Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:01 Good morning, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You are tuning in to the Mac city morning show. I am your host, Elliot Pierre, and we're going to start this off the same way. We start off every show with a moment of gratitude. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time. So the fact that you're spending with us really does mean the world to me, uh, because like I said, you guys are busy people, so thank you very much. Now on that note, Tanner hit him with the intro.
Speaker 1 00:00:29 Oh, she caught me, loves near listen to the next then morning show.
Speaker 0 00:00:39 All right. So we are back now. We're starting this show off the same way we do every show. I've got a banger of a guest. I have no idea about the background story of this person, like most people, which makes me extremely excited. Um, as per usual, I do not introduce my guests because they can do a better job than that than I can. So on that note, hello, how are you doing? And can you please introduce yourself to the people at home?
Speaker 2 00:01:02 Thanks for having me. My name is Jennifer Hollenback. I'm a mobile mortgage specialist with CIVC I'm mom of three wife, of course, and a grandmother of one.
Speaker 0 00:01:13 Okay, cool. All right. So first off, what is a mobile specialist? What does that mean?
Speaker 2 00:01:19 Well, right now it doesn't really apply because, uh, we're not mobile where, because of COVID, but yeah, something mobile means that I can actually come to them to meet them at their home office, if it means or meet them at one of the branches for their more, any of their mortgage needs that they may have
Speaker 0 00:01:37 Interesting. Oh, that's super convenient. So they don't have to go into the bank.
Speaker 2 00:01:41 No, so we can, I can actually come into their homes. If they have little ones, it makes it super, super convenient right now, due to COVID. We are obviously not going into people's homes or meeting in the branches, um, just due to traffic because I bring in a lot of volume into the branch. So right now they just have us doing all our appointments virtually right over the phone.
Speaker 0 00:02:02 So what are mortgages looking like nowadays? Uh,
Speaker 2 00:02:05 Things are great. Interest rates are still really low, so
Speaker 0 00:02:08 What's really low. What are we talking about? Average obviously?
Speaker 2 00:02:10 Well, it depends on what terms are variables, but some can be still below the two, 2% right now. So, which is awesome. So it gives you that flexibility to have, lock-in a good rate.
Speaker 0 00:02:22 Okay. As some people know at home, I'm addicted to real estate. I live on MLS. Um, I used to own a number of properties here in town and outside of, uh, for Ms. Murray in my twenties. I really like real estate. So what you're talking about into, in regards to mortgage rates and your terms and stuff is very near and dear to my heart. Um, that's great. That's a pretty low rate now.
Speaker 2 00:02:44 Yeah, it's amazing. It's been fantastic. It's definitely done a lot of great things for our market here. We're definitely busy and I think across Canada as well, it's definitely, um, enter the real estate industry is definitely, uh, driving a really good market.
Speaker 0 00:03:01 Yeah. I I'm old. Um, as most people at home know, now I'm older. I should say. Um, I remember when I was paying upwards, like 5.8 or maybe 6.2 at one time. Wow.
Speaker 2 00:03:14 I know it's crazy. It's a great time to buy. So it's a great time to meet with someone, get a preapproval lock in your rates. So while they're shopping, they can do that at CIVC. We have some other cash back mortgages as well. So we can give you some cash back. If there's some furniture you want to buy. So obviously that changes the interest rate a little bit, but it definitely instead of going out and spending money on a credit card and then trying to figure out a way to pay it off, this is a great way to do it. So, yeah.
Speaker 0 00:03:42 Yeah. Now you just said a very important word, which is pretty common to you and I, but for first time home buyers out there, uh, maybe even Tanner sitting behind the computer one day, we'll see. Um, pre-approved so let's talk about being pre-approved because it was one of those things where I kind of knew to do it earlier, go to the bank, find out what you can get before you go out there. But can you talk a little bit for the people at home who don't know what getting pre-approved means?
