Mortgage Broker

CMB MAGAZINE cmba-achc.ca spring 2019 | 37 W hen Camilo Rodriguez gave up his career as an electrical engineer to join the financial services industry 18 years ago, he made the move to pursue his passion for mortgages. Initially, he worked for TD Canada Trust, arranging mortgages for presale condos and developments in B.C.'s Lower Mainland. Later, he moved to Origin Dominion Lending Centres before deciding in 2010 to strike out on his own. He established MortgagesLab in Burnaby, B.C. Today the full-service brokerage employs 25 mortgage advisers and has opened satellite offices in Langley and Surrey. "I have always been a big proponent of options," Rodriguez tells Canadian Mortgage Broker. "Consumers like to have options when dealing with their mortgage, and at the bank I felt restricted because there was only one option to offer them." Since he became a mortgage broker, Rodri- guez has been a member of Canadian Mort- gage Brokers Association – British Columbia (CMBA-BC). Just over four years ago, he got interested in the "bigger picture" and started volunteering with the association. In 2015 he was elected as a director, and went on to become secretary and then vice-president. In November 2018, Rodriguez was elected pres- ident and now leads CMBA-BC's 13-member board of directors. He intends to focus on a few key priorities during his one-year term. e first item on his list is to improve the association's member outreach program. "e main thing I remember when I was not involved with the association is that I always felt removed from it, and I didn't really understand what they were doing," he says. "I want to take that gap away as much as possible." Accordingly, CMBA-BC has hosted a se- ries of workshops in Surrey, Langley, Kelowna and on Vancouver Island. e events focus on professional development for mortgage broker members and include expert speakers and updates on association activities. "We are trying to connect with brokers on a closer level," says Rodriguez. "We want them to understand what we are working on and how we are helping them in their day-to-day business." e workshops earned positive feedback from association members, leading to small roundtable meetings scheduled throughout the year. Topics of discussion include best practices for handling a variety of situations, including money laundering, cannabis grow- op properties, and other relevant legal issues. e meetings also provide an ideal opportu- nity for the CMBA-BC board to connect with local brokers. "We can listen to the brokers to find out what they need from the association. We also get important feedback so that when we are asked by the government, we can give them real-time opinions." Along with member outreach, Rodriguez is also focused on increasing public aware- ness of the mortgage broker profession. "Our slogan is 'Your best mortgage advice comes from a mortgage broker.' We need to extend that to the public in a bigger way, and send a message to the community that we are here to help," he says. Mortgage brokers can help homebuyers by presenting them with options that can reduce the cost of home ownership. Rodriguez says the association will continue its outreach campaign on TV and in print, and is creating a committee that will make a "big push" through social media. Finally, Rodriguez says CMBA-BC will focus on government outreach. As an ex- ample, he points to how the association has been working with regulators in an effort to soen the B-20 mortgage stress-test rules. For example, if amortizations were extended to 30 or 35 years, "people who are now out of the market would be able to afford a home." Rodriguez also believes that government should focus attention on unsecured debt regulation, such as vehicle loans and credit cards. "ere is a lot of focus on secured lending – so, mortgages – but where people get hurt the most is with overwhelming credit in these other areas," he says. "If the government has a desire to help people avoid debt, they should focus their attention on other types of lending, too." ere are about 3,000 registered mortgage brokers in B.C. About 1,500 of them are current members of CMBA-BC, so Rodriguez believes there is a lot of room for association growth. He said the association exists to help members do their jobs better in B.C.'s chal- lenging mortgage market. "e opportunity is that mortgage brokers are specialized professionals who deal only in mortgages," he says. "So they may be able to find solutions for people who cannot be helped by their bank. We can offer them choice." Of course, affordability is still the main challenge in B.C. "People with good incomes and two jobs still cannot purchase a home. at is a huge problem," Rodriguez says. But he believes the way forward involves collaboration between industry and government to cra best prac- tices and responsible regulations that still encourage home ownership. To that end, he is proud of CMBA-BC's efforts to liaise with other professional associ- ations in Canada and around the world. "We try to understand how mortgage brokers work in those places and we work together to see how we can improve," he says. As president of CMBA-BC, Rodriguez says there are many issues that are top-of- mind, but the association will continue to focus on collaboration and communication that will ultimately benefit the B.C. homebuyer. We are trying to connect with brokers on a closer level. We want them to understand what we are working on and how we are helping."

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