MBN Hot list 2014: Alyssa Richard

Who: Alyssa Richard
What: Founder
What: RateHub.ca

Alyssa leveraged her business degree from Queen’s University to break into the financial services industry and attain a financial consulting job in the United States with Bain and Company. It was there that she learned about mortgage rate comparison sites and conceived the idea for RateHub.ca. Following the success of RateHub.ca, which is Canada’s No. 1 rate comparison site, Alyssa launched ClosingCosts.ca, which helps homebuyers calculate the cost of buying and selling a home.

Milestones achieved in 2013

• This year, we launched a refinance centre, a condo guide, and a section on investment property mortgages as well as alternative mortgages
• We created more widgets for industry professionals to use on their sites
• We also launched ads (and offered ad space) on the site for the first time
• We were mentioned by the press more than ever before, and became regular commenters on CTV
• Overall, we averaged 250,000 visits per month

Goals for 2014

• We want to solidify our position as the No. 1 mortgage rate site in Canada
• We hope to expand our education centre offerings
• We also want to build up offerings for alternative mortgages, such as bad credit mortgages, new-to-Canada mortgages, etc.
• We plan on doing some offline advertising
• Overall, we want to continue to see profitable growth

Forecast for the industry in 2014
“As consumers continue to go online to start their mortgage research, we think it will become increasingly important for brokers to develop a strategy to acquire online leads, either through their own sites, rate sites, etc. The brokers who survive will be the ones who have a strong online presence. We think those who do will play an important part in the mortgage industry, and we’re excited to continue to work with some of the best brokers in Canada next year.”