Good morning everyone and Happy Thanksgiving!

Many of us are already lethargic from turkey and the rest of us will probably overdue it today.

When pondering for a brief moment about what to be thankful for a title wave of thoughts rushed in my mind. A good problem to have! My list of blessings is truly long and my hope is that everyone who reads this and everyone that they know can say the same.

Anyone going through any type hardship whether it is, personal, physical, financial, social and so on…. Be strong and endure! When you conquer this hardship it will help you achieve your defined success and make for a very interesting passage in your life story. Sometimes we are thankful (maybe not at first) to simply have a choice to at least tackle this hardship.

Big bank saddles mortgage borrower with hefty bill – by Jamie Henry | 08 Oct 2014
A Canadian couple was shocked to learn that they owed their lender tens of thousands of dollars to end their fixed-term mortgage early.

Shane and Joy Trusz, an Edmonton couple, knew they would be dinged with a penalty and expected to pay the equivalent of three months interest — $4,000 – but were surprised when TD Bank charged them a much bigger figure, according to CBC News.

“We came out with a figure, it was about $7,000,” Shane Trusz told the CBC. “So, how is TD coming up with $17,000? I have no idea.”

The contract with TD stipulates that the bank will charge an early exit penalty of either three months interest or the Interest Rate Differential.

Shane Trusz, who has been a TD customer for just under 20 years, told the CBC he expected the bank to make an exception in their case. The couple decided to sell their home and their positions to move to Haiti to run an orphanage.

“We have some money set aside for project costs, to buy land, create businesses. We’re going to be using our own money to do that – and so when all of a sudden we’re going to have $17,000 less than we thought we were going to have, we see that in human terms,” Trusz said. “The last time I was there I lent a Haitian $2,700 to build his first home with indoor plumbing.

“He has two girls, so they’re going to live in a house with a toilet and a sink for the first time in his life.”

The Trusz family plan to live in Haiti on a budget of $24,000 a year. Pleas to the bank’s district vice-president were declined.

“I was devastated,” Trusz told the CBC. “We’re laying down everything we love about this world, living here in Canada, to go and help people. So, if you can’t make an exception for that, what would you make an exception for?”

Calls to TD from CBC Go Public eventually lead to a settlement offer to the couple, which was accepted.

Housing starts pick up pace in September

The latest figures from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation show an uptick in the pace of housing starts. There were 17,343 starts in September making a seasonally adjusted annual figure of 197,343. This exceeded the expectations of economists. “The increase in the trend reflects stronger starts activity since April, largely concentrated in multi-unit dwellings including condominiums,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s Chief Economist, “however, the currently elevated level of condominium units under construction supports our view that condominium starts should trend lower over the coming months.” In September, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts decreased in British Columbia and Atlantic Canada, and increased in Quebec, Ontario and the Prairies

Detroit house swapped for an iPhone 6 (CBC)

When the wife of Austrian resident Nik Gindelhuber heard he was planning to trade a home they owned more than 7,000 kilometres away in east Detroit for an iPhone 6, she wasn’t convinced it was a good idea.

“When she heard she said, ‘Are you stupid?'” said Gindelhuber. “In Austria, you know, it would never happen.”

He said he bought the house as part of a U.S. government program intended to help those who lost their homes to foreclosures.

Gindelhuber, who has never been to Detroit, thought it would be a good investment as a rental property.

The home ended up not making any money, and he accumulated more than $6,000 in back taxes, something a new owner would have to pay off.

When his tenants left a year ago, the house was taken over by squatters.

All the doors and windows are gone and the inside has suffered major fire damage.

“I didn’t want to invest more money in another renovation, and another renovation, and another renovation,” said Gindelhuber.

He listed the house through real estate broker Larry Else for $5,000 (all figures US) about four months ago, but got no offers. He dropped the asking price to $3,000 and still had no bidders.

“Last week I told Larry, I want to get rid of the house,” he said. “Let’s make a kind of exchange, if someone is giving me an iPhone 6 you will get my house.”

That’s when the bids started pouring in, said Else, who thought the plan was a good idea.

“I’ve heard from hundreds of people now the listing has gone viral,” said Else.

He’s now getting calls from other sellers who are willing to make similar trades.

“There is somebody who reached out to me now, one of my sellers, who wants to trade a car for their house,” Else said.

Meanwhile, Gindelhuber has accepted an offer for the price of the phone, and is waiting for the deal to close.

He said he’s happy if the buyers live there for a long time.

“Whenever I’m close to Detroit, I’ll drive there and tell the new owner, ‘I’m the iPhone 6 guy,'” he said.

Next week I should be able to communicate mid-month sales numbers for October.

Enjoy the day and have a fantastic shortened work week, Anthony

Photo by Eugene Wei.