Len 00:02
Welcome. My name is Len Lane, and I am the founder and president of Brokers for Life Inc., and we are Dominion Lending Centers in Western Canada. The topic of our podcast will be about what we consider to be Real Life Mortgage Solutions.

Len 0:24
Alta West long time in the industry. Chris O’Sullivan. We’ll let you take it away, Chris.

Chris 0:27
Yeah, thanks for having me. Len, I know we had a meeting last week, and I thought there was, you know, with your group and our group. I thought there were a good fit with the types of files you do. And what I want to go through today is, you know, just who Alta West is, how we you know, more files can get submitted through us, the process and the offerings that we have. And obviously, if there’s any files that are real time that anyone wants to discuss, I’m more than happy to do that here as well.

01:01
But for those that don’t know me, I’m Chris O’Sullivan BDN for Alberta. I used to be a private broker years ago, and what I realized about myself is I enjoyed really working with referral partners. And so I transitioned out of doing that to KDK, which is in the broker channel, and I did auto financing for a couple years with Kevin there in Edmonton, bringing the TDS down for AB files and then Alta West had an opportunity, and so this was a good fit. My role really is twofold—to be an advocate, obviously, to, you know, educate on the programs, how to use private but also to be an advocate for the broker and the client. So if there is a file that maybe gets declined, but you know, the broker thinks it’s a good deal, I think it’s a good deal, there’s a solid exit strategy, I’m more than happy to go to branch or the underwriter and just try to get reversed. But I’ve, I’m pretty successful do that as long as there’s the solid exit strategy and, you know, just having the underwriter look at a file in a different way. But also, you know, think of me as a concierge service as well. If you need things rushed, or if you need, you know, our underwriters to maybe work differently, feel free to contact me. I can definitely help, you know, make the process more seamless, if need be. Lawrence Walker, for example, they’re one of our appraisers, and I can call Chantal anytime to get things rushed. So that, you know that comes in handy.

Chris 02:44
So, why private? So private? You know, over the last probably, you know, five years it’s went up, you know, 10% in total mortgage volume. And so what that for the broker? What that means is that there’s more opportunity to increase your book with private and with private, you can then graduate the client to a B or an A lender. So there’s more income for you, and it allows you to also be more of a full service type of broker where, you know, clients may need flexibility. It’s not just about, you know, bruised credit when you do look at private—it’s about flexibility. Maybe the TDS is too high, so the client needs another solution, and as long as there’s a solid exit strategy, we’re happy to look at files. And even though TDS plays a little part, the bigger part is the exit strategy when it comes to having a file approved. Alta West, we’ve been around for 30 years. We operate two mix. What that means for the broker as well as we already have funds in place.

Len 3:48
And can I ask a question about your appraisers? There’s two, two designations floating around out there. We’re having some issues occasionally. DAR and a AIC, I believe. Are you accepting both?

Chris 4:00
No, we aren’t accepting DAR, but the other other ones, we are. So, yeah, so with that, with appraisers, if they’re not on our approved appraisal list, we can make exceptions. But one of the exceptions is… can be DAR-certified. As far as the reason why it’s just for our, I guess, for our circumstances, the other designation is just a bit more specific to what we need, and maybe a bit more encumbered, encompassing so, but I can definitely get you kind of a more specific answer when I can talk to Brent about it, Len, for sure.

Len 4:35
Nobody can give me a full answer. We’ve been… We just went through this. But…

Chris 4:39
Oh, really. Okay, and what are the kind of comments that come back to you?

Chris 4:43
Well, no one actually gives us a comment that they actually just… It just won’t accept dar and I’m gonna like it. It’s a recognized designation, and I understand the other one. Maybe you have to have a degree to get the other one. But there’s probably 3000 mortgage brokers in Alberta, and you can bet your butt that only a handful have actual degrees, right? So you’re okay dealing with us on that.

Chris 5:12
No, no, for sure, let me… Let me get that answer for you after this, and I’ll send you an email, because I’ll just ask Brent exactly what the reason for that is, and have some specifics, yeah. So yeah, for brokers, obviously you want speed, flexibility, underwriting speed, and transparency. That’s what we try to do, and that’s what I try to do. Working with brokers, if you have a question, I try to get back to you as quickly as possible. I work broker hours, so feel free to contact me till 10pm Monday to Sunday. On the weekends, it may be delayed if I’m doing something with my daughter, but for the most part, I want you guys to get an answer to your question. I don’t want you to wait a day or two. So if it means ask me on the weekend so that you can prepare a file for Monday, I’m more than happy to do that.

