Are you leveraging relationships to scale your mortgage business? In this episode of The Canadian Private Lenders Podcast, we sit down with Cyrus Habibi—a top-producing mortgage broker with Premier Mortgage, consistently ranked #1 in volume in Atlantic Canada for five straight years. From humble beginnings in life insurance to dominating $350M+ in mortgage volume with the Premier Private Client Group, Cyrus shares how building relationships, not budgets, fuels growth. This episode is your roadmap to reputation-driven success.

Show notes:

01:43 - How Cyrus transitioned from insurance into real estate finance
02:45 - Got his start thanks to Don McFicker's mentorship
04:43 - Why mortgage brokering is more service-based than sales
06:01 - Met his future business partners through a shared love for cars
10:22 - Mentorship saved him from early mistakes in brokering
15:14 - Premier team closed over $350M in mortgage volume last year
17:42 - Atlantic Canada market is stronger and more resilient than expected
20:28 - Referral-based growth beats cold leads and ads every time
21:45 - Their team acts as a “walking brand”—authenticity matters
23:14 - What Cyrus loves most about this business and lifestyle
25:52 - What’s next? Cyrus shares how the team plans to grow further
27:04 - Bonus question: Cyrus’s favorite pizza spot and dream car

Resources:

• Keystone Capital Group
• CPLP Instagram: @cplpodcast
• Keystone Instagram: @keycapgroup

Find Cyrus on:
Instagram: @cyrushabibi

Find Neal On:
Instagram: @neal.andreino
LinkedIn

Find Ryan on:
LinkedIn
E-mail: ryan@keycap.ca

Do you want to scale your lending business without the risk of losing millions of dollars? This episode is for you! In it, Neal and Ryan discuss the strategic ways private lenders can grow their business sustainably and profitably without taking on undue risk. They also discuss growing a business through geographic expansion and diversification. Listen and enjoy the show!

Show notes:

02:51 - Ryan shared John Love's speech at the RHP Nova Scotia Awards Gala
05:00 - The need for some industrialization
05:51 - Slowing down the expedited growth
07:44 - Starting a business from scratch
10:22 - Growing business by geographic expansion
13:28 - Diversification of portfolio
21:19 - Building a book of repeat borrowers
22:54 - Always track your KPIs, margins, default rates, and repeat borrower ratio

Resources:

• Keystone Capital Group
• CPLP Instagram: @cplpodcast
• Keystone Instagram: @keycapgroup

Find Neal On:

• Instagram - @neal.andreino
• LinkedIn

Find Ryan On:

• LinkedIn
• E-mail - ryan@keycap.ca

What will be the impacts of the election results for private lenders, builders, and real estate investors? In this episode, Neal and Ryan do an election special by doing a recap on the election results and giving a highlight on the Liberal Party and Conservative Party's platforms in the housing sector. They talked about the Liberal's plan of making the government act as a developer to build affordable housing and cutting the GST for first-time homebuyers on homes up to $1 million. In addition, Neal and Ryan shared their insights on the impacts of these plans on lenders, builders, and investors. Listen and enjoy the show!

Show notes:

01:33 - Neal and Ryan share their insights about the election
03:19 - Failure of marketing on the Conservative Party
04:50 - Develop a better and stronger party after a failure
05:34 - Recap of the election results
07:40 - The Carney Effect and the Liberal Party
11:30 - Liberal Party's housing platform for Canada
12:30 - Concerns about the government acting as a developer on public lands
14:30 - Bringing back the MURB program
16:51 - Neal's insight about the impacts of proposed housing programs on private lenders, investors, and builders
22:10 - Overview for the next 12 months or more

Resources:

• Keystone Capital Group
• CPLP Instagram: @cplpodcast
• Keystone Instagram: @keycapgroup

Find Neal On:

• Instagram - @neal.andreino
• LinkedIn

Find Ryan On:

• LinkedIn
• E-mail - ryan@keycap.ca