Sarah Chen

Sarah started in banking at ATB Financial right out of university, spending four years on the lending side before realizing she wanted to work for her clients instead of for a single institution. She made the switch to brokering in 2014 and hasn't looked back.

Her practice is built around two groups that banks tend to underserve: first-time buyers who need someone to walk them through the stress test math without the sales pitch, and self-employed borrowers whose income doesn't fit neatly into a T4 box. She's put together deals using stated-income programs through B lenders when the big banks said no, and she's negotiated rate holds through Servus and First National that gave her clients time to find the right property without the pressure of an expiring approval.

Sarah works primarily with clients in NW Calgary and Airdrie, though she's licensed province-wide. She's fluent in Mandarin and handles a significant number of transactions for families relocating from Vancouver who are navigating Alberta's different mortgage landscape for the first time.

One thing she's known for: she sends every client a detailed comparison spreadsheet showing what three different lenders would offer on their specific file. Not a marketing brochure — an actual side-by-side breakdown with the penalty calculations included.