Chris 6:03
So we have two types of products. We have the Express product, and we have our flats. The Express is kind of our better rate type of program, so it’s for owner occupied only, for properties in Calgary or Edmonton. And the beacon score has to be 600 or greater. With that, and I’ll go through the rates a bit later, but yeah, with that, with the first mortgage, we can either do interest only or P and I payments up to 35 years amortization. With the Flex program, it’s just more flexible. So we can do rentals, owner occupied. The properties don’t have to be in Calgary, Edmonton. They can be in Red Deer or some smaller locations that still have access or close vicinity to Calgary and those sometimes with the smaller areas the LTD may have to be reduced just to reduce our risk on those type of locations. So with the Express, we have 65% load of value. We started 599. Now if, if clients, if some clients are fee sensitive, we can reduce the fee, increase the rate by the same amount. So that’s why we have 599 per interest rate. The commitment fee is 299 but if you want to bring the commitment fee down to by 1% we can increase the rate by 1%. That 299, commitment fee has the lender fee and your broker fee of 1% included in it. So, that’s the total fee for the client. At 75% we increased the rate by 50 basis points. And at 849, at 75% there is no lender fee, so we’ll just pay out the broker fee. And that’s why the commitment fee is at 1% or bottom rates, even though, with the express that has the TDS at 70%, we don’t really look at TDS for this type of product. If the TDS is 110 and if we’re gonna put the client in a better position after we’re done, then we’ll look at getting a file approved. We’re not going to approve a file if we’re going to put the client in a worse position once they’re done. So again, as long as there’s a solid exit strategy that will put the client in a better position, we’re more than happy to get it approved, as long as location LTV coincide. And again, we do P and I payments and interest-only for the Express program. What works is, we’ll start the we’ll do the first year closed, and then if the client needs more time, the second year will be open. So there’s no renewal fee. We just slide them into the second year, and then they can pay it out when they’re ready. If they do pay it out before the close term is done, there’s a three month, three month interest penalty, so very similar to what A or B lenders would do. With the Express, so we use either for construction. We’ll either use appraised value or purchase price, whatever is the lower of the two. So, we can do both, or we can use either purchase or appraisal, but it’s how we do it. It’s the lower of the two values. With our flex again, we can do rentals, owner occupied, smaller locations at 65% we start at 699, and again, the commitment fee can be flexible with the Flex program. The first year is closed, and then if they do need to go into the second year, there is a 1.25% renewal fee. So, and with that renewal fee, we can kind of spread it out if the client wants. So we can spread it over, like a three-month period, if the client would prefer. That for cash, and at 75% we go to 799, with the flex in the Express, we can go to 80% loan in value, the fee is 3.5 for both at 80% but it gets some flexibility if the client’s looking for a higher LTV.

Len 9:50
So you’re just adding that the commission is built into it at that at 299, right?

Chris 9:55
Yes, yes. So not sure that’s for first… That’s where first mortgages for second.What I’ll get into is we do a 3% lender fee, and then the broker can earn up to 3% but they just have to put in the notes, what the what? What the fee they want, either 1 to 3%.

Chris 10:13
So with our second mortgages, with the Flex, we start at six or 999, and we work our way up to 12.5 at 80% loan in value. And again, the TDS is flexible, as long as it works and as long as we’re putting the client in a better position, we’ll look at it. Now, as far as beacon scores, these are ballpark. I mean, we work with clients with a 400 beacon just depending on what the credit report has in it. So if they’re missing mortgage payments, we either may not approve it, or we’ll put them on an interest reserve type of rate, or a type of payment so that that money that’s going to monthly payments, we’ll put in a trust account that it pays Alta West on a monthly basis. With the bundle programs, we can do a first and second bundled up to 80% loan to value. So you know, first up to 75% and then the second up to 80. The rate for the Flex is 8.99 with, again, a three, three and a half percent fee. The other thing I just want to point out too is, if you’re looking for like cheat sheets or programs for Alta West, just go to Awcapital.ca and you can download that information now. Lynn, if, if, if it’s more convenient for me to pass the programs on to you in PDF, and then you send it out to the team. I can do that as well, but you can always go to our website.

Len 11:38
Sure. Yeah. And again, the library has a side where it is the PDFs and all the programs, and that. So if you have those, I’ll upload those into the… Our own internet. We built our own internet because DLC’s has got way too much stuff in.

Len 11:50
Okay, well, that’s convenient then. And then on the web too, when our pricing is changing, just go to the broker portal and it’ll give you the new pricing updates as well. We also do mixed use properties, so where you have commercial on the bottom and condos on the top, that’s the only type of kind of commercial that we’ll look at with that. The LTV, 65%. We can do it up to 3 million for in finance it and the commitment’s 299, again, with a 1% broker fee.

Len 12:26
Just ask question on the bundle. So is the bundle done in house, or is it a second brokerage that does the…?

