I'm writing this post while working late, preparing for the flood of closings that are about to happen, and I can't help but be compelled to write something. I've had this urge to post something, anything, for the past few days. So I figured I'd take a break from preparing files to write.

I was out at the downtown Toronto location for the most part yesterday, signing clients for their pending closings. As I've specified on my website, I often meet clients at different locations. After finishing what needed to be done downtown, I had some time for dinner and a movie. Before the movie started, the theatre showed an advertisement for the Scotia 100% Mortgage Program.

Are Canadian banks looking to follow their US counterparts? I've seen 100% loans before, but usually they were given for refinances. The impression that I got from the advertisement was that Scotia was prepared to loan potential purchasers money to buy a home without putting any money down. I guess it's probably because consumers have a preference for "no money down" deals.

So the question I've asked in my previous posts has been whether or not the US housing situation will carry over into Canada. If Canadian banks keep offering deals like this Scotia program, then we will likely follow.

All we need to do is wait for the Canadian version of Casey Serin and then we'll know. Or maybe Serin himself might decide to try his hand in the Canadian market since he does not need to put any of his own money into the transactions. I'm not advising him, or anybody else for that matter, on whether Canadian real estate, or real estate in general, is a good investment and will leave that part to qualified real estate agents and investment advisors.