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A broker is encouraging others across the country to educate their customers, as he prepares to hold an information event for first home buyers.
Bernard Desmond, a finalist at the upcoming Australian Mortgage Awards (AMAs) in five categories, said he has seen an influx as the market sees falling prices and a drop in investors.
With the tightening of criteria, Desmond said it is becoming more crucial for brokers to help their customers apply for home loans.
While he can only reach the buyers in Melbourne, he said it can be replicated anywhere in the country by other brokers for their customers.
He has teamed up with the co-creators of First Home Buyer Buddy, Daniel and Lisa Baxter, to run the first Melbourne First Home Buyers Masterclass, which aims to debunk the myths around property buying and getting a home loan.
The event will be tailored to help first home buyers with not just the mortgage process, but with things like why they should have a building inspection, why it’s important to have insurance and what solicitors can do.
Desmond said, “We educate the client, we don’t just talk to them about the loan. If you’re not educating clients and you’re just selling products you’re not adding value, they’ll move on.
“We can easily differentiate ourselves from any other broker who’s just purely focused on doing the loan. For us it’s not about the loan, it’s about how do you protect the customer.”
Encouraging this education of borrowers all over the country, he said, “Even brokers in other states could do it. It could be the start of a trend, this could be replicated.”
Talking about why he felt the need for this kind of information session, he added, “I’m personally seeing that I was not doing a lot of first home buyers until about six months ago, the trend was more investors.
“But I’m suddenly seeing there’s a lot of first home buyers buying property right now and getting into the market more aggressively.
“We’re doing a lot of guarantor loans, a lot of first home buyer loans.
“I think the market has corrected a little bit in terms of pricing now we have seen lenders assessing more differently and it’s not straightforward anymore, unless you’re speaking to a broker consumers are speaking to a bank and they’re saying no and they’re just putting it on hold.”
The event will include speakers like real estate agents, buyers’ agents and solicitors.
It will be held at the Waterman Business Centre, Chadstone, on November 1. Tickets ahead of the event are free, but on the door entry will cost $47.
Mr Baxter said, “If Bernard can help our attendees understand their finances better so they know how much they can comfortably afford to borrow and we can show them how to avoid the most common and costly mistakes that first home buyers make, we’ll consider the Masterclass a huge success.”
