industry profile
Terry Kilakos is a big proponent of educating mortgage consumers about the biggest financial transaction most of them will ever make BY LISA GORDON
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rom mechanical engineering technology to computer network design and even a stint in the Canadian military, Terry Kilakos followed a winding career path before joining the financial services industry more than 16 years ago. After studying mechanical engineering technology, he turned his attention to computer network design, did a lot of travelling and spent a couple of years in the Canadian Armed Forces. The lure of entrepreneurship prompted him to open a couple of businesses. After a mix of success and failure, he went back to school and became a real estate and mortgage broker, later deciding to shift his attention to mortgage brokering. He continued to follow his educational path by getting licensed as an agency executive officer and obtaining international business certificates from both Harvard and the New York Institute of Finance. In 2006, Kilakos joined Multi-Prêts in Montreal, where he stayed until 2011. Today, he is president and CEO of North East Real Estate & Mortgage Agency as well as Coldwell Banker in Quebec. While running his businesses, Kilakos turned to the banks for financial assistance, but found little support. “I had lots of potential, but nobody was willing to take a chance on me,” he said. “From the first client I had as a mortgage broker, I realized that I could actually help people. I could help educate them on how to be more successful with their finances, with their credit and with restructuring some of their cash flow. I found a career at which I could earn a good living while actually helping people. I found something I could be passionate about.” That passion and experience led him to a secondary career he had never envisioned. One day in 2008, Kilakos was invited to be a guest on CJAD, a local radio station in Montreal. His first appearance went well and he was asked to fill in on a call-in show after a guest had to cancel. “Once I started fielding calls, I became increasingly comfortable. The host asked if I would consider coming back as a regular guest every month or so,” he recalled. Kilakos’ appearances were successful enough that the station asked him to do his own show, “The Real Estate Show,” which started in 2009.
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“It was the ability to educate people that spurred me on,” said Kilakos. “We talk about mortgages, we talk about real estate and credit, and we help people understand what it means to buy real estate and to get a mortgage. By providing that education to the public, they gravitate to us and end up doing business with us.” The successful show can also be found on Facebook and Spotify as a podcast. After all these years in the industry, Kilakos has simple and straightforward advice for other mortgage agents and brokers: “Stay up to speed on every single thing that’s going on in the industry. You can’t take for granted that a customer knows what you’re talking about. Each customer has to be treated as if you are giving them a mortgage lesson. If we’re not on top of everything, we can’t teach them properly.”
RATES VERSUS SOLUTIONS Kilakos feels that the top issue facing the Quebec mortgage industry isn’t unique to Quebec at all. “There’s a huge disconnect in that customers have been miseducated by
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