Investor launches tool to help manage multiple properties
Justin da Rosa
Canadian Real Estate Wealth
With mortgage rates constantly in flux, one investor felt the need to better manage the various files – and a new tool was developed as a result.
Monitor My Mortgage (M3) is a new mortgage application that gives homeowners the ability to stay on top of the mortgage market with real-time alerts that allow them to take advantage of the best mortgage options available.
“It’s like having a tool that scans for the best mobile phone rates and tells you how much you can save with your current provider or by switching to another – whether you’re locked in or not,” Brent Hughes, founder of M3, said. “It re-defines how people can and should think about their mortgage – as an investment they control, versus a monthly payment dictated by lenders.”
M3 provides its users with alerts that could impact their mortgages.
“When the Bank of Canada rate came out in July, it was an interesting time: Everyone was in vacation mode and 100% of our clients were sent and update of the rate change and showed their position with the rate change,” Hughes told CREW. “You can put in the software if you want to know when rates go up … early dates on renewals, and it does calculations of penalties as well. 99% of people don’t figure out their penalties until they’re sitting with their client at closing.”
The technology is similar to rate sites, which have been around for years, but boasts one distinction.
“What our tool does is provide you with notifications. Most of those sites chase the beginning of the mortgage or the end of a mortgage. We’re spending time in the middle every day they don’t need us so when they do we are top of mind,” Hughes said. “Keeping consumers informed and giving them all the tools. All the information is public information but it’s buried in lenders’ websites.”
Hughes said the idea was borne from his own home ownership experience.
“I built it for myself; (my wife and I) were up to 17 properties over our lifetime and it was frustrating when rate announcements came out,” Hughes said, noting any time a market change was announced, he was forced to contact his broker or lender to figure out how it could impact his mortgage.
And so he developed M3, which is available free to consumers online or as a phone app.
Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd