This is a housing market like no other. That much is clear. Records are being broken left, right and centre in the Australian property boom, and one West Australian broker might have just set another: $25m in loans in one month.
Helen Avis, director at Specialist Mortgage in Perth, managed 49 completed loans and $25.03m in value in July, settled through her aggregator, SFG.
To celebrate this amazing achievement, Australian Broker spoke to her about her huge month of business, and to ask just how she gets so much done.
“We do quite a lot of loans a month generally, and this year has been off the charts because the property market has gone bananas,” she said.
“Everyone is buying property. People are coming home from overseas and need to buy homes to live in. Everyone has decided to move. And people can’t do anything else, like going on holiday, so the property market has taken off.”
“It’s definitely been my busiest year for a long time. It’s every month: normally in August, it quietens down because people tend to go on holiday, but nobody did that this year.”
“It’s a culmination of everyone buying in one go, and it came in one month. Normally, I probably do $12-15m a month, but the previous month I did 20 and the month just gone I did 20, with the 25 in the middle. It’s been so busy, but I’m not complaining!”
Her tips were simple: get great staff, and get a great system to maximise your time and effort.
“You need help,” said Avis. “It’s not just me. I have admin staff that help me and other brokers. They are also working really hard, long hours, for us to achieve the numbers that we have in the last few months.”
“I have a particular system that helps with a file, and we work through it together. I also have a really good CRM that reminds me to do things. I’ve got a good memory too, which helps!”
Despite the huge numbers, it isn’t all plain sailing. Avis suffers the same problems that many brokers have with turnaround times and managing client expectations.
“Turnaround times are a nightmare,” she said. “You have educate your client on the wait time.”
“Years ago, you’d get a client ring up on Monday needing a preapproval for Friday because they wanted to go to auction on Saturday, and it wasn’t a problem. You could get a preapproval in 24-48 hours.”
“Now, you submit it and you wait three weeks to get a file picked up. I’ve seen the banks get a bit better with turnaround times over the last month or so, but it is definitely frustrating. Clients are asking why it takes seven days once they’ve got the valuation done to get formal approval.”
“You have to tell them that it’s just the wait time for the bank to pick and file up. Educating the clients in paramount so that you don’t get a lot of stressed, anxious, frustrated customers.”
“The last thing you want when you’re that busy is having clients phoning up every five minutes because they expected an approval the next day.”
“You manage the client’s timeframe, you chase the banks and it is what it is. It’s not like I’m the only person in that boat. Everyone is.”
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