New Mortgage Broker Starter Kit: Everything You Need to Start in Canada

You just got your mortgage broker license. You have joined a brokerage. Now you are staring at a blank desk (or a blank home office) wondering what software you actually need to start closing deals.

The mortgage software industry wants you to believe you need a $200/month tech stack on day one. You do not. This guide covers exactly what to get, what to skip, and how to set yourself up without overspending.

The Only Two Tools You Need on Day One

1. A Mortgage CRM — BIPS CRM ($29/month)

Your CRM is your business. It tracks every client, every lead, every follow-up, and every document. Without one, you will lose leads, miss follow-ups, and forget where deals stand. This is not optional.

BIPS CRM is built specifically for Canadian mortgage brokers. At $29/month with unlimited contacts, it gives you everything a new broker needs without the complexity or cost of enterprise platforms.

What you get:

• A mortgage deal pipeline with stages (Lead, Pre-Approval, Application, Approval, Funded)
• Unlimited contact storage — no caps, no tiers
• Document checklists to track what you have collected and what is outstanding
• Renewal date tracking for future business
• Email integration to keep communication in one place

2. A Submission Platform — Filogix (via your brokerage)

Filogix Expert is how you submit mortgage applications to lenders in Canada. Your brokerage almost certainly provides access as part of your agreement. You do not need to purchase this separately — ask your broker-owner or office manager for your login credentials.

If your brokerage uses a different submission platform like Velocity, use that instead. The key point: your brokerage handles this cost.

Total day-one software cost: $29/month. That is it.

Setting Up Your CRM in the First Week

Do not overthink this. You can refine your setup over time. Here is what to do in your first week with BIPS CRM.

Step 1: Import Your Existing Contacts

You already know people. Friends, family, former colleagues, your accountant, your real estate agent — these are your first potential clients and referral sources. Do not be precious about this. Import everyone you know into your CRM.

Most brokers can start with 50-200 contacts from their personal network alone. Import them from your phone contacts, email address book, or a spreadsheet. BIPS supports CSV imports, so any list you can export will work.

Step 2: Set Up Your Pipeline Stages

BIPS comes with default mortgage pipeline stages that work for most brokers right out of the box:

1. Lead — someone has expressed interest or been referred to you
2. Pre-Approval — you are gathering documents and running numbers
3. Application — deal has been submitted to a lender
4. Approval — lender has approved the mortgage
5. Funded — deal has closed and funded

You can customize these later, but start with the defaults. Changing your pipeline stages in week one is a procrastination trap.

Step 3: Enter Your First Deals

As soon as someone asks you about a mortgage — whether it is a family member, a referral from a realtor, or someone from your personal network — create them as a contact and move them into the Lead stage. Track every conversation as a note.

This discipline pays off immediately. Within a month, you will have a clear picture of where every opportunity stands without having to remember anything.

What NOT to Buy in Your First Year

New brokers are prime targets for software sales pitches. Here is what to skip until your business actually needs it:

Expensive CRMs with marketing automation

CRMs that cost $99-$150/month typically include features like drip email campaigns, automated social media posting, and lead scoring algorithms. These features sound impressive in a demo. In practice, a new broker doing 1-3 deals a month does not need marketing automation — you need to pick up the phone and talk to people.

Save $70-$120/month and use that money for coffee meetings with realtors instead.

AI lender matching (for now)

BIPS offers AI-powered lender matching as an add-on for $150/month. It is a powerful tool that matches client scenarios against 100+ lender products instantly. But when you are doing a handful of deals, you can and should review rate sheets manually. Learning lender products hands-on makes you a better broker.

Add lender matching when your volume hits 5+ deals a month and the time savings justify the cost.

Separate email marketing platforms

You do not need Mailchimp, Constant Contact, or any standalone email tool in year one. Your CRM handles client communication. When you have 500+ contacts and want to send newsletters or market updates, revisit this.

Multiple overlapping tools

One CRM is enough. Do not sign up for a CRM plus a separate project management tool plus a separate contact manager plus a separate document tracker. BIPS covers pipeline management, contact storage, document tracking, and task management in one place.

Your First 90 Days: A Simple Playbook

Days 1-7: Set up BIPS CRM. Import contacts. Get Filogix access from your brokerage. You are operational.

Days 8-30: Enter every conversation as a contact or note. Move deals through your pipeline. Get comfortable with your CRM as the hub of your business.

Days 31-60: Review your pipeline weekly. Notice which stages have bottlenecks. Reach out to contacts who have gone quiet. Start tracking where your leads come from (referrals, online, cold outreach).

Days 61-90: By now you should have funded your first deals or be very close. Your CRM contains a real history of your business. Use it to identify what is working and double down.

The Math: Why Overspending Early Hurts

A new broker's income is unpredictable in the first year. Every unnecessary expense adds pressure. Compare two scenarios:

Broker A signs up for a $150/month CRM with features they will not use for two years. Annual cost: $1,800.

Broker B starts with BIPS at $29/month and upgrades only when needed. Annual cost: $348.

Broker B saves $1,452 in year one. That is money for marketing, education, or simply reducing financial stress while building a book of business. And Broker B has the exact same CRM capabilities they actually need: pipeline tracking, unlimited contacts, document management, and renewal tracking.

Start Building Your Business Today

You do not need a complicated tech stack to succeed as a mortgage broker in Canada. You need a CRM that fits your workflow, a submission platform from your brokerage, and the discipline to use them consistently.

Start your 14-day free trial at bips.ca/register — no credit card required. Be fully set up and operational in under 10 minutes.