Pierre Martel, President and CEO of Multi-Prêts Mortgages, was recently inducted into the CAAMP Mortgage Hall of Fame and will be on stage at the CAAMP conference in November to accept the illustrious recognition.

“I received a phone call from Colin Dreyer, Chair of the nominating committee and I was completely taken by surprise,” says Martel.  “I am very honored to receive this recognition from my peers and to join a league of such remarkable professionals who are pillars of the industry.”

Martel, a veteran of the mortgage industry, has been an active member of CAAMP since its inception in 1994 and has held various executive positions.  In 2008, Martel became Vice-Chair and subsequently Chair of the board of directors in 2009.

“I began my career as a real estate agent at Montreal Trust in 1977 and moved to the mortgage brokerage side of the business in 1980,” recounts Martel.  “I joined Multi-Prêts Mortgages the following year as one of the original mortgage agents.”

“I’ve been in this industry for 30 years and it’s important for me to give back to the industry and help drive its growth,” he explains.

“Through my role with the CAAMP National Ethic Committee, the Government Affairs Committee and also with the OACIQ Inspection Committee (a governing organization in Québec), I’ve been able to make a contribution.”

Martel’s passion for this industry is obvious.

“I always felt privileged to be able to help consumers acquire one of the most important assets of their life. In this business, you get to make everyone happy; a family can move into a new home, a lender provides a loan and a realtor sells a house! This is a fabulous industry and a very fulfilling profession.”

Martel has been at the helm of Multi-Prêts Mortgages since 2004 and the success of the 500 member organization can be attributed to mortgage expertise with focus on client needs backed by strong support systems.

“The mission of any Multi-Prêts Mortgages Broker is to provide outstanding service to our clientele with openness, integrity and professionalism,” says Martel.  “We walk our clients through the process step by step and council them on the mortgage products what suits their financial needs.”

“I believe our leadership position in the marketplace comes from the fact that our clientele is our number one priority. Their needs are at the core of our business,” he adds.  “Our dynamic team of mortgage professionals benefits from one of the best continuing education and coaching programs available in the industry. We give our brokers the support, the tools and the resources they need to succeed. We also put a lot of emphasis on ethics and have a zero tolerance fraud policy.”

When asked to offer advice to those who are considering joining the industry, Martel says that to be successful, mortgage brokers need to be willing to put in the effort.

“Anybody can learn the products and learn to present a file, but business development is the key. From my experience, good salespeople with no credit knowledge have a better success rate in our field than people with a strong credit or banking experience but don’t have direct business development skills.”

“I’m optimistic about the future,” adds Martel. “The housing market might be slowing down but the fundamentals of our economy remain sound. With the interest rates still being close to their historical low, I think home owners will be taking advantage of this to refinance their property either to undertake renovations or to consolidate their debts. Compared to the US, where the mortgage amount often exceeds the property value, more than 90% of Canadian homeowners have accumulated at least 10% in home equity.”