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The Background

A simpler way to borrow money

Tekamar started lending in the Shuswap area in 1979 under the business name of Tekarida. Founded by Richard (Dick) Smith, the business started out doing development lending in the Shuswap before most traditional lenders were aware of the Shuswap's existence.

Fast forward twenty years and Dick's son, Richard bought Tekarida's mortgage portfolio and merged it into a new corporation, Tekamar Mortgage Fund Ltd. This new corp was formed as a Mortgage Investment Corporation and it's original mandate was to continue to lend in the Shuswap, Okanagan and Thompson regions of British Columbia.

The two guiding principals under the new MIC were simple:

  1. Lend on common sense deals.
  2. Be honest - skip the sneaky fees.

These real basic principals of looking at deals with a bit of common sense and treating people decently worked. Richard spent the next two decades growing Tekamar across the interior of British Columbia, lending on anything from houseboats to multi-million dollar resorts.

In 2014, the third Richard Smith (III) joined Tekamar with business partner Tom Arrowsmith. With backgrounds in Economics and Business/Marketing respectively, Rich and Tom are starting down the path to take Tekamar to its next phase of growth. With a shift away from gut instinct towards a more data-driven underwriting process, Tekamar has been able to expand across the province into areas not previously serviced by private lenders or mortgage investment corps.

While Tekamar continues to expand, it's original guiding principals remain the same. The same "small-town" mentality that has driven its success in the past four decades is the cornerstone of the plan to keep Tekamar steadily growing for the next decades to come.

The Team

We've heard it said that it takes a village to raise a child. Fortunately for us (and our investors), it only takes a small team to manage a MIC that spans the province of BC. Not pictured is the team behind the faces that make it all possible.

  • picture of Richard Smith from Salmon Arm.

    Richard Smith (II)

    Co-Founder / Chairman

    Former fund manager, Richard still maintains his position both on the board as well as the key voice on the credit committee.

  • picture of Tom Arrowsmith from Salmon Arm.

    Tom Arrowsmith

    Partner / Underwriter

    Educated in business and marketing, Tom works both on the underwriting side of the business and as a fund manager and investor relations.

  • picture of Tom Arrowsmith from Salmon Arm.

    Rich Smith

    Partner / Underwriter

    Educated in economics, and a background in software development, Rich works as an underwriter, and on the operations management and recovery side of the business.

Frequently asked questions

Maybe using the word frequently is a stretch, but here's some questions we are asked often enough that it warranted putting them on here.

Will you lend in _some_town_here?
Maybe! Is it in the Fraser Valley or Greater Victoria area? If so, then it's a no from us. Otherwise, probably. You can see exactly where we lend on our Lending Areas page.
Will you lend on grow ops?
Nope. If it's been used to grow dope, we're out. But we have a whole bunch of other mortgage products that we will lend on.
Are you really based in Salmon Arm?
We sure are! We've been based and operating out of Salmon Arm, British Columbia since 1979. We started out doing private mortgages and have grown from there.
How are you funded? Do you syndicate?
We're a MIC. We don't syndicate, and we don't just underwrite then assign the mortgage. When you submit a deal to us, or call us looking for financing, it is our investors money that eventually funds the mortgage.
Are you taking investors?
Yes, eventually. We've got a wait-list to invest with us. We're lucky that after 40 years of positive returns, we have more people who want to invest than room on our books. But give us a call and we can chat about that with you further.
You're all so handsome, how is that possible?
Must be the water and fresh mountain air ;).