Speaker 2 00:04:07 Sure. So pre-approval means that you actually first off, it's really important to figure out, do your rate shopping first. So figure out which bank you want to deal with from that standpoint. And hopefully it is with CIVC. Um, so figuring out which, which bank, because oftentimes what happens is if you have everyone pulling your credit, that could be detrimental to you. So it's really important to figure out who you want representing you from a mortgage standpoint, which bank you want to do. What's the different products or services that we offer. Um, and then from there is sitting down with an individual, obviously over the phone, in this case, um, and figuring out exactly what it is you qualify for. Right? So getting income documentation, doing credit checks, we'll go through your assets liability. So we'll figure out how much save do you have? What's your debt?
Speaker 2 00:04:59 What kind of debt you're carrying and get some coaching from that standpoint, if you're ready to purchase, because I mean, it's great to go out and go check out houses and then fall in love with the house. But then if you find out that, Oh, you don't quite qualify for that house. It's no other house compares. Cause you already fell in love with that one. So the key thing is to get pre-approved first, find out exactly what price range you should be shopping in. Um, and or you might even be surprised. A lot of people think, Oh, I'm only gonna qualify for like 250,000 and then sure enough, they actually qualify for more. So it's speaking to a professional who can help you decide to not specifically. So then you're ready to go house shopping.
Speaker 0 00:05:38 There we go. You nailed it. It's so important. Cause you just nailed it. When you said you fall in love with the house and then you can't afford it. It's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking. So, okay, good. That's what it is. So Tanner now, you know what pre-approved means and knowing is half the battle. There you go. Now you were talking a little before, just a little bit before this started myself and Tanner. Uh, people think this is amazing that we're actually born and raised here. Um, unicorns, but there's a lot of people, but you're not from Fort McMurray. Where are you from?
Speaker 2 00:06:07 I'm originally from Nova Scotia. So I'm a Maritimer blue nose. As my husband refers to us. As I grew up in Halifax, my dad was in the Navy. So grew up there, lived in Quebec for a couple of years and then moved back to Nova Scotia. Um, and, but we've been at West now. It'll be, um, 18 years this summer, we were in cold Lake for seven. And so the rest of the time we've been in Fort McMurray. So
Speaker 0 00:06:34 Wow. You just gave me a list of questions to ask, okay, let's do a history, a review. I remember, I don't know if anybody else is watching TV. Like I used to back in the day, but they used to have those Canadian history. So I know what a blue noser is. Can you explain what a blue noser is to the people at home? Because I think there's a lot of kids in format who have no idea.
Speaker 2 00:06:53 Bluenose is those big, beautiful, sail ships that we see. So hopefully once you get back to traveling again and we can get back to Halifax, so you get to go to the ports and see those big tall ships, they actually have events for the goal. Uh, I believe it's around the world. If I'm not mistaken where the old travel it's pretty, pretty cool.
Speaker 0 00:07:14 They're amazing shifts. They really are. So now you moved here. I've spent a little bit of time in cold Lake. Tell me what you're doing in coal Lake though. Cause people, some people think Fort McMurray is small, cold Lake is smaller than four of them Murray dramatically. So like what, what took you to cool Lake
Speaker 2 00:07:30 Husband decided to join were when we were in Nova Scotia, I was working for the bank. I started my career with CMC at the contact center. And so my husband had decided to join the military. He was a late bloomer in joining. So he joined later on. Um, and then he finished top of his class. So he got to pick where he wanted to go and he's always wanted to come out West. And so I, um, so, and so he picked cold Lake Alberta. So we transferred with the military and he worked at the air force base. I worked for a competitor for a couple of years because there wasn't a position at CIVC at the time. And then they called me back and asked me to be the brunch manager. So I did, uh, branch manager role in cold Lake for five years. And then my boss asked me at the time, cause he covered this area to come and manage the downtown location.
Speaker 2 00:08:18 So I did that. I transferred up here for five years. My husband got out of the military. He actually went back to school, became empowered engineer and then got a job offer up here with one of the oil companies. And so hence our start of our life up here. But our children, our two eldest met their spouses up here. So they're married. They're five minutes, each direction. And then our youngest lives still lives at home right now. And he's just, he just graduated last year from high school. That's fun. So Fort McMurray is home for us. Like, I mean, I miss the ocean. I'm not gonna lie. If you could bring the ocean here, this would be the perfect for me to
Speaker 0 00:08:56 Go. Well, we got this NAI NAI and the Athabaska regular like is pretty much notion isn't it? Yeah. For us. Okay. Now you said something else here. Super interesting. Okay. You worked on a call center and so like yeah, the East coast, new Brunswick area is known for call centers. Um,
Speaker 2 00:09:16 And how facts Halifax has. They have the technology.
