Women in Mortgage Summit panel moderator tells CMP what’s essential in the current market
Rate uncertainty, a wave of mortgage renewals impacting client books, and buyers who hesitate for reasons that have little to do with pricing and everything to do with uncertainty – 2026 has forced a big reset in how mortgage professionals talk to their clients.
Lenders, meanwhile, are watching their own numbers closely, wary of a volatile lending environment and the growing challenges facing many homeowners and buyers alike.
For Amanda Deveaux (pictured top), partner at Grechi Carter Professional Corporation and a deputy judge in small claims court, navigating the challenges of this year’s market comes down to one discipline above all others: managing expectations before they can be broken.
“I think as a mortgage professional, a real estate professional, and as a lawyer, managing client expectations is the number one priority,” she told Canadian Mortgage Professional. “It helps clients understand what they may expect from a sale in a down market or when they’re purchasing, say, something like a new build – what they might be able to expect if the market continues on a downturn.”
Deveaux said that left unmanaged, the gap between what a client is promised and what actually happens becomes costly for the professional relationship – not just the transaction.
“When you don’t manage those expectations and you promise your clients the sun, the moon and the stars and those things don’t come to fruition, then you’ve got unhappy clients – and then they’re probably not going to refer additional business,” she said.
Why communication carries more weight in a turbulent market
Deveaux, who acts for lenders on real estate and lending matters, said the anxiety this year is running in more than one direction. Homeowners want the best value if they’re selling, while buyers worry about securing financing or closing at current rates. But Deveaux’s clients are focused on a narrower question – namely, power of sale files amid the growing trend of mortgage delinquencies.
“Money is a primary concern for everyone right now,” she said.
That reality is among the main factors set to define the conversation at the upcoming Women in Mortgage Summit, set to take place on September 24 at Toronto’s International Centre.
Deveaux will chair a power panel on the day centred around the biggest current trends in today’s market and what successful women are doing to eke out success in that environment.
Panelists include Michele Steko, vice president of national broker relations at Sherwood Mortgage Group, Dominion Lending Centres (DLC) chief economist Sherry Cooper, and Questbank’s regional sales manager – mortgages, Jen Watts.
The event will offer women in the mortgage industry the opportunity to discuss shared strategies for succeeding in 2026, and confronting together the professional challenges still faced by women today.
Deveaux said her own path in law and real estate lending has required earning trust in an industry that’s still dominated by men.
“The majority of individuals who work in the real estate field and in the private lending field are primarily male,” she said. “Earning the trust of men in a very changing market, I think, can be very challenging.”
Bringing her own unique perspective to the panel was important to Deveaux. “Supporting women in business is great – as a woman in a very male-dominated industry, women supporting other women [is great].”
Conversations with mortgage professionals outside her own field, at events like the Summit, help sharpen and define Deveaux’s view of the market. “It’s always important to get a different perspective and build connections and strong relationships with other females in the industry,” she said, “so that we can all lean on each other and support each other when things are good and when things are bad.”
Advice for women starting out
Asked what she would advise women who are newer to the industry, Deveaux pointed to persistence and perseverance rather than any single tactic.
“You just have to keep trying. Things don’t always come so easily to everyone,” she said. “When the world takes you down, you just have to pick yourself up and keep trying. I think things eventually work out in the end if you try hard enough and work hard enough.”
Registration for this year’s Women in Mortgage Summit is still open. Make sure to reserve your space for one of the industry’s most unmissable events here.
