"What we often say is that a broker should choose a lender that really elevates their brand"
A broker’s choice of private lender is reflective of their values, argues Lisa Stewart, chief revenue officer at Neighborhood Holdings.
“You really, really want to work with someone you can trust your clients with. Because once the deal is said and done, the borrower really becomes a client of the lender,” Stewart told Canadian Mortgage Professional.
“What we often say is that a broker should choose a lender that really elevates their brand.”
Critical factors to consider include potential impacts on the end-to-end client business, which is why a lender that can get deals done efficiently should be top priority.
“They have consistent underwriting. They have a friendly team that you really like working with, and then you can really trust them with your borrower once the transaction is funded,” Stewart said.
Read more: Private mortgages – what’s next for Ontario agents?
At the same time, it is incumbent upon the broker to allay any client misunderstanding about the private lending space.
“Yeah, I think a common misconception is that alternative or private lending is really designed for people with poor credit or bruised credit, and that’s really not the case anymore. Our space has really expanded, especially in a rising rate environment like we’re in today,” Stewart said.
“It’s just going to push more and more borrowers into the alternative space as they struggle to qualify with the banks. So we’ve seen the credit quality of our portfolio really rising as more borrowers are pushed into the alternative space to qualify at the higher rates or also to get a transaction done in a relatively short time frame. The market has been quite hot for the past few years, so it seems like every deal is a rush deal today and that can make it kind of tricky to go with a bank.”
Listen to more of Stewart’s thoughts on the industry here.
