The significant changes to the market, both in terms of remuneration and activity have caused a number of mortgage brokers to think seriously about a change in career. And yet they have been of tremendous service to clients in helping unravel complicated and emotional issues, to the point where being a mortgage broker has become a much respected profession.
Since we have entered the mortgage broking field in terms of mergers and acquisitions, there has been significant focus on the one single opportunity, ie somebody buying and selling a home, without taking advantage of the wider opportunity (ie people with a financial problem). A handful of brokers have expanded their services to include advice on financial planning and insurance, sometimes debt management or investment properties, but compared to the opportunity that exists they are an insignificant number.
Let’s talk about you. You entered a new profession with great ambition and energy but in the last short while you have seen nothing but doom and gloom being portrayed for your future. Yes you are a mortgage broker, but you could just easily be an investment adviser, or a real estate agent. All three have been getting significant bad press to the point that I have had a number of Advisers indicate to me that they are thinking of tossing in the towel and going and getting a ‘real job’.
Never fear, hope is here. The opportunity to retrain and expand your services to meet other financial needs is very significant. You have already demonstrated that you have the inter personal skills to win the confidence of people, you have the administrative and thought processes to solve knotty problems and lastly you have the ability to communicate these clearly.
While we have news for you, these skills are infinitely valuable in the market. Not just in the very tight confines of the mortgage broker as we have previously recognised it, but in the much wider field of financial advice.
Originally when we were asked to act as a broker for the sale of mortgage books, the problem really was that they weren’t worth all that much in terms of ongoing revenue or certainty of values. However what we did come to realise was that the people concerned had been doing a great job in the main but perhaps hadn’t seen the problems coming and as a result were reacting badly.
I guess it is easy to be smart after the event, but the people who are still doing well had a much broader mandate from their client than just arranging the mortgage. They were looking for a bit of hand holding during a difficult time, advice on how to budget and manage their affairs, the need to insure against both property and personal issues, and lastly the satisfaction of being better off for the experience.
If you can achieve those objectives for the one transaction, ie a house sale, then surely those skills can be employed in a wider sense.
I find it interesting that we have recently been commissioned by a regular client to see if we can find a number of mortgage brokers that may want to expand their career and continue to act as advisers.
This client’s plan is to assist them in understanding how other services can be applied to the existing client base, whilst at the same time further develop their skills and relationships for the mortgage broking side.
In essence moving from the very tight definition of a mortgage broker to a wider definition of a financial adviser.
Over the years we have observed in the real estate business that when tough times come, the amateurs and part timers fall away, leaving a hard core of true professionals. That hard core not only maintains their income but it grows both their relationships and their opportunities simply because there is less competition.
We believe the same thing applies to mortgage brokers. There will be a number that will decide to throw in the towel and we would be happy to hear from them to see if we can value their business and on-sell it to someone else.
But we do believe that the hard core, those who are dedicated professionals, will simply see this as a very predictable bump in the road, and seek to minimise the damage, and be ready for the next market cycle.
If you look at the wider world, you would realise that one of the top professions, and growing every year, is in problem solving. The days of programming computers or building cars, farming the land or digging a vege garden, no longer represent opportunity.
Being able to provide people with simple solutions to complicated problems is becoming a major profession in its own right. This is all about doing the home work and research, making the connections, and delivering them to the client in a clear and simple fashion. You have been doing this for mortgages for some time now, and indeed there are many cynics who would say that the service is overpriced, given that any Tom, Dick or Harry could pick up the phone or enter a website and organise their own mortgage. You know and I know that not only is it not that simple, but the people who do that often end up with a bad adviser, ie themselves.
There is real value and a higher rate of return for those who can market themselves as financial problem solvers across a wide range of expertise.
What about re-thinking your future career along those lines?
If you would like some specific advice, or if you wish to buy or sell a mortgage book, we would be happy to help. But I do believe that if you are going to have a long term career the first thing you need to do is a re-appraisal of what business you are actually in.
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