February 2026 - Journey to $1 Billion

We are on a quest to transform the mortgage industry.

We believe there needs to be more transparency, which is one reason why we decided to share a monthly report on what we have learned, what worked and what didn’t, and what’s next in our plans to grow a Billion Dollar Brokerage.

We hope you find a few useful ideas and tidbits to help you in growing your mortgage business.

Welcome to February 2026

1. Brokerage Stats 

2. Top 10 Lender Volume YTD

3. Your Broker Owns The Equity. You Do The Work. Still OK With That?

4. Did you know there are up to 4 types of compensation on every file?
   

Brokerage Stats

Production since August 1, 2021

Volume: $5,707,789,599

Files funded: 12,332

January Production

Volume: $206,433,644

Files funded: 416

January Agent Stats 

Rookies: 191 (+2)

Pros: 169 (-5)

Intermediate: 50

Total Agents: 410

Licensed assistants: 36 (+3)

Top 10 Lender Volume YTD

Scotiabank – $537,110,41

TD Bank – $35,798,781

MCAP – $21,808,081

First National – $20,881,450

Merix – $18,613,120

RMG – $10,002,735

Home Trust – $8,911,455

EQ Bank (B) - $7,995,721

Strive - $7,637,844

RFA (A) - $6,823,931

Your Broker Owns The Equity. You Do The Work. Still OK With That?

Most brokers don’t stop long enough to ask a simple question:

“Who’s actually getting wealthy from all this production?”

I didn’t ask it myself for years.

I was a broker since 2006. I coached brokers through the 10 Loans a Month Academy. I watched some of the sharpest agents in the country build massive books and send millions of dollars in volume through their brokerage.

And you know what I saw over and over?

The same pattern.

Agents did the work.

Owners built the equity.

One example still sticks with me: when experienced brokers I’d coached started calling me asking to join BRX. At the time, BRX wasn’t even designed for pros. But they wanted in- not because of the split, but because they were tired of building someone else’s asset while owning none of it.

They were the ones driving production…

But the brokerage was the one becoming more valuable every year.

And when I was offered multiple times to sell BRX, I realized something important:

Most brokerages are built so the owners can win big even though they aren’t the ones funding mortgages.

I turned down every offer.

Why?

Because I wanted the people doing the work, the agents and the staff to own the thing they’re building.

Not rent it.

Not fuel it.

Not carry it.

Own it.

Most brokers are in the same position I once was: helping someone else accumulate long-term wealth while they collect a split.

If you’re starting to see the problem and you want a brokerage where the people who build it share in the upside…

Feel free to reply to this email, or book a chat with my team below.

-> Pro Booking Link 

Did you know there are up to 4 types of compensation on every file?

When I started in the mortgage industry in 2006, Volume Bonus (VB) felt a lot like Fight Club, as in, “The first rule of VB Club is you don’t talk about VB Club!”

Volume bonus was something only the owners and maybe a few select top producers understood. 

One of the things I later learned was Volume Bonus is just one of the 4 different types of compensation that can be earned on mortgage files. 

To simplify this, I have broken the compensation down into four categories:

1. Finder’s Fee – Compensation paid in Basis Points (BPS) for funding a mortgage with a lender. The amount varies depending upon the term length. (For simplicity, I will use a 5-year term for all of the examples below.)

   
   

2. Volume Bonus – Compensation paid in BPS, earned based on the total volume submitted by one individual over a specific period of time. The period is usually one calendar year or the lender’s fiscal year.

   
   

3. Efficiency Bonus – Compensation paid in BPS, earned based on maintaining a specific funding ratio over a specific time period. Lenders use various names for this, but the premise is that you can earn additional BPS by maintaining high funding ratios.

   
   

4. Points or Perks Program – Compensation that is not generally paid in BPS and is earned based on Funding Ratios or VB, or both. This compensation is not paid out with your regular commission or VB, and must instead be “spent” on qualifying items.

To add to the confusion, not all lenders pay on all types and they often use different names for the compensation. 

At BRX we pass down all 4 types to our agents.

As a side note, if you can’t ask a BDM about how the compensation works at your brokerage, that is generally a red flag. 

Why do lenders have different types of compensation? 

If you look at it from a lender's perspective. They want to motivate specific behavior from brokers. 

If lenders had a love language, it would be Volume & Efficiency.

This makes sense, however the problem I see is when there is a lack of transparency in how compensation is actually paid.

This is why I wrote a two part blog called, Why Does No One Talk About Volume Bonus?  breaking down how compensation works.

You can read it here: Part 1 & Part 2 

I think we live in a time where brokers expect transparency.

If you want a candid discussion about how compensation works if you are leaving money on the table book a call with my team below: 

-> Let’s Chat