block.                                Doing the Right Things At the Right Time    You don't have to hire a professional lawn care company to rejuvenate your lawn and then maintain it, but it’s definitely an option. If you're willing to take time to learn what steps you'll need to take and to put in the time, you can feed your lawn a...

Summer will come soon, I am willing it to be so... no more snow (knock on wood!) ... however when summer does start rolling in, those of you that want to sell your home, here are some front yard tips and suggestions. The flower pots are a great, cheap, simple idea that will brighten up your place - and I do this every year. Actually this year I will be adding more, to let the roses grow and let the flower get out of control in the buckets :)  Have fun...  A good first impression can make a world of difference when you're selling your home. By upgrading your curb appeal, you have a chance to influence how potential buyers feel about your home before they even step inside. While it's important to balance the money you spend on improvements with a realistic idea of what you can recoup, many improvements to your landscaping can cost little, compared to the benefits of increased home value and a faster sale. Front yard landscaping should be colorful and attractive...

Spring Fever Definition: the feeling of restlessness, excitement or laziness brought on by the coming of Spring. For us in the Mortgage World, it usually means great rates and lots of movement in the Market. And currently according to various posts, the inventory levels for housing is lower than usual. What does that mean for you? If you are sitting on the fence in regards to selling/buying, now is definitely the time to seriously consider hopping off. What are you going to do this Spring?  Call me for a Spring Mortgage Checkup or Make Over!  And then relax in your own backyard! 2.79% 5 Year Fixed 3.69% 10 Year Fixed 2.5% for Variable 5Year

Reading this article from http://holisticandorganixpetshoppe.com/top-7-worst-dog-food-brands.html gave me an interesting perspective on dog food, with lots of info that I use with my own two four legged fur-friends. And I notice big difference in my pets (from when I originally changed the grocery-store brands)...  The best way to avoid the worst dog food brands is to Read your dog food labels – There are literally hundreds of brands and varieties of dog food Bad dog food ingredients = shortened life span for your companion Below is a listing of some of the inexpensive dog food brands, with the harmful, unnecessary and outright dangerous , highlighted in yellow. This is not a complete listing of all the worst dog food brands with harmful ingredients, just the more popular names. Unfortunately there are still too many out there. Use this list as a guide on what bad dog food ingredients to avoid when buying commercial dog food. If a specific brand of food is not listed...

That seems to be a question that not a lot of people ask. "Am I in the right mortgage product & rate?" Everyone is so caught up in getting the lowest rate possible, that it is a race to the bottom instead of stopping and looking at the full picture. According to a survey done by CIBC and posted with The Toronto Star , Canadians do not think they will mortgage free till 57! Now is this due to people getting mortgages later in life; due to purchase price and down payments?? ... yes I believe partially this is the case. However I think the bigger problem is no long term thinking is being done. With the boom in 2007, it was the big push to "refinance your life" into your mortgage; so cars, boats, quads, credit cards, etc all build into your mortgage to give you a lower over all payment.... but does this help reduce mortgage debt? There were also those 40 year amortizations and mortgaging over 100% of your homes value. None of these things help anyone to pay o...

March 27, 2013 The number of people planning to buy a home has plunged. Only 15% of those polled by RBC said they are likely to buy a home in the next two years. That’s down from 27% in 2012. It’s the largest drop in prospective home buyers ever in the 20-year history of RBC’s home ownership survey. Some may find this gloomy news, but housing is cyclical and corrections must be expected. We were actually more disappointed by another issue in RBC’s survey (more on that below). First off, there is the obvious question, which has some obvious answers: Why are more people backing out of the real estate market? The reasons include: Stricter Mortgage Rules Ottawa imposed a slew of mortgage rules last year, and the amortization reduction (from 30 to 25 years on high-ratio mortgages) had the biggest impact. Almost 4 in 10 prospective Canadian home buyers said that the amortization change limits or delays their ability to purchase a home, according to RBC. High Pri...