"I don't know why Canadians have this misplaced loyalty to banks," says Ron Prefontaine.

Prefontaine is president of a Calgary-based company that wants to change the way Albertans - and all Canadians - think about mortgages and mortgage companies.

Canada Mortgage Direct (CMD) hit the Calgary mortgage brokerage scene about four years ago. This past winter, its principals bought a high-profile location on the corner of Crowchild Trail and Kensington Road N.W., and launched the firm's first Financial Wellness Centre. It's the first Western Canada- based mortgage company to offer so many services linked to home buying under one roof.

The centre offers mortgage brokerage, financial planning and legal services. By early July, residential insurance under the CMD brand should also be available onsite and plans are underway to add a concierge service, too, says Prefontaine.

The concierge will meet with new and existing clients, at no charge, to review their private portfolios. That individual will then make recommendations based on issues related to everything from estate planning to insurance, including disability insurance for self-employed clientele.

The primary goal is to teach clients that "it's not about the lowest mortgage rate, it's about a mortgage that is part of a larger strategic plan," says Prefontaine.

Buyers who intend to move and will need to pay out a mortgage early, for example, may benefit from a mortgage that includes an exit strategy not linked to high penalties. "It's important that we know what your investment strategy is."

Above all, the one-roof approach should ease mortgage application and completion for clients who choose to use the in-house service.

When you need proof of home insurance or a lawyer's signature, for example, "we can get you both without leaving the building."

With all of the attention to service, CMD will further break free of outdated notions that tie the mortgage brokerage industry to people with poor credit, adds Prefontaine. Helping people learn how the mortgage industry can help them purchase property is critical in Alberta's booming economy, since the industry plays an important role in helping the self-employed and others without a traditional track record of employment - including new immigrants - find money to buy a principal residence or investment property.

Speaking from his Edmonton office, long-time mortgage broker Krishna Gupta of Alberta Mortgage Centre (AMC) says 90 per cent of his business has always been based on "people with very good credit."

Even so, a tendency to view the bank down the street as "my bank" means "the people who have been living in Canada the longest have the least knowledge about the mortgage brokerage industry," says Gupta, a broker since 1999.

With a thriving economy bringing more people to Edmonton, the foreign worker and immigrant side of AMC's business has really taken off. And Gupta credits the Internet for boosting this side of the business.

A fair percentage of this consumer group tends to be highly educated and they do their research before moving to Canada.

For this portion of the home-buying market, "the Internet is the mortgage industry's best friend," notes Gupta.

With Edmonton's real estate market cited as the hottest in the nation, Gupta figures it's been three or four years since he's had to convince anyone to use a broker, since clients who contact AMC already know what the industry can do for them.

Both he and Prefontaine dismiss the notion their industry was hurt by negative outfall from the subprime mortgage market of the United States. There, mortgage companies targeted borrowers with credit issues, or those who couldn't qualify for cheaper prime loans because of limited credit histories.

That market's predatory nature put borrowers into loans they couldn't afford, depriving many borrowers of home equity some had built over a lifetime.

Gupta says the same thing could not happen in Canada, where the law protects consumers by mandating mortgage insurance for deals with anything less than 20 per cent down. Even with a greater number of U.S. lenders coming into Canada's mortgage market, "they do not do business the same way as they do in the United States," says Gupta.

Any Canadian fallout linked to that issue is more likely to be associated with fears of market "bubbles," since some markets where the subprime industry was most active also suffered considerable market depreciation, adds Prefontaine.

Here, as in the U.S., the real issue isn't widespread market collapse, but the need to understand the housing industry as local markets with separate economic fundamentals. From Prefontaine's perspective, the current market fundamentals mean Alberta is destined for market appreciation - for many years to come.

In the end, people come to mortgage brokers because they have access to so many more lending products than banks, each of which has a number of products that vary from institution to institution, says Gupta.

"We have access to 50 lenders and they all have 10 products," adds Prefontaine. The bottom line comes down to the fact "we do not get paid unless you do business with us."

Canadian brokers also value long-term relationships with borrowers. "We are not just looking for your business today," says Gupta. Brokers want your business, your family's business, your friend's business "today, tomorrow and five years from now."

Traffic estimates show 200,000 vehicles drive by Canada Mortgage Direct's new Calgary office every day. Prefontaine hopes that high profile, and CMD's fresh approach to the business of buying personal or revenue property, will translate into clientele that keeps coming back - and refers others, too.

Their overall business strategy has already earned CMD the Independent Mortgage Brokerage of the Year Award at an industry gala held in Toronto earlier this year. There, Prefontaine was also nominated as one of the industry's top new brokers.

And this is just the beginning. Although CMD principals considered a national-rollout of their mortgage boutique, they're now focused on making sure the Kensington location is fully functional. They'll look at another site in Calgary next, then start expanding in Alberta before pushing west and east.

It's an ambitious plan, but it's rooted in industry statistics that estimate 25 per cent of Canadians use mortgage brokers to help them buy their homes. That leaves a fair share of the business still on the table and makes the mortgage brokerage industry "a growth industry," says Prefontaine.

(Joy Gregory can be reached at joy@businessedge.ca)