Gibson & Reitboeck LLP

02/13/2025

07/18/2023

One of our previous blogs discussed the problems you may encounter when buying and selling your homes on the same day. We strongly advise that your purchase your new home before you sell. This presents the obvious problem of where do you get the money to purchase from? The answer is Bridge Financing.
A bridge loan makes it possible to finance a new house before selling your current home. A short-term mortgage is placed on your current property, representing the down payment for your new house. These are generally a higher interest rate, and the terms are very short, usually a maximum of 30 days. You basically leverage the equity in your current home, use the loaned funds to purchase your new home, and then when your sale closes the loan is paid of and discharged.
Every lender is different, and it is important for you to discuss this option with your institution well in advance of closing. In fact, it is best to discuss this before you even list your home for sale. Your lender will want to know all the details about your current home and the home you are purchasing so that they can determine what they are willing to loan you to bridge the gap. Your lawyer cannot do this for you. Once the file gets to us it is usually too late to arrange bridge financing.
Bridge financing allows you to purchase your new home and have time to move into said home. Bridge financing is not without risk. It may be that you purchase your new home and then a week later your sale falls through, resulting in you having to negotiate an extension of your bridge loan, or having to remortgage your properties. The other downside is that you could be faced with having two mortgage payments.
Like any situation, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Being prepared and knowing exactly what your lender will advance in bridge financing before you sign on the dotted line is crucial, as is involving your lawyer as soon as possible.

02/23/2023

Our office is closed today due to last night’s storm.

10/28/2022

Here is proof that lawyers can be fun!

10/28/2022

Hello from Gibson & Reitboeck LLP! We recently updated our website, here is a sneak peek!

04/29/2022

You’re invited to join us for the free community workshop “End of Life Pre-Planning” on Monday May 16, 2022 at 1:00pm at the Fort Erie Lions Senior Centre. Our estate lawyer Anthony Reitboeck will be speaking about Wills and Power of Attorneys with other special guests including Katie Miller, financial advisor, Deborah Fairlie, death doula, and Stephen Muth, funeral director. We hope to see you there!

03/09/2022

A message from Ashley Gibson on International Women's Day 💛💙

To the women who came before me- thank you. You have all made my path a little less rocky. To those who come after me, please know that I will continue to do everything I can to ensure that one day a woman’s path is a smooth and clear as a man’s. That day is not today, and we have a lot of work left to do. With that said, women everywhere should be proud of the work they have done and continue to do everyday. Women are often described as super heroes, and we truly are just that! True equality will be achieved when terms like “female leader, female lawyer, female doctor etc.” are redundant. True equality means when a woman interviews for a job in a position of power she will not be asked if her husband would support the move that the job requires. We have a lot of work left to do and I am hopeful that when my daughter is my age she will feel less of a burden.

Today, I stand in solidarity with the women of Afghanistan, who are fighting for the basic rights they had achieved and of which they were recently stripped. To the women of Ukraine, I cannot imagine the strength you have had to muster over the last two weeks. The situation with which you are faced is horrific. Stay strong, I truly believe that the solution to most problems is a strong group of women working together to implement creative solutions. Women are the backbone of every society and today all of us at Gibson & Reitboeck celebrate the women at our firm and women everywhere!