I am Janelle Pettifer. I am a Mortgage Associate with Blue Circle Insurance and Mortgage Brokers.

I was born and raised in Standard, AB as the fourth of five children. I attended the first Kindergarten class in Standard and graduated with 21 people bussed in from two towns. One of the benefits of living in a small town is that you learn how to get along with everyone to a certain extent, because there is no other option. When there are only 10 girls in your class, you have to get along with everyone. My first Great Lesson.

After graduation, I moved to Calgary and became a legal secretary. I did everything from family law to civil and criminal litigation to real estate conveyancing. The legal profession is an extremely stressful field. Again, I learned how to deal with people - all kinds of people, all kinds of news. The other great lesson there was real estate selling and purchasing. I understood, from a legal perspective, what goes into the buying and selling of a home.

After the stress became too much, I started working for an architectural firm. I started at reception and very quickly moved through the ranks to file girl, secretary, and ended up working in the accounting department. It was there I found out another great lesson or two. I am a detailed, number oriented, black and white, right and wrong perfectionist.

When the best boss in the world moved back into the legal field, I followed her. I worked with one particular lawyer, who also had a mediation company called Canadian Dispute Resolution Corporation or CDRC. I started out part time in the legal business and part time in CDRC, but, again, I worked my way up. I took mediation training so that I would understand fully what I was asking people to do. I worked with CDRC for about 10 years. My lesson there - not everyone is as detailed as me; lots of people are big thinkers and not worried about the details. I learned to embrace big thinkers.

In the meantime, I was married in 1993 to Rob and we moved to Strathmore in 1998. I took time off to be a stay at home Mom, or as I call it the CEO of the Pettifer Group. During that time I took Montessori training to work at the DTC Preschool off and on for years. I was one of the core group of parents to bring Montessori education into our public school system and we now have two classrooms in Wheatland for Kindergarten to Grade 3. The plan is that each year another grade is added until we are at Grade 6.

When I started to look into a career that would fit with my personality and my circumstances, the mortgage industry really seemed to fit. I feel like all the great lessons in my life, prepared me for mortgages. The experience I gained doing real estate conveyancing in the legal field, negotiating in mediation settings, bookkeeping and numbers, working with all kinds of people in all kinds of settings, all gave me great experience before even doing this job.

I have been a Mortgage Associate with Blue Circle for just about 2 years. I am 1½ months away from receiving my AMP, Accredited Mortgage Professional, an additional designation in my industry. Mortgage Associates have access to many, many different lenders, all with varying products, guidelines and requirements. My job is to take a person's specific set of circumstances, needs and wants and match them with the lender that best meets their needs. Best of all, I am free (the lender we ultimately choose pays my fee) with no obligation. If it's mortgage related, I can help. I can assist with purchases, taking equity from your home for renovations, buying investment or vacation property, consolidating debt, refinancing to a better lender with a better rate, and Home Equity Lines of Credits.

Right now, I am offering Free Mortgage Check Ups to make sure your mortgage is working for you and not the lender. Depending on your interest rate, you may be shocked to learn you could save huge amounts of money, even paying the payout penalty. In fact, I had a client where their payout penalty was $9,200, but amazingly it was in their best interest to pay that out and move their mortgage. They saved not only on their monthly payments, but the total amount of interest they paid and it still left them with less owing at the end of the term. There's a poster here with an example of a situation where there is substantial potential savings.