Debt Ratio, Loan to Value and say what what?

Memories before Responsibilities

or 

How I finally Learned What Debt Ratio Meant. 

I remember when I was a young boy, lying outside on the back lawn, looking up at the stars and thinking how cool it would be to have a tent.
Then I was a young man, lying in the back of my car, looking up at at the stars through the sunroof and thinking how cool it would be living in a house.
Then, when I was a slightly older man, lying in my bed in a house with 4 other roommates and thinking how cool it would be to have my own house, one without roommates.

His Retro Winnipeg Jets shirt only got him so far...

But I had no idea how to start. I saw a 'For Sale' sign on a nice house, called the realtor and quickly hung up after she told me how much it was. I found out that the first thing I needed to do was find out how much of a house I could actually afford. I realized that I should be looking at something a bit smaller, like a stand-alone carport or maybe fulfill that childhood dream of getting a tent.

Discouraged, I began to learn the backside of home purchase; what a mortgage was, why that interest rate thing I continually heard about on the news was so important. How could someone on my relatively low income ever afford to live without roommates? So I made an appointment with my bank's financial consultant.

"You Want to Buy a House? hahahaha" - my dad

Now is the time to buy a house (or condo, apartment, cottage). Everyone involved in buying houses says so. Heck, I'm saying it because financial institutions want to pay me money to get people to come borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars off of them, securing their financial security for decades to come (the institutions, not you).

Statistics that I am pretty certain exist somewhere show that most people prefer to live in some type of domicile that can hold not only all their stuff, but perhaps even have sanitary facilities, a lockable door, electricity and windows without bars.

Expectation

So why should you wait? If you are like most people you probably are waiting because you saw those for sale signs on people's lawns, checked out the price on the internet then sadly looked at your bank account or paycheck and thought WTF?

Reality

The concept of purchasing a residence of your very own slides quickly away as you wonder how the heck anyone not born in the sixties or seventies who is not on television or in banking can afford to buy such a luxury when you are still budgeting to pay off your student loan, your credit card and/or returning bottles for bus fare to get to work and back.

A nice compromise but for the travel. 

There is a sense of security that comes with having your very own place, but also a sense of ... 'Uh oh'... if you decide to buy a house that you can live in but not do much else. It's often called 'house poor'. All your disposable income you thought you had at your fingertips is destined for 'house-related' things. Perhaps you need a new fridge or have neglected to factor in property taxes. You have crap windows so your heating bill triples during winter. The roof has started to leak or you have a severe bug infestation which would make Mike Holmes shake his head in disgust at how a house like yours could possibly even be in existence.

We will have to tear out the kitchen and
may as well finish your basement while we are at it.

If you already are a home owner, you know what I am talking about. You need to pay for all of these unexpected expenses somehow. If you don't have kids maybe you can bring in a couple of roommates, forget the concept of privacy for a couple of years (and maybe your television when they move out in the middle of the night). But I'm getting ahead of myself.

What Did It Take to Get Here?

So you are thinking of becoming a mortgage broker?

Perhaps you saw an ad for a mortgage broker and thought- man, that sounds interesting. It's like all the glamour of being in real estate without having to do all that selling and meeting people a realtor has to do. Sign me up!

Big mistake.  

Like Michael Cera with a mustache mistake...

So why did I decide to do it? 

In my case I have 2 relatives that are mortgage brokers; a cousin in a city 500 kms away and a sister-in-law 150 kms away. This is very important because you will soon learn that you are going to be just another fish entering an already full pond that has a limited amount of earning potential before you appeared. It's much like the Cory Schneider and Roberto Luongo goalie conundrum. There is only so much net to go around...  

However, they helped me in answering a few questions i had about the industry and didn't yell at me to back the hell up on this career path. The only problem in hindsight is that they have over 20 years experience between the two while I had none.

It's not glamorous, it's not overly rewarding. It's a job. A lot of being a mortgage broker is based on earning commission, meaning I don't have a set wage, I earn a portion of what I bring in. Yet I'm not really selling a tangible; I have to convince people that I can save them thousands of dollars in the future if they are open to getting a mortgage not from their current bank (which 90% of homeowners do, citing convenience as their primary reason).  

My job is to help people see past their personal banks. Banks are making record profits for a reason; they make the best return they can on the people they serve, which is you and me. That won't change, however I can shop around for the best deal that makes sense to people in their own unique situation, at no cost to the person wishing to purchase or refinance their home. 

People can still be loyal to your bank but when it comes to hundreds of thousands of future dollars, it's best to get the best rate possible. That's what banks expect and they certainly don't want their valued (and profitable) customer to find out that some private lender with little name recognition may save them thousands of dollars in interest payments alone over the course of their mortgage.
I digress.

The Beginning of Another Beginning...

To quote Steve Miller;

Some people call me the Space Cowboy, some call me the Gangster of Love.

Some people call me Maurice, Cause' I speak of the pompetous of love...

This is an approximate visualization of the
inner me.

I've been many things over the years, none of that which defines me as a whole. I've had more jobs than apartments, more apartments than relationships. I've gone from getting trophies to getting cancer. I've been bankrupt 2x over and owned my own house. I've fought and lost more times than I have fought and won. I've created memories that will be mine alone and shared memories with others who may not remember things the way I do. I've met great friends and lost great friends. They, like the scenery around me is ever-changing. And I am grateful for every one I have met, and every one that is still with me. I am grateful for every view I have seen, every laugh that has come my way.

I've been on adventures and not-adventures, outward discoveries and wayward inflections. I have fleeting images that remind me of how small I am, of how different the world can be, of the fun of being high in my twenties and the fun of actually being a Space Cowboy, if for just one night.