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After winning the Editor’s Choice award at the Better Business Awards Western Australia 2023, Saint Finance’s director, Chris DiBlasi, sat down for the Elite Broker podcast to chat about when he first broke into the industry, why he made the jump to Australia, the differences in the mortgage industry between the US and here, and some top tips for other brokers.
Here’s what he had to say:
When did you first get into the industry?
I started broking around 20 years ago. I’m a New Yorker born and bred, went to university in the Midwest and came back to work in Manhattan. At the time, I was working for a boutique investment bank on Wall Street and a high school friend of mine asked if I wanted to check out mortgage broking.
I ended up working for the same company he was with around 2003–04 and I ended up opening my own firm in Manhattan right before the GFC. Once it hit, we operated for about another year until we closed up shop; it was a pretty harsh lesson.
How did you end up broking in Australia?
I ended up in Australia after I met my partner in New York, who’s from Western Australia. After she found out she was pregnant, she wanted to move back home to her family. With the timing of the business and the GFC, I decided to come along and give it a shot.
When I moved here, I initially started working for BOQ until I met my business partner, Jake Biddle. We worked together at BOQ for a number of years until we started looking into buying a franchise, which didn’t end up working out.
Right before I started Saint Finance with Jake, I did a bit of strategy work for Bankwest, then I was looking after the mobile bankers for NAB in Western Australia.
Jake had started his mortgage broking career around eight or nine months before he approached me to come on board and split the new company, or buy in later. After support from my partner, I jumped in and I would consider it the best professional move I’ve ever made.
How would you compare the mortgage industry in the US to Australia?
It does work quite a bit differently. I think there’s a lot more consumer choice and I think brokers play a larger role here.
I think people over in the US just stick to their regular bank that they’ve been with for a while and never branch out. The product offering is also very different; most people over there get 30-year fixed mortgages, which is obviously something you can’t get in Australia.
That part was definitely shocking to discover. Also, the transfer costs when refinancing were quite a bit higher, especially for what you would classify as subprime lending, borrowers were paying 2 to 3 per cent to get it done. It’s a different market.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’re facing at the moment?
Serviceability is one of them, but the changing and volatile market is actually a massive opportunity. The way I see it, whether it’s going up or down, people are going to be looking for advice and direction, whereas if the market was stagnant, people aren’t talking about it as much.
Rising interest rates are another problem, I think the payment shock is something I have in the back of my mind for a lot of people coming off fixed rates and how that’ll play out.
What are some top tips for anyone new to broking?
Being transparent with your clients on why you’re doing what you’re doing and why you’re making certain decisions. You’re almost teaching them a bit on the process, but communication is key.
Being accessible, in my opinion, is paramount. I think that’s why clients are drawn back to brokers as well; there’s just very limited hours that you can get in a bank. It can be hard to get in touch them, and you need to go through the process of setting up appointments to set up accounts and such.
One of the most important things you can be as a broker is contactable.
If you’d like to find out more about Chris DiBlasi and Saint Finance, tune in to the Elite Broker episode Why US broker Chris DiBlasi made the jump to Australia below:
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