When it comes to mortgages, experience is everything. Founded in 2014 out of a desire to provide a truly unique approach to mortgages, 4Front Mortgages has grown from 4 partners to a team of 12 professionals who know the banking world inside and out. With a combined total of over 150 years of experience, the team brings genuine expertise, real flexibility, and advice tailored to each client’s needs. Among them is Senior Mortgage Consultant Tom Prasol, one of the founding partners, approaching 30 years in the industry, with roots in institutional banking and a specialty in even the most complex financing situations. Tom walks us through their story and how a tight deadline became the moment that brought the right partnership to life.

4Front Mortgages team meeting around a boardroom table

Beyond Algorithms, Built on Expertise

Mortgages are rarely simple. Behind every application is a person with a unique financial situation, a timeline, and a goal. Getting it right requires more than just access to good rates, it requires experience, relationships, and the instincts that only come from years in the field. That is exactly what 4Front was built to deliver, across the full spectrum of mortgage financing, from first-time homebuyers to complex private financing, commercial multi-unit properties, and reverse mortgages.

As AI becomes the go-to for quick answers, mortgage advice is one area where that shortcut can seriously mislead you. As Tom points out, AI has a tendency to agree with whatever you ask it - sometimes pulling in American regulations where Canadian ones apply. In something as consequential as a mortgage, the difference between a good answer and the right answer matters enormously.

That is where experience becomes irreplaceable, at 4Front Mortgages, senior consultants including Tom Prasol, Chris Cornborough and Rino Revel bring over 20 years of experience each to the table, with Tom himself approaching 30 - people who have seen the market shift, the rules change, and the edge cases that no algorithm would catch. In an industry handling some of the most sensitive financial information in people’s lives, that depth of experience comes with an equally strong sense of ethical responsibility.

Tom Prasol, Senior Mortgage Consultant at 4Front Mortgages

TOM PRASOL
SENIOR MORTGAGE CONSULTANT

When Evolution Calls for Action

When COVID changed the way people work, 4Front Mortgages adapted. Over two to three years, the team grew genuinely efficient working remotely - video calls, digital tools, and flexible workflows became the new normal. The office, once a place to gather and connect, had quietly become what Tom calls an expensive clubhouse.

The decision to sell the commercial space was a conscious and strategic one. The team was thriving without it, and the resources could be put to better use elsewhere in the business. What nobody quite anticipated was how fast it would all happen. From the day a buyer came forward to the day of closing was roughly six weeks, meaning every server, every piece of equipment, and every file holding sensitive client data needed to be moved, migrated, and secured in that same window.

There are moments in business that force a decision - and how a company responds to those moments says everything about who they are. For 4Front Mortgages, the answer was clear: client data had to be protected, the transition had to be seamless, and there was no room for shortcuts. That is when they turned to TAVANCA.

The Partner Built for Busy Businesses

Three things led Tom and his team to TAVANCA. First, local: supporting a Vancouver business mattered. Second, knowledge: Rushabh’s expertise as TAVANCA’s CTO in IT security and infrastructure gave Tom confidence from the first conversation. Third, a trusted referral from within his own network. When the six-week window started, TAVANCA understood the urgency and came prepared.

What made the difference was not just the speed of the response but the quality of the people behind it. Tom has seen it before in business - the sales experience is excellent and then implementation loses that same energy, but at TAVANCA that never happened. The agents at 4Front Mortgages felt it too - prompt responses, real solutions, and never a sense of being a burden. When a laptop went down, Rushabh had a recommendation, a price and a replacement at the door the next day.

For anyone hesitant about taking on an IT project, Tom’s advice is simple: stop thinking of it as one giant meal that has to be served all at once. Start with what is critical, secure it properly, and build from there. In TAVANCA, he found exactly the partner that makes that approach possible.

“I needed a laptop, Rushabh said I’m on it, and a day later I had one. I cannot express how important that is to somebody who is a busy business owner." - Tom Prasol