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“We pre-negotiate everything,” Saikaley said. “Instead of the client walking into a branch and negotiating these things, we make sure it’s all settled. This is our whole business. All we do is mortgages for military, so all our people are trained for it. It saves so much time.”

There are a lot of little details to keep track of that can make a big difference on a mortgage, Saikaley said.

For example, although military members are paid twice a month like many Canadians, Saikaley said the two paycheques are often quite different. The mid-month paycheque includes not just gross pay but also money to compensate for the cost of living differential, if they are posted somewhere with high food and shelter costs, loans to buy furniture, and other extra benefits. Brokers who don’t specialize in working with the military may not realize there can be a substantial variation in pay between the two stubs.

Saikaley said the Canadian military offers many generous relocation benefits, including covering the cost of everything from lawyer and realtor fees to land transfer taxes and CMHC fees. Yet because the documentation and paperwork are so intimidating, many clients don’t realize the full extent of the benefits they are entitled to.

“We often need to explain how relocation benefits work,” Saikaley said. “Clients often don’t know a lot about their benefits. We can save a lot of money. They can save tens of thousands of dollars when they know their benefits.”

This story was created by Content Works, Postmedia’s commercial content division, on behalf of Mortgage Forces.



