One Millennial broker has found a client-base by targeting his peers – and finding a new way to reach first-time home buyers
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One Millennial broker has found a client-base by targeting his peers – and finding a new way to reach first-time home buyers.
Matthew Ablakan founded Millennial's Choice Mortgages last year, but it wasn’t his first foray into the real estate industry.
“I was at York University and I was majoring in law and society. I wanted to get into teaching but as soon as I got into teachers college and started working in schools I realized it wasn’t for me. It wasn’t the kids; it was the infrastructure, the 9-5,” he told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “I got into real estate in my third year of university. I was working two different jobs as a server and I had to pay for school. I knew I wanted to get into something to do with sales. I looked into real estate as an investor. I realized that in order to pay the mortgage I needed to have some sort of stable income.”
Ablakan spent much if his second year of university juggling school and researching the real estate industry.
In his third year, he decided to become a licensed real estate agent.
“In my first year as a realtor I was losing deals due to financing. I wondered how hard it could be to do the financing for myself, so I got into mortgages,” Ablakan said. “I partnered with a brokerage and as an agent I referred the deals to the brokerage. If you try to do both you are mediocre. I believe in delegating. I started to educate myself about mortgages and how lenders work.”
Ablakan is in the unique position of understanding both sides of the business. And that, coupled with his education background and an innate empathy with potential young, first-time homebuyers, has helped him find his niche.
“A lot of clients are coming to us and they’ve used other professionals and they’ve had a hard time connecting to them. The way things were done 10 years ago is significantly different from how they’re done now,” he said. "We host a series of events throughout the year, including a first-time home buyer seminar. This is where a teaching degree comes in. We have a client appreciation BBQ. We have a cigar night networking dinner. We host a lot of different events and the purpose is to educate our clients. That way they can make more informed decisions.”
Matthew Ablakan founded Millennial's Choice Mortgages last year, but it wasn’t his first foray into the real estate industry.
“I was at York University and I was majoring in law and society. I wanted to get into teaching but as soon as I got into teachers college and started working in schools I realized it wasn’t for me. It wasn’t the kids; it was the infrastructure, the 9-5,” he told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “I got into real estate in my third year of university. I was working two different jobs as a server and I had to pay for school. I knew I wanted to get into something to do with sales. I looked into real estate as an investor. I realized that in order to pay the mortgage I needed to have some sort of stable income.”
Ablakan spent much if his second year of university juggling school and researching the real estate industry.
In his third year, he decided to become a licensed real estate agent.
“In my first year as a realtor I was losing deals due to financing. I wondered how hard it could be to do the financing for myself, so I got into mortgages,” Ablakan said. “I partnered with a brokerage and as an agent I referred the deals to the brokerage. If you try to do both you are mediocre. I believe in delegating. I started to educate myself about mortgages and how lenders work.”
Ablakan is in the unique position of understanding both sides of the business. And that, coupled with his education background and an innate empathy with potential young, first-time homebuyers, has helped him find his niche.
“A lot of clients are coming to us and they’ve used other professionals and they’ve had a hard time connecting to them. The way things were done 10 years ago is significantly different from how they’re done now,” he said. "We host a series of events throughout the year, including a first-time home buyer seminar. This is where a teaching degree comes in. We have a client appreciation BBQ. We have a cigar night networking dinner. We host a lot of different events and the purpose is to educate our clients. That way they can make more informed decisions.”
