Kara Kinakin

Background

About Kara Kinakin

Currently I am about to start a new adventure with Haventree Bank. I have been in the banking / finance industry for over 20 years starting way back in my University days as a teller with Scotibank and working my way up to their Express Centre before making the move to Bridgewater where I was an Underwriter for over 12 years. This vast experience has provided me with a great deal of background knowledge and experience which assists in understanding the customer service, sales and mechanics behind the mortgage industry.I have experience with all types of lending and properties however do like the challenge underwriting Draw/Construction mortgages can sometimes be as no two draws seem to work the same. I love what I do and find even the trickiest of deals whether I can get them to work or not welcoming as I appreciate getting in there and looking at them like a puzzle to see what pieces fit where and what I can highlight in an application to get the job done.I believe lenders need to fully understand their market inside and out. When a deal hits my desk, I get to the bottom of who my applicant really is. What’s their story, and how can I use that story to get my broker a deal for their client? I joke with some of my brokers that we are often required to play Mortgage Mensa with our deals. We need to work together to put all the pieces into place and solve the puzzle that balances our risk tolerance as a lender and the financial future of the client.To succeed throughout these times of regulation and policy change, you needed the ability to adapt, take a deeper dive and use a more humanistic approach to underwriting – this not only applies to me, but for the entire alternative mortgage industry. Underwriters, brokers and even realtors need to know their clients like never before. If we want to service our clients in this new regulation age, getting to know them is key.