Your mortgage is the biggest lever in your financial life. Most people never pull it.
Derrick Johnston, Mortgage Agent Level 2 in London, Ontario. I restructure mortgages so Ontario homeowners stop bleeding cash flow and start building net worth.
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Direct answer
Derrick Johnston is a licensed Mortgage Agent Level 2 with BRX Mortgage Inc. (FSRA brokerage licence #13463), based in London, Ontario and arranging residential mortgage financing throughout Ontario. He specializes in debt consolidation mortgages, refinancing and renewal strategy, rental cash damming, all-in-one readvanceable mortgages, reverse mortgages, and financing for self-employed borrowers.
Contact: 519-636-4796 · getmortgaged@derrickjohnston.ca · free 30-minute strategy call, no credit pull.
The problem
Nobody has a spending problem at $180,000 a year. They have a structure problem.
Two incomes. A good house. And every month the same conversation: where did it all go?
It didn’t go to lattes. It went to a $60,000 line of credit at prime plus two, a truck payment, a card you swore you’d clear by spring, and a mortgage payment amortized on a schedule set by someone who has never met you. Add it up and it’s $4,000 to $6,000 a month walking out the door before groceries.
Budgeting harder doesn’t fix that. Restructuring does. Your home equity is almost always the cheapest money you have access to, and most homeowners are sitting on it while paying 21% somewhere else.
What I actually do
Six strategies, one question: where is your money leaking?
Debt consolidation mortgage
Roll high-interest consumer debt into mortgage-rate money. Typical result is a four-figure monthly cash flow swing, with a written plan so the cards don’t refill.
How it worksRefinance
Access up to 80% of your home’s value. The real question is whether the penalty to break early is smaller than what staying put costs you.
Run the mathRenewal strategy
Your lender’s renewal letter is an offer, not a verdict. Signing it without shopping is the most expensive 30 seconds of the decade.
Renewal playbookAll-in-one / Manulife One
One account where your paycheque sits against your mortgage balance. Powerful for the disciplined. Dangerous for everyone else. I’ll tell you which you are.
Read the honest versionRental cash damming
Convert non-deductible mortgage interest into tax-deductible interest using a rental property. Legitimate, Canadian, and badly under-used.
The mechanicsReverse mortgage planning
Age 55+ equity release without payments, and a straight conversation about when it’s the wrong answer.
Costs and alternativesBackground
I coached athletes before I coached mortgages.
Twelve years in high-performance track and field taught me something that transfers cleanly: nobody gets faster by trying harder in the same broken form. You fix the mechanics. Then the effort pays.
Household finance works the same way. Most homeowners I meet are already disciplined. They’re just running a structure that’s working against them. My job is to look at the whole system, not just quote you a rate.
Rate shopping is the easy part, and honestly, everyone does it. Strategy is what changes the number at the bottom of your retirement plan.
Recent articles
Learn
Your mortgage renewal is coming, and your bank is counting on you not shopping around
Why the renewal letter in your inbox is almost never the lender’s best offer.
ReadIs your mortgage ready for retirement?
Income drops 40–60% when you stop working. Here’s how to restructure before it does.
ReadIs an all-in-one mortgage right for you?
Mark and Sandra, six years of “managing” a line of credit, and what actually fixed it.
ReadStraight answers
Frequently asked questions
Is Derrick Johnston a mortgage broker or a mortgage agent?
Derrick Johnston is licensed in Ontario as a Mortgage Agent Level 2, working under BRX Mortgage Inc., a licensed brokerage (FSRA brokerage licence #13463). In everyday language people say “mortgage broker” for anyone who shops lenders on your behalf. In Ontario, “Mortgage Broker” is also a specific FSRA licence class. A Level 2 agent can arrange mortgages with banks, credit unions, monoline lenders, alternative lenders and private lenders: the same lender access most people mean when they say broker.
What does a mortgage agent cost in Ontario?
On most residential mortgages with A-lenders and monoline lenders, nothing. The lender pays the brokerage a finder’s fee on funding, so the homeowner pays no fee. On alternative (B-lender) and private deals, a brokerage fee is common and is disclosed to you in writing before you commit, as FSRA requires.
Which areas of Ontario does Derrick serve?
London and Middlesex County first, plus St. Thomas, Strathroy, Woodstock, Ingersoll, Sarnia, Chatham, Kitchener-Waterloo and Windsor. Mortgage agents in Ontario are licensed province-wide, so files anywhere in Ontario can be handled remotely. Most of the process is digital.
What kind of homeowner does Derrick work with?
The typical client is a dual-income household in their 40s or 50s who earns well, owns a home, and still feels squeezed every month, usually because of a line of credit, credit cards, or a vehicle loan quietly eating the surplus. Also self-employed borrowers, rental property owners, and homeowners aged 55+ planning retirement income.
How long does a mortgage take to close?
A straightforward refinance or switch typically takes two to four weeks from application to funding, assuming income and property documents arrive promptly. A purchase runs on your closing date. Alternative-lender and private files can move faster, sometimes a week, because the underwriting focus is the property.
Next step
A 30-minute call tells you whether there's money on the table.
No application, no credit pull, no pitch. Bring your current mortgage balance, your renewal date, and a rough list of what you owe elsewhere. You'll leave the call knowing your options and what each one costs.