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One award-winning broker is aiming to write $180 million of loans in 2014 after settling a record $59.6 million deal.
Mortgage Choice Brisbane general manager Matt Cunliffe, who was named Broker of the Year at the Queensland Better Business awards, has already reached $100 million this calendar year.
He told The Adviser that his volumes received a massive boost from organising $59.6 million of finance for a block of 144 apartments.
The deal took 16 months from initial inquiry to settlement, he added.
Mr Cunliffe said the franchise, which has so far written $143 million of loans in 2014, had enough residential business coming through the door to allow it to chase commercial work.
He said there were several more commercial deals in the pipeline, ranging from $2 million to $15 million.
“I’ll focus on financing anything that can be financed. The commercial stuff takes a much longer time – that big deal didn’t happen overnight. But when they do come to fruition they pay off,” he said.
Commercial deals are harder than residential loans because the banks are more demanding, it takes longer to build trust with the clients and multiple funding packages are often needed, he said.
The $59.6 million apartment deal shattered Mr Cunliffe’s previous record of $4.5 million.
It was largely responsible for record monthly volumes of $64 million for February – his previous best being $11 million.
It also helped the business hit $70 million for the month, doubling its previous record of $36 million.
Mr Cunliffe told The Adviser that the strong start to 2014 was partly due to an improving market and partly due to the franchise receiving more leads from its 60-partner referral network.
[Related: Young Broker of the Year 2013 rankings]