Q. After working in Loan Market’s aggregation business, did it ever cross your mind to go with anyone else as a broker?
My immediate thought was obviously I’ll go with Loan Market. And then I thought, “No, this will be my business. I need to make sure that I’m not just saying that because I work here.”
There were a few things that were important to me. I decided I was going to become a business owner, but I knew I had no customers and I wanted to give it a red-hot crack. That was my swaying factor, seeing everything Loan Market did around marketing. I’m not a marketing expert, never have been. I didn’t want to take that risk.
While I knew I would pay more with Loan Market, I knew it was worth every cent.
Q. What was your plan for the first 12 months?
I sold an investment property so I had 12 months’ income. I never wanted to put myself in a situation where I was thinking, “Not sure if I should do this deal, but geeze, I’m broke.”
The other part was I wanted to invest heavily. I wanted to invest in marketing. And if someone wanted a sponsorship, I wanted to be able to do it and not count every penny.
Q. How did you make your first deal?
A friend referred me to one of their friends. They had a non-conforming lender for their owner-occupier investment, high interest rates, and they wanted to see if they could save.
I’m not entirely sure why they were with a non-conforming lender and neither were they. There were no conduct issues – they were just paying a higher interest rate. I saved them on their rate, refinanced them, and got them a refi rebate.
They think I’m amazing. A few weeks ago, they contacted me for their next purchase. That’s when I go, “Okay, I’ve done a good job.”
Q. What does your book look like now?
It’s majority residential: a lot of first home buyers, government guarantee schemes, accessing equity for investments, or home improvements. I wanted to be a one-stop shop for my customers, but I also knew that I needed to focus on becoming an expert, or as close as I could get, in residential lending.
Q. How will you approach year two?
I’d like to achieve the same in the second year. If I overachieve, fantastic.
The second half of the [last] financial year was about nailing down that book, embedding the process, and understanding what that looks like. That took a lot of my energy and focus, but we’ve nailed that. Now it’s about segmenting that database.
My assistant is helping me segment that data and try to diversify. And [this means] if lending does start to come down, if resi isn’t moving as fast, I’ve still got a broad range of products.
