Interview with Lindsie Tomlinson | Realtor with RE/MAX Select Realty

Think today's mortgage process is complicated and stressful. You're right, it is. But it doesn't have to be. This is the House Rich podcast and we've simplified the mortgage process. Your host, Matt Parker, AKA Mortgage Matt, delivers practical advice in a fun and entertaining way to help you understand your mortgage so that you can start making money, not the bank. So let's get your homeownership journey started. Here's your host, Matt Parker.

Hey, Matt Parker here. Very excited to have Lindsay Tomlinson here. Lindsay, how are you today?

Great. How are you?

I'm doing very well. Very well. Thank you for taking the time. Grateful to have you. And I mean, I like to start out. So Lindsay's a real estate agent in Greater Vancouver and, you know, we've worked in conjunction on a transaction or two, I think over some time now and would love to. I'm really looking forward to getting your insight on the market, especially today and your business, how you do business, all those sorts of things. But I like to start out with question, which is just one thing or something that maybe not many people know about you. Something that would be sort of fun to share with everybody.

Sure. Okay. I don't think very many people know that I've actually run two full marathons in 2002 was my first marathon in Honolulu, and basically I had an ex boyfriend who told me I would never be able to run a marathon I had never run in my life. And I was curious about it. And he was like, oh, you could never. So, of course, after I broke up with him, I signed up to run a marathon and showed up for the first day of training and ran five miles and thought I was going to die, but stuck with it. And so what I did was I did it through something called joints in motion, where I raised money for arthritis. And then we went to Honolulu and ran the Honolulu Marathon in 2002. And then I did it again in 2005 with team and training and raised money for leukemia and ran a marathon again.

Yeah, yeah. Where was the second marathon that was.

Also in Honolulu in 2005? Yeah.

Very cool. Yeah. My wife and I just got back from New York recently and they were setting up for the New York Marathon.

Oh, cool.

And I've heard that it's like out of this world, the energy, like the environment. So that'd be kind of cool if you're a marathon person to run one of those sort of big city ones.

Well, Honolulu was really cool too, because a lot of people dressed up in costumes and it was just Neat to see. And I think there was 30,000 people there the first year I did it. And it was, I mean, all my goal was just to finish, which I did both times.

It's a long way to run, so, I mean, I'm not going to lie. So congratulations. Well, that's fantastic. I know that, you know, it's a smaller group of people that have accomplished that goal, so. Good. Showing him wrong, right?

Exactly. Don't tell me I can't do something.

Exactly. Good for real is good for sales and good for real estate. So how did you get started in real estate? How did that come about?

Yeah, So I was 21 when I bought my first condo. I just, I always was really interested in it. I don't even know exactly why. I just was always really intrigued with it. And I remember being a kid going to open houses with my mom just for fun, which now, you know, is a realtor. We don't love those looky loos, but it was definitely one of those. And I just felt like I was wasting my money on rent and decided to buy my first condo at 21 and then was like, oh, you know what? I actually really enjoyed that whole process. And so I took the real estate course In, I think 2002, passed all the assignments, did everything, was going to write my exam and I got hit by a drunk driver head on. So it was pretty traumatic. And then just deferred everything. And then, you know, life kind of just gets in the way and it was never the right timing. So then after I had my second baby, I decided I wasn't gonna go back. I was working at an architect firm as a office manager slash executive assistant. And I decided, you know what, I'm gonna go get my license. And so I challenged the exam like so many years later, studied and got my license in 2013.

Oh, wow, what a story. It just came full circle. Hey, life happens to everybody and I'm glad you're, you know, you're okay. And everything ended up okay. And yeah, thank you for sharing. Appreciate the honesty.

Yeah, absolutely.

So what do you love about it? So day to day you're helping people? Maybe focus on buyers, potentially sellers, or both?

I think I do a pretty big mix of both.

Okay, what would be your sort of favorite part of just a day to day life as a realtor?

