by Tekamar Mortgages
That's why we made SportsMortgage. It's a program to help parents afford to keep kids in sports and to help clubs and teams raise money without too many bottle drives. Because nobody really likes the sticky bottle drive days.
The concept is simple: Parents of young athletes have their mortgage arranged by SportsMortgage's partner brokerage. Once done, SportsMortgage will make a donation (based on the mortgage) split between the parents of the athlete and the club. It's that simple.
So what exactly is all this business about getting a mortgage through "SportsMortgage" and having it pay for part of my kids sports? Well, it's actually as simple as that. The SportsMortgage program is run by a mortgage brokerage based out of Salmon Arm, BC called Tekamar Mortgages. The owner, Richard Smith, had 3 kids who played sports at an international level as well as was club president for their Ski club for years. Through this he saw the burden organized sports can put on parents and decided to get his company to do something about it. It's as simple as parent(s) getting their mortgage on a purchase, renewal or refinance done using a mortgage broker through sports mortgage and them and their child's sports club getting a cheque in the mail.
So what does it cost? Nothing actually. Well, for you or your club anyways. The banks are actually the ones paying for this service. How getting a mortgage through a mortgage broker works is like this: the mortgage broker will take all the information for a mortgage, then essentially "shop" it around to different banks on your behalf. While the primary aim is getting the clients - you - the best mortgage with the lowest rate, banks are willing to pay brokers to arrange the paperwork and put it together instead of having to pay for it to be done in-house.
Alright, so now that we've confirmed that the cost is free, what are the other benefits? Well first, did we mention that by having the broker take your deal to different banks (especially some lesser-known, smaller ones) , they are usually able to negotiate a lower rate on your behalf. Almost always they can get you a lot lower rate than your bank will offer. In addition, by having a mortgage broker arrange your mortgage, they only need to pull your credit once, versus if you shopped around yourself, each bank would need to check it, potentially lowering the score. Finally, the biggest benefit is getting an expert to work on your behalf ensuring you get the best mortgage. Just like you probably would hire a plumber to fix the plumbing on your home, why would you take a risk on your most important asset?
Oh, and there's the fact that you and your child's sports club are going to get a check back for a percentage of your mortgage amount back. We calculate that percentage based on term of the mortgage. A 5 Year term earns 0.15% back on the total mortgage amount. A 4 Year term earns 0.12% back on the total Mortgage amount. Finally, a 3 Year term earns 0.09% of the total mortgage amount. The total amount is then split between the club and the parent.
An example is on a $300,000 5 year mortgage, you'll get $300 and your club will get $150. Next time you're at the bank, ask your banker if they'll match that.
Ready to get started? Awesome, we're stoked to get to work with you! Getting going with SportsMortgage is actually pretty simple. If you came to this site through your club's recommendation or website, that means they're already signed up to be a partner club. If not, no worries, we can start working with you immediately and work on the side to get your son or daughter's club sign up in our ranks. To get started, either give our brokerage a call at 250-832-8766 and mention SportsMortgage, or sign-up through our contact page and we will get in touch soon after. As long as you're in Canada, we can work with you. Between clients from out east and working with people in mining camps up north over satellite phones and internet, we're confident we can make it work.
After being on the board of the Revelstoke ski club for 8 years, and with 5 of them as president, Richard Smith (CEO of Tekamar Mortgages, SportsMortgage's partner brokerage) realized that raising money for sports teams and clubs is hard. He found that it's an annual struggle to balance a clubs budget and get the athletes what they need without breaking their parents bank accounts. He got tired of wasting long-weekends out of season to collect bottles and cans. So he started SportsMortgage - a program where the brokerage kicks back (donates) a portion of its earnings to the parents of athletes and their clubs.
SportsMortgage is a program that allows clubs to raise funding by having their athletes parents have their mortgages arranged through Tekamar Mortgage's SportsMortgage program. Banks pay Tekamar a small percentage of the total mortgage amount to deal bring mortgages to them and arrange and organize all of the paperwork that goes with this. SportsMortgage is essentially Tekamar donating a portion of that percentage back to the parents and their club. We calculate that percentage based on term of the mortgage. A 5 Year term earns 0.15% back on the total mortgage amount. A 4 Year term earns 0.12% back on the total Mortgage amount. Finally, a 3 Year term earns 0.09% of the total mortgage amount.
The parents get lower rates and money back, the club gets donations and Tekamar has a chance to get new clients - a win for all.
What's the cost and what's the catch? Well, there really isn't one. It's free for clubs to join the program, there is no cost to be in the program and SportsMortgage doesn't really expect anything in return for participating. Because it's the banks who pay us for providing our services, it doesn't cost your athlete's parents money either - if anything, they end up saving money because 90% of the time, we can get they a better rate than their own bank. It's almost like free lunch is actually a thing.
If this sounds like something that would be of interest to your club, we'd love to sign you up. Signing up is simple: just get someone of authority in the club give us a call (250-832-8766) or contact us via email. We'll answer any questions they might have, get a mailing address (to send the cheques!) and then we'll add you to our list. From there it's up to your club to decide how they want to spread the info to their club members. When someone from you club or team does get their mortgage arranged through the SportsMortgage program, we will send the parents a cheque for 0.075% of their mortgage amount back to help pay for their kid's sports, and send your club a cheque for the same amount. That's it.
If SportsMortgage sounds like something you or your club/team would be interested in, then get in touch and let's make it happen!