As I said, the notion that 60-year mortgages are on the table is hard to believe… but my understanding of the maximum amortization period in Canada is that it's only a maximum if you want/need government-backed insurance. If you want a longer term than 35 years, you just have to pony up for (more costly) private insurance.

From the BCREA website, there's info on how the "outlawed" 40-year products offered by name-brand brokerages are still, in fact, available:

http://www.bcrea.bc.ca/economics/2008FederalMortg…

"Private insurers are still free to insure 40-year amortization and 100 per cent loan-to-value mortgage products, but the lack of government backing will lead to sizeable increase in risk. This may mean the elimination of these products after October 15, or a higher insurance cost for the borrower."

I haven't found anything in a google search about 60-year products per se, but I will ask my friend for more info. My guess is that it's not offered by name-brand institutions, but sketchier companies. In the meantime: anyone else know about the availability/popularity of crazy-long mortgages in Canada? If there's something you can point to on the web that definitively says these are unavailable, that would be helpful, too…

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Stop trying to make the bears feel happy.

"138 subpriming the pump Says:

October 5th, 2008 at 3:48 pm

A friend of mine bought in Vancouver at the beginning of summer. She and hubby got a mortgage from a broker in Alberta. I can’t even believe the terms: 5% down, and 60 year amortization! I didn’t even know this was possible… "

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One is intentionally funny, the other is just funny. But enjoy them both while they're here; they'll both disappear in a couple of months.

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The credit crisis, which has been building slowly for the past year, is now moving so fast that governments around the world are finding it impossible to keep pace.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/co…

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john was right!!

dave was right!!!

Believe it or not, house prices are going to soar

With developers unlikely to respond quickly when the market bottoms out, prices may recover more quickly than people imagine.'

That price rise may be every bit as large as the current price falls.

http://tinyurl.com/4ug4t6

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You see the connection between the money printing presses and inflated asset prices, yet you fail to see the event that always follows the inflation phase.

But no problem, you will see if first hand – inflation, recession, panic selling.

In California prices are down 47% in some markets, even with Bernanke putting an extra graveyard shift on the money presses.

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Actually it doesn't take much of a strike at all for sales to drop off a cliff. For every new buyer there are 2-3 that rely on that buyer to sell their own properties. Take away only 15% of demand and that's your 40% drop right there.

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