Hi all, these are the options that I have in place at the moment:

1) Join a franchise, however the thing I would like to learn more about is the commission splits that certain franchises take such as mortgage choice, smartline, rams etc… is approximately a take of 40% on upfront and trailing on all loans standard for franchises as it seems fairly high?
How generous/helpful are they in providing leads and referrals as opposed to if you were to start out by yourself and try generate new leads and clients through your own strategies? Because this is the area that concerns me most and the main reason why I would consider joining a franchise model, however if the help they provide isn't proportionate to the commission they take off each loan settled, it would seem more beneficial to start up with an aggregator.

2) Get my previous broker to act as a mentor for me as I have less than 2 years experience and join Choice as he is with them as well. Start my own marketing and referral campaign and work extremely hard to get referral partners at the start, let all friends and family know that I intend on becoming a mortgage broker and have them work as referrals. Although I am unsure of the commission splits certain aggregators take or whether it is a standard between all aggregators?

Hi,
Since I posted in this thread 6 months ago, I've stopped working at my role as an assistant to a mortgage broker and have spent the last 4 months studying for the Cert IV which I have obtained and am now studying the diploma in mortgage broking which I aim to complete by the end of June.

I have done some research into franchisor models and their models sound appealing in the fact that they give you advice, training, support as well as providing mentoring and back office support so that the loan tracking service is outsourced. They also assist with the marketing and advertising. Obviously the drawbacks are the start-up costs which I've found range from $10,000-$40,000 for the initial set up cost and a cut of the upfront and trailing commissions: one company I've met with said they take 30% of the upfront commissions and 60% of the trail commissions, I was shocked at this percentage and I wanted to know if this is standard for other franchise models, does anyone know what percentage companies such as Mortgage Choice, Smartline, Aussie or Rams take? Does anyone also know anything about: http://www.brokersite.com.au/ I have tried contacting Hans but just receive weekly emails to attend a webinar and no personal reply.

The other option is to start it up myself although the problem with this is, I don't have experience on how to generate leads and referrals and this is why I'm highly considering joining a franchise model as they help you provide leads and refer clients directly to you. I also read about purchasing loan books: http://www.theadviser.com.au/features/sales-and-marketing/6594-loan-books-avoiding-the-lemons and it sounds like a good way to get your initial business up and running although is it as smooth a transition as it sounds? Once you purchase the loan book you essentially look after all those clients and receive the trailing commissions on their loans and these books usually sell for around 2:1 or 3:1? I would also need a mentor which my old boss said he would do although I'm sure he won't provide my any assistance or training or help me in generating leads.

I'm pretty much just considering my options in starting out, the franchise model sounds appealing although I'm not sure if it's worth paying such a big chunk of commissions to them. Also if I choose to end my agreement with them, I heard that you no longer receive any of the trail commissions? Starting out on my own would be ideal although I'm just unsure if I would be able to generate enough leads and referrals. If anyone has just started up their own franchise or their own business model or joined a company would like to hear their story.

Cheers
David

Thanks terry, just sent you a PM as well.

So after doing a bit more reading, steps include:
1) Getting a certificate IV in financial services which costs around $500
2) Obtain a credit licence
3) Find an aggregator

Am I missing anything from this list? Also how long should this entire process take?
Is it necessary to become MFAA approved as well as I only have 6 months of experience and it states on: http://www.mfaa.com.au/uploads/Membership%20Guide%20140811.pdf
that I need at least 2 years of experience