Chris 12:30
No, it’s done in house. We do the first and second. Yeah. Again, with the mixed use, we can go up to 3 million for our first mortgage. 1.5 is our 8.99 and then there’s a sliding scale, if for any financing above 1.5. But again, we can do P and I or interest-only payments. At our DSR, we look for one to one type of a ratio to have that approved. The other thing I want to point out too is, if anything under 75% load of value, we do stated income. So we don’t need income documents. It’s only an 80% loaded value that will need either three months bank statements for self employed or else NOAS. Or always for employed clients. We do our last second mortgage product, HELOC. So what we can do is provide a client a HELOC for a one-year term. It’s a draw type of HELOC. So if the client’s looking for funding or for money coming out of the HELOC, what they would have to do is email us before 3pm today, Mountain Time, to get the money into their account tomorrow. So this is pretty good for self employed people that maybe can’t qualify with a bank HELOC yet, so we give them the opportunity for a one-year term to kind of get history with using a HELOC, and then hopefully within a year, they can get approved with a bank or another lender that does more traditional HELOCs. And again, because this is our second mortgage product. If you have a HELOC just put in the notes what you want the broker fee to be, one to 3%. A broker can always go above the one or 3% but they would just have to go through the lawyers for anything above what the lender fee is. So we allow brokers to provide a rate of up to what our broker fee would be for that program. So for HELOC, for example, we have or a ledger fee of 3% so the broker can go up to 3%. So here’s just an example, divorce, separation, the clients just looking for extra funds. What we were able to do is provide a 75 flex at 8% with a 3% fee. If any, if anyone’s looking for more… Other few types of referral partners, divorce lawyers, investment advisors, realtors are all good referral partners for private. And then we’ll also consolidate debt, so pay off CRA taxes. As long as the client’s filing is up to date, we’ll pay the arrears. As long as there’s obviously enough equity in the property. The other thing I want to mention, too with the Flex or the Express is if we come back with the underwriting process and say, hey, the LTV can only be 65% for this location, but if the client has other properties that we can secure, we can bring that LTV up to where the client needs it. So that’s the way to increase the LTV depending on location. We’ll pay out other… We’ll pay out other privates. We just won’t go behind other privates. And again, we’ll consider appraised value of construction purchases, but we do the lower of the purchase or the appraised value. And just like I mentioned, we can secure other property to bring the LTV up to where it needs to be. So like I said, also our approval times are three to four hours. We try to… We can fund within a week, and we use rental offset up 100% for rental properties.

Chris 16:00
So, and if a client’s looking just to get a mortgage for like four or five months, what we can do is a three month or an open after three months and that increase and the rate’s just 50 basis points higher than the advertised rate. So that’s some flexibility as well. So we have a broker loyalty program, so brokers are doing A+ deals in a quarter, we’ll pay an extra 15 basis points. If brokers are doing 12 deals in a month or in a year, we’ll provide an extra 1500 as a bonus. And if a brokers can do 5 million in a quarter in funding, we’ll provide a bonus of up to 7500 volume bonus. So we’re looking to partner, obviously, to help do financing for your clients and for you, but also to pay you financially. Just as a partnership.

Chris 16:58
We also, through the broker loyalty program, we also do take part in charities. So for each file that comes through this program, we pay $100 into the charities that we are part of. We’re also starting to partner with brokerages to fund or help fund the charities that they… are important to them. So if there’s ever a situation where you guys are looking for partnerships for charities that are important to you, feel free to contact me and we can see how we can make that work here. Here are the BDMs for the different locations. So if you have a subject property in BC that you want to go through, contact Donna. Southeastern Ontario would be Sarah, and then Angela would be in Southwestern Ontario. Eli is our inside sales guy. So for brokers that haven’t put a private deal in place, you can always contact Eli to kind of do it step by step. I’m more than happy to do that with brokers that haven’t done privates as well for obviously, subject properties in Alberta. So don’t, don’t hesitate to contact me if you need some assistance or step by step, we could definitely go through that.

Chris 18:11
So if, if files come up, if you want, I always ask brokers to run files by me just before they submit, just so it’s a smoother process. If there are already kinks, we can strain those out, and then the submission and the underwriting goes pretty smoothly, smoothly after

Len 18:25
So kind of a high level for some of you, interest, interest, reserves and things like that, are things that most of you probably haven’t dealt with. Fortunately, with all of the years in the industry that most of those terms, I know what they are, so if you need some explanation on those, let me know. But yeah, no. It’s great to have you, Chris. It’s kind of a bigger, higher level overview for some people, so that’s always good as well. I

Chris 18:48
If there’s any questions that come up with files, feel free to contact me, email, text, call. I’m available till 10pm pretty well every day. So don’t hesitate.

Len 18:58
Yeah, I do have one that may be of interest to him at 75% so we’ll put some paperwork together and give you a shout. I’ll have to get another appraisal, because we have a DAR on that one.

Chris 19:09
Oh, okay, and I’ll find that out for you Len, as well. So, thank you.

Len 19:14
Thanks for listening today. I hope you found the information that we provided to be useful in your mortgage journey. And remember, you can always find our associates at www.brokersforlife.ca/associates. Have a great day.