How was The Mortgage Professionals started?
After 18 years in banking, I [Brian] had the opportunity to open an office for a financial agency in Kingston. Unfortunately, within 9 months the business was placed in receivership due to factors outside of my control. It turned out to be a good thing, because business is born out of both invention and necessity. The year was 1989 and mortgage brokering was very new. Our new office wasn’t ready yet, so we opened what became The Mortgage Professionals out of my garage. We plugged in the phones outside, went out and did business during the day, and shut the door at night. It’s a humble beginning but that’s how our business was started. My partners Ian Rundle and Alan Paterson soon joined and we began growing.
How does your experience serve you as a mortgage broker?
When the brokerage opened in 1989, mortgage brokers were seen as the lenders of last resort. It wasn’t until the mid-1990s when we started to get some traction in the market. Today, our profession represents about 33% of mortgages in Canada. Because I had a banking background, I knew what banks did and I was paid to sell their product. Our brokerage wanted to be different. We set out to be the client alternative to banks. We knew we could do a better job. No one owns us, so we can find the best deal (a combination of rate and package) for our clients. That’s what we did and what we still do.
