The Mortgage Journal Features Nolan in Fresh Faces Article

Fresh Faces – Next generation of mortgage professionals reinvents the industry

From The Mortgage Journal – January/February 2010
By Gina Monaco

Nolan Mathias, 26, from Calgary Alberta, who works with Mortgage Architects, is a very busy man. He is in his seventh years as a mortgage agent having started his business while still at the University of Calgary. When he asked his economics professor what business he should get into, his prof pointed at the window and told him to look. Matthias made the decision to get into the financial business.

“I took a three-week mortgage course and spent my last two years of school as an agent,” he says. “I actually re-wrote a chapter for the course I took.”

He never thought about mortgages — he saw himself as an investment banker or a wealth manager – but after working for Filogix for a year, and witnessing what the most successful agents did he realized that it was a great career to get into. “I actually found where I belong and I feel quite a home here,” he says.

Matthias closes 130 transactions a year and this year he will generate $28 to $30 million in business.. He attributes much of his success to having good people around him. A huge marketing tool for him is his writing. He has authored a book called “Golf Balls Don’t Float — 72 Life and Business Lessons from the Golf Course.”

“People got to know me through my book. It was a great way to start a conversation. Then readers would start asking me questions and that builds a trust relationship.”

Matthias acknowledges that his generation goes a million miles per second and are always trying new things. “Some things don’t work then we’ll tweak on something that works and people will gravitate towards it.”

His golf book is so successful that he’s soon to release a second book about mortgages. “There’s a new movement in mortgages, away from the transaction-based model and towards using mortgages as part of a person’s entire financial picture. For example, many clients try to eliminate the CMHC fee by increasing their downpayments even if they don’t have to. What they’re not seeing is the money they might be losing if they invested that extra down payment instead.”

Matthias uses the same technology as others in the industry but doesn’t like the mass e-mails that agents send out on a regular basis. “I think they’re annoying. They may be effective to stay top-of-mind but is not the best way to market yourself. Because my e-mail are rare, when client’s get them, they pay attention. My return is about 100%.”

He does, however use Facebook where he provides information in the form of interesting news and articles that he feels are relevant to the industry and what his clients might want to hear. He also has 7,000 people following him on Twitter. Not everything that he’s attempted has worked. But he learned from failure and switched his ideas until he found something that did work.

The one thing that all four agents have in common is their ability to change and adapt as the mortgage industry changes. In addition, they are not afraid to make mistakes; they use the latest technology to their benefit; and they all love the industry that rewards them for what they put into it.