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Broker relationships can give agents a valuable point of difference at listing presentations, one agent has revealed.
Chris Watson of Ray White Ferntree Gully said a big part of his listing presentation involves helping vendors understand how much prospective buyers are likely to borrow in different various pre-approval scenarios.
“It’s a bit of an education process around buyer borrowing capacity and how a mortgage broker fits into the equation,” he said.
“The take-home message is simple: if you can give buyers access to more money, it’s likely they’ll use it.
“And if all these buyers get the right kind of pre-approval for a higher amount of money, they’ll be even more prepared to spend it.”
The Melbourne agency has a fully integrated Loan Market business in its network of offices, allowing Mr Watson to work with broker Kat Skold to ensure his clients have finance in place before they purchase, particularly when it comes to auctions.
Mr Watson said this relationship allowed him to win a recent listing in the Melbourne suburb of Rowville, even though the vendors had made it clear that they had already settled on another agent and were just calling him in to keep that agent honest.
“Still, I decided to go in and do my full presentation because I knew I had something a lot of agents in the area lacked: a successful relationship with a mortgage broker,” he said.
“They hadn't been informed about buyer finance prior to our meeting and afterwards their whole plan had flipped on its head.
“All of a sudden I had won the listing and the vendors were going to auction – all because of my relationship with Loan Market.”
Mr Watson said many agents think that having a relationship with a mortgage broker is only about referral fees.
“But that’s only the start of it, as proven in this case, working with a broker wins me business,” he said.
[Related: Is there value in agents offering broking services?]
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