The broker channel roared its way to its best-ever showing on the PROFIT 500 list, with both individual brokerages and networks claiming spots on the ranking of Canada’s fastest-Growing companies.
The broker channel roared its way to its best-ever showing on the PROFIT 500 list, with both individual brokerages and networks claiming spots on the ranking of Canada’s fastest-Growing companies.
Don MacVicar’s Verico Premiere Mortgage Centre was among those making the cut, with 1018 per cent revenue growth from 2007 to 2013. He attributes the meteoric rise to having patiently built the brokerage, stone by stone, brick by brick, with great people.
“We’ve grown organically through building relationships,” says MacVicar, who founded Premiere seven years ago with his brother Dave. “We absolutely rely on our sales people – quality, quality, quality people. We’ve taken the time, we’ve been patient, to build a foundation of great people.”
The brokerage made $7,046,245 in revenue for 2012, with 65 employees, coming in at No. 69 on PROFIT 500’s list of fastest growing companies – a list that includes KMI Publishing and Events, partent company to CMP magazine and MortgageBrokerNews.
Other companies of note include Dan Eisner’s True North Mortgage, which came in at No. 82 growing 897 per cent with $6,866,738 in revenue (23 employees); and Dominion Lending Centres at No. 250 growing 229 per cent, listed at a recorded $20-$50 million and 35 employees.
True North arranges A residential mortgages through nine storefront locations across Canada, and just recently opened new branches in Toronto and Calgary.
Dominion Lending’s continued growth has been attributed to their continued recruitment of mortgage brokers and a strong business model as reflected in its success at the Canadian Mortgage Awards.
Home Trust (Home Capital Group) came in at #345 with an increase of 141 per cent, recording an impressive $887,685,000 with 611 employees.
Equitable Trust (Equitable Group) was not that far behind at #370, showing a 121 per cent increase for $483,136,000 with 277 employees.
Both Home Trust and Equitable have carved out places in the niche lending market.
The channel’s collective performance is a reflection of its strength during economic crisis that gripped the Canadian market and the boom real estate market that helped to lift it free of that recession.
For Premiere's MacVicar, his success has come from his love of the work.
“I was 38 when I started, creating the infrastructure of a strong sales force from the bottom up,” he says. “Sure we made mistakes along the way, but when the foundation is strong, you are still going to come out ahead.
“We have a lot of great people and a great industry to work in,” MacVicar told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “We don’t celebrate that enough. We work really hard for our success; this is for sure – if you are in this only for the money, it isn’t going to work.”
