I think the main issue here, is not working with a trusted broker. 1 bad review will ruin a small broker shop's reputation.

What are the financial metrics i should be asking for?

Please review previous threads on BP under subject to.  

Quote from @Brandon Weis: In your opinion, as you are starting out at 0 reviews, do you think it is a must to beat the competition on price to overcome customer's hesitancy or lack of trust with no reviews?

So basically, get an attorney to put my contracts together as the first step, reviewing them with a title agency as the second step, putting the other team members together as the third step, and starting the search for borrowers as the fourth?

The 1% rule is a metric from 2014.

But I'd happily help you compare or verify if there are certain features or metrics you find most important!

Find a sponsor, reach out, tell them you're Canadian, they approve, review and sign LP docs, wire funds.

We have been around the bigger pockets community for over a decade now and have more 5 star reviews on bigger pockets than any company on this website in any industry (>270  5 Star reviews).

I would look for reviews on Zillow, Google Maps, Yelp, Experiance.com.To look up their license history you can use nmlsconsumeraccess.com, licensed and registered Loan Officers have to report a 10 year employment history.