Former North Queensland Cowboys and South Sydney Rabbitohs second rower Ethan Lowe has opened his own brokerage in Brisbane.
The former NRL player debuted in 2013 for the Cowboys before moving to Sydney to play for the Rabbitohs for two years. He was then medically retired at the end of the 2020 season.
After being forced to retire from the game that he loved, Lowe (pictured above) decided he wanted to consider a career as a mortgage broker.
“We all know a professional football career can’t last forever, so while you are playing, the NRL like to encourage you to study outside of football so you have something to transition into after you finish,” Lowe said. “I studied a diploma in financial planning and there were parts of the diploma that I enjoyed. I was chatting to my accountant about what I would like to do after I finish playing footy and he suggested if I enjoyed some parts of the diploma, then I should look at mortgage broking.”
Lowe completed his diploma at the end of 2020, so after being medically retired from NRL, he decided that was the time for him to give it a go.
“I saw an opportunity to turn mortgage broking into my next career move,” he said.
After gaining some experience and learning valuable insights in the industry from Chris Lloyd and Ross Latham from Mortgage Link Liverpool, Lowe launched his own mobile brokerage, First Grade Finance, in March this year.
“It was a weird time to launch my own business, especially with interest rates starting to climb,” he said. “It has been an enjoyable experience so far, despite its challenges.”
Lowe said there was a lot of fear from the general public regarding the property market at the moment.
“It is becoming significantly harder for people to buy a home. However, mortgage brokers are here to help and we are here to stay,” he said. “The biggest challenge I am currently facing is starting up a referral network. Being a new business, it is hard when you don’t have any runs on the book. You need to communicate and connect with people in this industry.”
Lowe said being a new-to-industry broker, consistency was key.
“By being fresh and starting new partnerships can be tough and it is one of those things you need to keep being consistent with,” he said. “My advice to other new-to-industry brokers is to find a quality mentor; someone you can lean on is the biggest thing. Find someone who you can sit down with who will take the time to explain things – they will be your biggest asset.”