Speaker 0 00:09:20 So explain that to me. What does that mean? People keep telling me, yeah, we have the technology, like it's a phone. So what do you mean you have the technology?
Speaker 2 00:09:26 I don't know all the specifics around it, but I believe they just had the fiber optics and the capability and the, the population to be able to support call centers. So yeah, so we started the one in Halifax is the size of about three football fields put together the last time it was there. Now, granted it's been a few years since I've been there. Wow. And it's beautiful. It's quite large. And you have like different pods. You work in, you work different shifts and yeah. So that's how I started my career at the bank is answering the phone and saying, thank you for calling CIVC. This is Jen, how may I help you? And because we're 24 seven, so I've worked different shift works. And then I worked in different positions. Like I did training. I was a team leader. I worked in the support department. Like it was, it was a really great, great way to develop the skill set that I have. Cause I've been in banking. It'll be 25 years. This coming may. So right.
Speaker 0 00:10:20 25 years now. Yeah. The call center thing is fascinating to me. Yeah. In regards to like, I like, you just blew my mind saying like there's football fields of people just hanging out on their phones. Doesn't that get I'm easily distractable to save the least. So like when you're hearing other people, how do you like, are you guys in cubicles?
Speaker 2 00:10:39 Yeah. So typically like, again, it's been 17 years since I've been there, but um, w the way that the center was set up as a pod of three, um, but you have your own like area. So you have your own little corner that you work in and you do hear the person beside you, but you just get so accustomed. Cause you have your ear piece on, they have believe it or not. They had what they told us is that they had noise, cancellation lights and the setups with the pods that they were the, the way that they were designed. So it made it. So you never really hear heard the person beside you. You're just more focused on this individual on your phone. And honestly, you're so busy that you're just, it's call after call. So the calls, you wrap up your call and the next thing you hear a ding, and then you have your next call in. Right. So you're pretty busy.
Speaker 0 00:11:30 Yeah. It might be. And this is my background is human resources. So like, I like to study different, uh, careers. It might be the busiest, legit job on the planet in regards. There's no idle time. You're just like there, they're feeding you phone calls. So like the average worker, if you, if you work like eight hour work day, you might be putting in five hours maybe. Yeah. There's no,
Speaker 2 00:11:54 There's no like you might have, like at first I should stand back and correct that a little bit. When I first started, it was fairly quiet at first because it was just getting into the, the new thing, telephone banking, cause people were still going into the branches and people were hesitant and calling us and seeing what we had to offer. So, but once the, once it got going, it was flat out. I remember when, remember Canada post had a big strike and then there was no mail coming in. And I remember looking up and seeing the call volume thinking, Oh my gosh, are we gonna be able to answer all these calls in a day? It was, it was pretty crazy.
Speaker 0 00:12:34 Yeah, no doubt. Yeah. Uh, like you said, 17 years ago, I, it pays relatively well too for the work that you're doing.
Speaker 2 00:12:43 It was really good. It was very comparable to what you were paying, getting paid at the branch level. And then you did get different shift premiums. If you work different kind of like here, right. If you work the night shift and stuff, and then they started doing dedicated shifts. And so there lots of little changes that happened. So it was really cool when I, the last position I had at the call center it's called the ICU. So if you call the nastiest, speak to a supervisor, you'd speak to me. Or if a sales representative needed help finding something, they, um, the customer asked them a question. They didn't know where to find the answer. They would call this particular department. And I was the, um, the person with the least seniority. So unfortunately I got the really bad shift. I was working with staff that had like 20 plus years with the bank.
Speaker 2 00:13:26 And I had at the time, maybe four years when I started in that department, but I was a quick learner. So I learned really quickly and found resources very fast. And obviously they gave me this opportunity, which I was very grateful for. And, um, so my shift was like, I think it was like two to 10 and I worked every weekend and I had Tuesdays and Wednesdays off. So it was, it was, but it like a job I absolutely loved. And I didn't want to give it up. My kids were a little at the time, but we made it work. Um, it was definitely in transition, but I did it for that period. And then we got posted, right.