Yeah, that's a good question. Every day is different and what I really like about it is just helping. Whether it's buyers or sellers navigate from the beginning to the end and beyond. I often have clients reach out to me later on and say, oh, actually, do you have any recommendations for an electrician or a plumber or hey, could I run this by you? You know, I think I just really helping people with one of the biggest decisions and biggest purchases or sales they're ever going to make and helping them navigate it step by step so that they feel really comfortable and knowledgeable and able to make the best decision for them.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, from my point of view, it's how can we be of service? You know, how can we help you today? And especially in. Because we'll focus on Vancouver, greater Vancouver, obviously, as our markets, but in a ever increasing cost of living, ever increasing real estate, property. You know, now we have mortgage rates skyrocketing compared to where they were and all those different things. It's, it's, I think that that expertise and that, you know, additional care and, you know, help throughout the process, which has become more stressful year over year. Like it hasn't gotten easier, that's for sure. So I think that that's so important today where maybe this time last year it was more of just can I qualify, Can I get a house and will I get an accepted offer? Let's do our best to see what happens and sort of roll the dice. But today that's, I think shifted. So in terms of the market today. So as we're talking, it's near the end of November 2022. So we've seen a large uptick in interest rates over the last six to eight months and hopefully near the peak. Like hopefully, fingers crossed, we're near the end of it. And in turn, what that's done from our send is it's made it a lot harder to qualify for a mortgage because the stress test rate has continually increased because of that fact. So I actually did an analysis the other day on pre 2018 before the stress test was introduced to all mortgages and today and what the difference is between qualification over that time and, and if you look at pre2018, for every 100,000 in income, you'd qualify for over 750,000 in a mortgage. Today it's under 500,000. So it's a big difference between the two based on what that qualifying rate is. And they haven't implemented any longer amortizations or anything like that to sort of help those different things. So I think that's creating a lot of challenges for securing financing or qualifying at best rate mortgages, not having to go alternative lenders and all that kind of all those different Options as well. But in terms of today's market or what's happening at the moment, any advice that you can give or what you're seeing out there for. For potential buyers or sellers, it is.

Honestly the strangest market that I've seen. And we have gone through crazy sellers markets before and then gone back to a balanced market, which we're in a balanced market right now. But I mean, even though we're technically in a balanced market, I think it definitely skews more towards. In reality, we're in a buyer's market. You know, we're not having the multiple offers that people got so used to. How to handle it today, really. I just always think you need a. If you need a place to live, which we all need a place to live, if you can afford to buy something, then you have greater control over your housing, is if you do qualify, if you're able to scrape together the down payment and you do qualify for a mortgage. I always think owning is better than renting because it's yours, you know, you have greater control over it.

I do think long term, now that, you know, it's kind of a funny thing. It's like, okay, well, inventory is growing a little bit. It's not like it's growing significantly, but let's say it even does grow a little bit. And it's, and it's, it's making more available for buyers, properties available for buyers. I think the big problem is long term is that with these higher cost of borrowing that impacts so many different aspects or parts of the market, whether it's, we're having less new construction units, you know, developers are building less. So there's going to be probably even less housing in a market where there was not enough housing and more people, you know, over the, over the time.

You know, I think that's our biggest problem, especially in the lower mainland, Vancouver in particular, is that we just have such a lack of supply. The new builds can't keep up with the demand. And, you know, there's lots of immigration. There's always going to be more people. And I've had lots of clients move here from Ontario, mainly for weather reasons, for good reason.

Yeah, makes sense. Yeah.

Yeah. And I just, I mean, I think that as an investment perspective, I think owning is always a great idea, but at the end of the day, you do need to live somewhere. So I would rather put my money in where I'm living than maybe the stock market say.

Yeah, diversifying is obviously fantastic, but having a home, having a place that's you know, safety and for your family, I think is, is so valuable. I know that. I think the next six months is a, is a fantastic time to buy a property. I think that we'll have, there'll be more opportunity. I also think that any tweak that happens in terms of making it easier to qualify for a mortgage, any potential downturn in interest rates, anything that sort of makes it change in terms of, or just a little bit more appealing, I think we're right back to where we started, if not worse at some point in the future just because of what the biggest problem is, is just not enough housing.

It is what I have found is that people, when the market is strong and it's a seller's market, everybody wants to buy a place because all they see is that it keeps going up. So everybody, you know, that desperation of needing to get into a place before it goes up again in another month is there. But as soon as we're in a downturn, people step back and wanna wait. And what I have seen is that if you wait too long then you start jumping on the bandwagon again once it's shifted. And so if you can purchase when you have the luxury of being able to negotiate, which is major, and also have more time to think about things, you know, we're not in that market where you have less than a week to decide this is it, you have the time. But yes, interest rates are higher, but why wait, you know, too long if you're going to purchase, then I think the next year is going to be a really good time.

I agree, I agree. And we're seeing obviously a lot of different ways that people are qualifying because maybe, okay, if I'm qualifying for less for how much I bake versus how much I used to qualify for for property values have actually gone up over that period of time. We've seen a large increase in gifted funds from family. We've seen a large increase in co signing, having family help co sign the mortgage. All good options, like not bad options. There are ways that, you know, the parents can actually access equity without potentially increasing their cat their payments and keeping cash flow the same. There are, there are, you know, reverse mortgages are on the uptick and you know, not, not the worst product out there if it makes sense, if it's an early inheritance, there are lines of credit products that we could structure where there's actually just equity based and do it that way if there's a lot of equity in the home. So we're seeing a lot more of that early inheritance to help bridge the gap that that has been created. So that's definitely. And also because of the fact that, you know, there's a lot of real estate wealth in greater Vancouver because of the fact that people have owned these properties for X amount of years and the value's gone up. It's, let's use that to help help the family. So yeah, it's, it's just looking at all different scenarios to make it more achievable and more affordable and really focus on that cash flow.

