Mortgage Broker
Blog Interview: Rob Regan Pollock, Invis
Rob has been a constant financial services provider to our clients over the years. He is a senior mortgage broker who earns their business with his "top drawer" quality of service. I sat down with Rob recently and here is our exchange:
Rob, how did you get into the mortgage business?
I got into the mortgage business by accident. In 1993 I was an unemployed airline pilot with Canadian Regional Airlines. There was a global aviation recession at the time and my aviation prospects were limited. A good friend of mine asked me if I would consider a career change. He thought that I would be well suited to work with clients to assist them with their residential mortgage needs. I did some research and discovered that residential mortgage brokers were a relatively new service in Canada. Seeing a ground floor opportunity I jumped in and have never looked back!
What sets you apart from other lenders?
There are many differentiators in how our team operates compared to traditional lenders. Differentiation begins with our mindset – we focus on advocacy and education. We take the time to ask questions and gain a good understanding of what each client wants their mortgage to accomplish. Being independent and representing over 40 lenders, our only agenda is helping our clients succeed in reaching their goals. We are also different in being a team of seven. All our account managers are seasoned lenders, and have been hand-picked. We are also Accredited Mortgage Professionals which is the brokerage industry’s highest standard. We work as a team and use synergy to find the best options. Through advocacy and education we simplify the process and make it easy for our clients.
How do you create “value” for your clients?
Value is provided to our clients through our core values. Our values are tied to our purpose of making mortgage financing easy for our clients. We are not transaction oriented and value an ongoing relationship. We work with our clients on a long-term basis to minimize their interest costs. By keeping in touch and continuously improving our processes we deliver simplicity and peace of mind in what can often be an intimidating process.
What techniques are available for “leveraged investment”?
With the low interest rate environment the last 10 years, leveraged investments, especially through mortgages, have become extremely popular. The concept of using other people’s money to acquire higher value, appreciating assets to build wealth has worked very well. There are many ways of using mortgage financing to invest. The most popular has been using home equity through an “equity take out” as a down payment for an investment property. Another popular technique has been the “Smith Manoeuvre” named after Fraser Smith.
The simplest way to describe the “Smith Manoeuvre” is to call it a debt swap. With today’s re-advanceable mortgages a borrower can re-borrow against the principal they repay and invest it into the capital markets. By re-investing their home equity, they create a tax deductable mortgage.
There are two primary aims of the Manoeuvre. The first is to create tax deductability, and the second is to create investment gains between the spread of investment yields and lower mortgage rates. We strongly recommend the use of an accredited Mortgage Broker and Financial Planner in structuring leveraged investments to ensure all the pros and cons are covered.Well that's it for now, thank you Rob. From my years of experience working with Rob, I know my clients give him a hearty "two thumbs up". Rob's website will tell you more about their range of services.