Speaker 0 00:14:04 Fascinating. You're the first person I've ever talked to in real life. Who's worked at a call center and it's like, yeah, it's been something I will change the topic. Cause I could talk to you about this one for ever. But that is so cool. Yeah,
Speaker 2 00:14:17 It was very cool. I honestly, I'm very grateful for CIVC for that opportunity because I learned, hence why I have a lot of knowledge about banking and about processes and stuff. So that really helps my clients that are calling me about mortgages and stuff. So I'm able to pass on that knowledge to them. So.
Speaker 0 00:14:35 Okay. Let's talk about Fort McMurray for a little bit. Before we get into the Mac city minute, you've been here for awhile. You obviously could go back East. You could go back to coal Lake. What keeps you informed with Murray? Why like, and you're a pretty big advocate of format you're out and about a lot. So
Speaker 2 00:14:49 Yeah, I love this community. I love the people here. It, and here feels like home. Like I'm sorry to my friends, family back home, but it just doesn't feel like home anymore. Like we go home and it definitely feels like a place that I miss. Like I miss the ocean. I miss our family and friends, but um, this place here is what calls me home. Like my kids are here. My two grown children, like they're married and, and have the, you know, starting their own lives and a grandma of, of one, my little buddy Drake, um, gives me an opportunity to, to see him and be a part of his life in this community. Just, just speaks to me. It's just, I feel like we're all from different pieces of the world and this community just draws us closer because are a lot of us are here without family. So when we first moved here, we had no family. And then obviously our family has grown as, as the kids have gotten married. So I'm very grateful for that, but really our friends become our family and your neighbor is you just need to reach out and be willing to help them out a little bit more, just like you would for family.
Speaker 0 00:15:57 Awesome. There you go. Love it. Okay. On that note, we're going to hit you up with the Mac CD minute. This is Tanner segment. I have no idea what he's going to ask you. So best of luck to you. Tanner hitter with the maxi minute
Speaker 3 00:16:10 Question. Number one. What is one thing you enjoy doing in your free time that most people don't know? You do
Speaker 2 00:16:18 A really good question. Um, I love camping probably. It's probably something I would talk about. Those that are really close. Obviously. Do you know that I love to camp, but I love being outdoors. I love sitting by open fire. In fact, yesterday we were, we went and did some clotting. That's not really my thing. My husband loves it. So we got to do that and went to a point where literally it was like overlooking the sky. And it was just absolutely beautiful. It's just hard to believe. This little piece of nugget is in our little neck of the woods and it was literally, um, just out in Saffery it's probably five minutes from where we store our, uh side-by-side and had a nice little fire and some Smokies and just relaxed. It was awesome. So loved being outdoors.
Speaker 3 00:17:05 Question number two. What is the most creative thing you've seen on the run for the cure?
Speaker 2 00:17:11 Oh, wow. That's a really good question. Um, I'd say probably some of the great costumes that people come all decked out in last year was a little bit different or our run because it was more virtual. So people still did the run at the same time. We still did the, everything was done over the internet. Um, but the previous years is the costumes. I love seeing what people effort that people put in to really deck themselves out in pink. I used to, I love calling the run for the cure. It's like a sea of pink. Um, and it's very moving. Like if you've ever been to an event it's just incredible seeing all these people come together for such a great cause.
Speaker 3 00:17:53 Question number three. What is the best part of doing what you do in Fort McMurray?
Speaker 2 00:17:58 Oh, that's, it's helping people get into homes. Like it just brings me such joy. Honestly. I feel like every home that is purchased, I feel like that's a part of me, like a part of my journey of helping someone make that a possibility. I, I generally just get just as excited about the approval as they do. Um, it just feels good to have, make a, make a Mark in someone's life and helping them make one of their biggest purchases come true.
Speaker 3 00:18:30 Question number four. What was the biggest draw of coming out West?