So yeah, my mom had to co sign my first mortgage when I was 21 and my mortgage rate was just over 7%.

Okay, okay. So then not so different, right? Not so different.

No, no. I, you know, I didn't qualify on my own and she, she co signed for me so I mean I was able to make the payments. But yeah, yeah.

Well, we don't know what rates will do now as we go into the future. I think there's a lot of indicators that could see lower rates at some point. Some people think we might see higher rates. I mean it just depends who you talk to and the expert or analyst that you're, that you're listening to. So it's not, wait for that, it's not, let's not wait for that. Because I think just being in the market isolates you from the changes of things because you know, over time this is long term, there should be appreciation in the property. Especially in a world class city like Vancouver. You know, I think the best city in Canada, which is one of the best countries or the best country in the world or one of, in some people's opinion. So it's a very desirable place to be. So that's probably what's going to continue to push up home values as well. Just in that fact alone. While also the, the low housing supply is definitely a contributing factor.

Well, I mean rents are so expensive now too. So I'm always shocked at how much they are.

That's a big concern, I find. Yeah, I think that the housing supply problem is a big concern. It is, it is a big problem.

Yeah.

If we're going to look at it seriously. And I did read an article that the average renter in Vancouver is spending over 50% of their take home pay on rent, which that's very challenging from a cash flow perspective. But then if you look at it from the investor that owns the property, well, their costs are increasing significantly as well. And what most people I don't think understand with rising interest rates is when the US Feds do it, it doesn't impact people that much right away because there's very long term fixed term mortgages in the United States where they have 20, 25 year, 30 year terms. So they're actually protected for that long if they want to be. So there's not as. There aren't really renewals down there, there's refinances and purchases where in Canada everyone generally has a five or less term mortgage. So over time this impacts everybody. So it's not like anyone is able to avoid it. So even if you have three years left in your term, well, and you have a fixed rate mortgage, well, in three years, there's a high probability that your rate will be significantly higher than what you have and your payment will also be a lot higher as well. So that's where they probably don't increase rates as high or as much as the US Feds do because of the direct immediate impact that it has on the, on, on the economy versus down. So that's good news in terms of how high we might see interest rates go. It might, I think we're probably hopefully near the end, but hopefully that's some good news as well. Anyway, I mean lastly, we, we like I use the term house rich, so I talk about, because I'm a Smith Maneuver certified mortgage professional, so I focus a lot on how do we structure tax deductibility, you know, leverage equity to increase investment tax deductibility and pay down that bad interest, non deductible mortgage as quick as possible. When I say house rich, anything come to mind to you or what that means to you?

I mean, I really feel like as long as you have a safe place to live and a roof over your head, whether you're renting or own, we're just also fortunate. You know, we do have a serious homeless problem here. And so I do think anyone who has a, who has a home is house rich in those terms. But no, I mean, I think that the equity that most Vancouverites have in their homes will allow them to have, you know, a better retirement because if they do downsize, which most people end up doing, they, you know, they will be able to help their kids or grandkids and they will be able to live a better retired life than, you know, they probably did when they were paying off their mortgage just because of that growth. So I mean, maybe in that way there's a lot of house rich people here, even though they're not really rich, they're rich on paper.

But I think that if you Think about it. You hit the most important thing on the head, which is most of us, if not all of us probably have a lot to be grateful for. Even when things are happening that maybe think us, make us think otherwise. If we step back and look at the big picture, you know, there should be a lot of gratitude just, just for the fact of owning a home. If you do own a home or even the, even the option to look at buying a house, even to think of I can potentially buy a property is, is something to be grateful for. So I think that I agree with what you said 100%.

Okay, good.

Well, Lindsay, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Pleasure to have you on. I just wanted to end with what's the best place to find you? Where can people reach out to you?

Sure. Well, my website is my name Lindsay Tomlinson.com and my name is spelled a bit differently. It's L I N D S I E. So the Lindsay is a little bit different. So yeah, I'm always happy to go for coffee or chat with people and see if we're a good fit for with each other.

Well, thank you, Lindsay. We'll put the contact info in, the details of the, of the episode and everyone will have the chance to reach out to you. But I really appreciate you taking the time, you know, out of your schedule and we'll be in touch. We'll talk to you very soon.

Okay, sounds great. Thank you.

Thanks for listening to the House Rich podcast with Matt Parker. We hope you enjoyed this episode. For more information and resources to get you started on your home homeownership journey, visit www.mattparker.ca and don't forget to rate and review this podcast. Thanks again for listening.