MArlies Romich and Kambi Heywood - Canadian Mortgage experts

I'd like to introduce the team of Marlies Romich and Kambi Heywood, who are Licensed Mortgage Brokers with Canadian Mortgage Experts.

How has COVID-19 affected your daily operation/life?

We are fortunate that COVID has not had a significant impact on our business, thanks to some timely decisions. About a year ago, we invested a lot of energy integrating new systems and technology to be more virtually available to our clients, yet stay super client-centric, with a very streamlined process for our clients. We have a slick application portal that is completely secure and password-protected for each client. Documents can all be uploaded straight into the portal, at any time, in any format. It’s super convenient for everyone, our clients love it! Due to our business growing, and the need to become more efficient, about a year ago we also brought in smarter ways to communicate with our clients in a meaningful online format, using a lot of video-based content for client updates and providing details to clients, and online e-signing of documents. We had no idea at the time just how critical this change in our business would be. The biggest difference for us with social distancing was adjusting to the two of us working apart. Before COVID, we would work in the same physical location together almost daily, then changed to working separately from our homes. Working together created such a great organic flow to our business so we had to find new ways to keep that flow going. It also meant some days having our kids and families home with us, so we needed to find a new balance between family life and work life.

What positive or uplifting things have you seen or experienced during this uncertain time?

It is impressive to see our community rally together to help and uplift in whatever way they can. It’s been heartwarming to see individual citizens help and support each other, and businesses rallying to help the community, all while finding ways to navigate their new reality.

Have you been doing anything specific to create joy or have some fun during this pandemic situation?
At the beginning of COVID, life definitely slowed down for everyone. With this extra free time, we spent a lot more time outside, grew a garden and tried a lot of recipes that had been sitting on the “I’ll try that later” shelf.

Is there anything specific you'd like to share, or wish people were aware of right now?

These are tough times for everyone. Each business and each member of the community is handling the situation as best they can, and we think it’s so important now, as ever, to be patient and be kind with everyone you meet. A little caring can go a long way.