Considering buying a Mortgage Choice Franchise, am I crazy

Just about all take on new entrants, but you will need to be mentored – you generally go through the same aggregator as your mentor.

Charlie, read the agreements closely. Particularly about ownership of clients and if you terminate the agreement who keeps the clients and/or the trails.

Out of interest, what’s made you narrow it down to the ones you’ve listed?

I personally think you’re putting the cart in front of the horse. To me a good mentor is more important than aggregator and I’m not too sure how I would feel having my aggregator select my mentor for me. This is someone you will have to work closely with for 2 years so need to make sure that not only will you have a good working relationship but they’re someone that you can actually work with and have a similar view on lending as you do such as how loans should be structured ie are they an advocate for x-coll? Are they investment loan savvy and know how to structure loans correctly instead of churning and burning clients. Will they help you grow your business?

Like any profession, some mentors are below average some are average and some are above average – how do you one which type you will be aligning yourself with?

If I were in your shoes (and I have been) I would select a mentor that I am happy with (this includes everything from mentoring style, their own broking and business experience to comm splits) then either act as a credit rep under their ACL or have an agreement with the same aggregator as them. Then once you’re finished being mentored decide on the course of action that would suit you once you’ve got a couple of years industry experience under your belt.

and yes I have been told that there are mentors who have over 20 mentees, so that’s what their business is about

do the maths, 20 mentees x $1000 per mentee = $20,000 per month. why anyone not want to be a mentor, that’s more than a professor gets pay at the top universities in the world? I have heard of many say they don’t do it for the money, yet they are collecting from their starving students.

kindda like in the real estate industry where buyer’s agent charge their customers on a percentage of the property price and yet argue that their objective is to negotiate for the lowest price for the buyer?

$20k for 20 new brokers, I think would not be that bad.
I have deal with more than 1000 students per semester and got paid much less

those who’s on the receiving don’t want to change model, and MFAA is enforcing that model, and lenders are also endorsing the model

the current model is designed is so that it’s the new ones that get screw over !!!

Jamie Moore wrote:

I’m not quite following.

Are you talking about the MFAA certified mentor thing?

If so – my understanding is that you don’t have to use one that’s sat down and done the MFAA course. There are other requirements that have to be met from memory – such as minimum number of years in the industry and a certain amount of loans written. I can’t quite remember.

Mentoring isn’t money for jam.

Cheers

Jamie

you can buy a lot of jam with that kind of money :)

yes, I’m talking about the required MFAA mentoring requirement for new brokers. from what I was told, if you are new to the industry and have taken the Cert IV course, then you are required to have a certified mentor for two years. If you also took the Diploma course, then any broker who has at least two years industry experience can be your mentor for that two years requirement. to be a MFAA certified mentor you need to have at least five years industry experience plus educate through the MFAA “mentoring the mentor” program.

does the FBAA has this mentoring requirement for new brokers?

CharlieX wrote:

agreed with you that getting a mentor with the same philosophy as me would be awesome, but I have never yet came across any so far. somewhat similar to the university days when you as a student just have to get align with the philosophy of the professor of the class that you want to pass, else you don’t pass the class. if that’s the only professor for that class at the university, and you need to get through that class to graduate then you have no choice but to align yourself to that professor’s philosophy of doing things. this seems to be the way the finance broking industry is now in this country, with the industry association such as MFAA making its own requirements on top of those already done by ASIC. Just more gatekeepers than really necessary?

When I first started out I went with a mentor who in hindsight wasn’t right for me for several reasons. I then found a good mentor and it made the world of difference. This is my business and my livelihood so I didn’t and don’t want to make any compromises. I am in this for the long run and not to make a quick buck (not implying this isn’t you) so want to set myself up for success as much as possible and that includes having an awesome team around me because I know I don’t have the answer for everything, no-one does, but I know how to find those answers.

CharlieX wrote:

the aggregator does not get to pick who my mentor will be, that’s my choice. the aggregator just let me know which brokers within their membership base have the quality, knowledge, and qualifications that will make me a better broker.

The MFAA also has a list of certified mentors on their website. Have a look around this forum and the other forum (somersoft) and there are brokers on there who are also mentors. Whether they’re taking on mentee’s or not, I do not know.

CharlieX wrote:

I have not found a mentor who wants to do commission splits, all the ones I have interview so far wants their $500 to $1000 per month fee regardless whether I write or not write any loan in that month. if the mentors are truly there to help new brokers into the industry, why are they not willing to take up some risks too, in that if the mentor don’t help the new broker settle loans then no one gets pay?

Agree, I wouldn’t be happy with a fee arrangement as there’s no real incentive to the mentor whether you write loans or not. I would only seek a mentor who charged a comm split.

the mentors I have interview so far wants the monthly set fee plus the commission splits (both upfront and trail), and some also want co-ownership of my clients for life. that’s why i’m questioning this mentoring requirement that supposedly bring in new brokers and train them to be the best to make the industry better. this requirement is already shooting down the new entrants before they get to the door of the industry. why can’t this industry follow similarly to the real estate industry which an agent’s rep has to work under a licenced agent for at least a year before the agent’s rep can earn his/her own licence? once a full licence, then he/she can decide which direction to go.

I’ve been interviewing many now, no mentor yet just want to split just the upfront commission during those two training years.

Taking a step back, why do you want to be a broker, Charlie?