A few sources including Canadian Mortgage Trends are reporting that O'Leary Mortgages have closed up shop. Rob McLister, Mortgage Columnist for the Globe & Mail, wrote that " In sum, O'Leary Mortgages was a pilot project that didn't generate the returns O'Leary envisioned. The problem might have been that he treated it like a pilot project and didn't make the investment needed to grow consumer awareness and differentiate his offerings." I would also argue that the direct consumer model wasn't best suited. Perhaps offering O'Leary Mortgages through brokers could have helped?
Some also argue that O'Leary's personality wasn't the ideal "poster child" for the mortgage industry in Canada. Regardless of what one thinks of the man, it's always a shame to lose another virtual lender in Canada. Unfortuanately virtual lenders like ING, Macquarie etc have come and gone. As a mortgage broker, I meet with clients from all sort of backgrounds and I can tell you that lender variety is critical more than folks realize. Furthermore, having more virtual mono line lenders is important as their mortgage conditions, i.e. "fine print" is usually better and more consumer friendly.
No comments:
Post a Comment