Hi guys,
I often hear on these forums about the importance of finding a good mortgage broker who will know how to structure your loans etc, etc.
So how does one tell the difference between strategic brokers and not-so-strategic ones?
Thanks in advance,
The first step would be that they should be asking you about your plans etc so they are advising you on an holistic basis.
The second is they should be proactive in advising you re use of offset accounts etc etc
Keep visiting brokers and tabling your situation and requirements with them until you come home with a good plan that you and your accountant approve of.
Cheers
thecrestthecrest | Tony Neale - Statewide Motel Brokers
http://www.statewidemotelbrokers.com.au
Email Me | Phone Meselling motels in NSW
Yeah, it is a tricky one.
The first thing you need to realise is that your average mortgage broker makes about 35 grand a year and is in the business for around 2 years. These are not the people you want, unless they're very very committed to their new vocation.
I had one of these brokers a few years ago just as I was transferring all my properties from my name into a hybrid trust, and buying a property in my own name to live in at the same time. Melissa and I certainly learned a lot together over the three months it took to put all that together!
Most brokers these days will listen to your story and give you a "free portfolio review" and suggest where you should go from your current situation in the name of drumming up more business for themselves. I would get a couple of those done and see what you think. I would also interview the bejesus (is that how you spell that?) out of them, find out how much experience they have, talk about what they've done for other clients, ask for testimonials or contact details of current clients (with permission of course). However, the best way is to find an investor with the results you want, and ask them who they are using.
Good luck.
Andrew
Hi Rita
Welcome to the forum and I hope you enjoy your time with us.
I couldnt agree more you need to find a Mortgage Broker who works with investors and understand their requirements rather than the typical cookie cutter broker who has no idea.
Secondly ask the Broker does he own investment properties himself.
Personally as an active investor I would expect my clients to ask me this as one of the first questions.Thirdly you want to find someone who has been around a year or two.
Uptil until recently anyone could be let loose on the public and be out there arranging loans.
You could have been an electrician in the morning and a mortgage broker in the afternoon.As someone with over 25 years experience in the finance industry i sometimes get amazed when clients tell me what their previous Broker /s have told them.
Being a financial planner as well i find that it is easier to understand a clients total position and make a recommendation given the knowledge of their entire financial requirements rather than deliver up a home loan on a plate and expect the client to take this.
With more stringent licensing requirements on the way the industry will inevitably loose a reasonable number of mortgage brokers but it my opinion in order to increase the integrity and knowledge of the industry this is a good thing. A quality Broker can be an essential part of an investors armory however a poor Broker can be worse than a noose around your neck.
Richard Taylor | Australia's leading private lender
I have just joined this forum and look forward to learning lots of interesting stuff.I have been actively investing in property for the past 10years, renovating and redecorating.
If your interest is finding a mortgage broker who is specialises in investing then I can help you with one, he is based in Melbourne and works for a property company I recently joined.
cheers
isobelHi Isobel
To be honest this day and age most of my forum clients are not in Brisbane and are right through Australia and the World.
Mortgage Broking has come a long way over the last few years and with the majority of lending applications being lodged electroncially i find that client can be anywhere and we can still assist them.
Of course a lot of the credit goes to the technological age with email and internet.
Let us now if we can assist you further.
Richard Taylor | Australia's leading private lender
if you're in perth, i would be happy to recommend my own financial planner/mortgage broker. she owns a number of her own properties and i have been very happy with her service and advice to date.
First of all it takes a week to become a mortgage broker today. I know because I have done it. If your planning to invest in multiple properties I would stick to one bank if possible and have a plan, every investor will hit a wall where the bank will lend no more money, that is unless you have good cash flow as well. They will always try to cross securitise all of your loans. NEVER do this. If something happens to one property, or you want to sell one it makes it extemely difficult as it messes up your LVR and even sometimes the bank can make you sell all the properties. This isn’t advice but I would be making all my investments interest only purely for tax purposes. You can still have line of credits that pay down. Then you pull money from these to buy your next property and so on.
sjh_85 wrote:If your planning to invest in multiple properties I would stick to one bank if possible and have a plan, every investor will hit a wall where the bank will lend no more money, that is unless you have good cash flow as well.Hi sjh_85,
Just curious to know why you would stick to the one bank? As you noted in your post, it is highly recommended not to x-collateralize your properties when you're using one lender – do you know if this is an easy thing to avoid, or would the banks put the pressure on to do so?
From what I have heard, it's best to not have all your eggs in the one basket but to spread out and use different lenders if you plan on having multiple investment properties.
gezzy
You have raised a very good question and one i would be interested to hear answered.
Most seasoned investors find very quickly as part of an overall asset protection you would spread your risk around lenders.
You can still gear to 100% + but the way the loan is structured is the important thing.Anyway maybe we will receive an sensible answer your post from sjh85 with his 1 weeks experience.
Richard Taylor | Australia's leading private lender
A lot of interesting comments on this topic…
Personally I spread my lenders.
Secondly, I apply my golden rules for building my personal property team which is:
1) Are they property investors themselves
2) Do they conduct business in the right way
3) Are they aligned and have pesronal experience with my property strategyYou can quickly suss out the inexperienced brokers who are unable to think out of the box by aksing some scenario questions and see how they answer. Of course you need a degree of experience to know the right questions to ask. The use of offset accounts is pretty basic and not a good test in my point of view. Start quizzing around multiple property portfolio strategies and glazed eyes will start appearing…
Mark
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