The brokerage behind the website
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario licenses Dominion Lending Centres Homestead Financial as mortgage brokerage #11711. The firm belongs to the Dominion Lending Centres network and is independently owned and operated.
Reverse mortgage questions from Burlington go to Richard Hopkins, Mortgage Broker (licence M16000896). For each homeowner, he compares every reverse mortgage lender in Canada.
Every page here is written and published by the brokerage itself. Lenders don't sponsor pages, pay for them or approve them.
About Richard Hopkins, Mortgage Broker
Reverse mortgages are Richard Hopkins' specialty. He is a licensed Ontario mortgage broker with Dominion Lending Centres Homestead Financial, which his mother founded in 2009.
For each Burlington homeowner, Richard puts all four Canadian reverse mortgage lenders against one another, explains how they differ in plain English, and recommends the best fit and the best deal for you, today and over the long term.
You pay nothing for his help, and there is no sales pressure. Once your reverse mortgage funds, the lender pays the brokerage. Every one of the four lenders pays the same amount, so his pay is identical whichever lender he recommends.
Why Burlington gets its own website
Advertising is where most people first meet the idea of a reverse mortgage. Ads rarely spell out the cost, the conditions you sign up for, or when you would be better off with something else.
The pages here fill that gap with Burlington's own details: values from the Cornerstone Association of REALTORS, Halton Region's tax deferral for older owners, the City's tax reduction for low-income seniors, local rules for second units, and the care homes in town.
Each figure is labelled with where it came from and when it was last checked. Lender rates and fees are quoted as the lenders advertise them.
What happens if you ask for help
- A short estimate form comes first. It lives on reversemortgagebroker.ca, the brokerage's main reverse mortgage site, and filling it in doesn't affect your credit.
- After that, it's email and phone. Figures arrive in writing so you can reread them and pass them along. A son or daughter can be copied throughout, or take the lead while you stay copied.
- All four lenders are weighed. Richard looks at every lender for your age and your house, then emails you the best deal for your home and goals.
- Other options are on the table. Richard also arranges home equity lines of credit and refinances, so you get his recommendation for the option with the best overall value for you, even if it's not a reverse mortgage.
- The broker's help is free. Payment comes from the lender after the mortgage funds. Third-party costs such as the appraisal, the lender's set-up fee and your own lawyer are separate and go to those people.
House rules for this website
- The brokerage name and licence number sit at the top and bottom of every page, as Ontario's brokerage rules require.
- Examples on the pages are marked as illustrations, never presented as real clients.
- No single lender gets promoted; when lenders come up, all four are listed together.
- Nothing typed into the calculator or the fit check is kept.
For questions about the website itself, see the contact page.