Speaker 2 00:18:36 Um, it was an opportunity for us to try something new and different. Um, we love being in Nova Scotia. It's great, but it, it's definitely more of a hustle there from a standpoint of, um, the opportunities are just not the same. So if you come out West, you're given opportunities that you perhaps wouldn't be exposed to at such an early stage in your career. So I feel like here just gives you that opportunity to really grow and, and expand. So I'm very grateful for farming Murray for that.
Speaker 3 00:19:10 And your final question. What was the most interesting call you received while working at the call center?
Speaker 0 00:19:18 Great question.
Speaker 2 00:19:19 That's awesome. Okay. This is not my call, but it's a funniest one ever. And it was this lady that was convinced that we could accept cash over the phone. Right. She literally said, well, you said you guys could do everything possible. And it, the call ended up getting escalated to my colleague, Mario. And, um, and he was trying to give them ins or that it literally was not possible, but she wouldn't take it. She was just convinced that he was lying to her. So finally he said, okay, press pound three, three times and slide the cash under the phone. And then there was this long pause and then she started laughing and then she was like, I am mortified that I even thought that that was even possible. So bless her heart for Alicia. She came to realization that we physically couldn't take the cash.
Speaker 3 00:20:18 Those have been your five questions.
Speaker 0 00:20:19 That's awesome. Tanner. I hope I was hoping you're going to ask like one of those and I didn't want to steal it. Great question, Tanner. Great question. Yeah, I know that like the call center lifestyle to me is just, that's fascinating. That is fascinating. So you said you have a number of children here. What schools did they go to? Meantime, I'd love to know about,
Speaker 2 00:20:43 Um, our, our daughter when we moved here was in grade 11 from coal Lake. So she went to Westwood. She finished, she graduated in grade 12 from Westwood and then Owen went to <inaudible>, which is just down here. So, cause I'm bilingual. So, and he went to there and then transitioned to McTavish because they didn't have a grade seven program at that at boreal, but they transitioned over to McTavish. But we had made a decision as a family to put them back into the English, integrate them back into the English job, um, program. So he went to McTavish and then he tried Westwood and then he ended up finishing, graduating at father mercury father
Speaker 0 00:21:21 Merck. Okay. And then your youngest one?
Speaker 2 00:21:24 Yep. That's yeah. Yeah. My eldest graduated, um, in cold Lake and then Larissa, she graduated from Westwood and then, um, Owen was boreal McTavish Westwood and mother Merkur de so he's made his Ray around a few schools.
Speaker 0 00:21:41 Yeah. Very neat. All right, well, listen, that's the end of the show. That's 20 minutes. It flies everybody's thinks this. Oh, I'm nervous. How how's this going to go? I'm like cross me 20 minutes goes by really quickly. So I want to thank you very much for coming on the show. I know you've been an early adopter of the Mac city morning show commenting get involved. So thank you very much for that. I really do appreciate it. I tell everybody this and some people take me up on it actually, but I want you to come back again and again and again. So anytime you want to come back, that seat is open for me.
Speaker 2 00:22:10 Well, I super appreciate this opportunity perhaps, maybe be closer to the run for the cure. That would be great to promote the run.
Speaker 0 00:22:16 There you go. Now, before I cut you loose though, uh, one more shameless plug for yourself. Please tell all the people at home who you are, how they can get in contact with you and how they can support your business.
Speaker 2 00:22:26 Awesome. Thank you again. I'm super appreciate this opportunity and for promoting people in our community because we have amazing people. Um, again, my name is Jennifer <inaudible> I'm. You can find me on Facebook. Um, you can actually Google my name, Jennifer Oland back. Um, I, I, my cell phone number always pops up. You can text call email. I'm always happy to answer mortgage questions or message me on messenger. Those ones seem to take a little bit longer. So definitely tried calling or texting first for sure.
Speaker 0 00:22:56 Awesome. Well, on that note, Fort McMurray, that's another show in the can. My name is Les Pierre. This has been the Mac city morning show. Want to thank you all for tuning in does really mean the world to me. And, uh, hopefully you're having a great day and we'll see you tomorrow.
Speaker 4 00:23:12 <inaudible> quenching your ugly thirst.
