question about brokers

[goldfish]

Hi all.

A question about mortgage brokers. Is it good customs to approach several brokers for pre approval for a home loan?

The situation is this, I have spoken to a mortgage broker on the phone to see how much money I can borrow. I have agreed to meet up with him next week to sort out pre approval etc. However, in the back of my mind I have this little nagging feeling that I should call another mortgage broker who I previuosly have discussed different investment options with, but my situation was totally different at that time.

So I guess I am a bit unsure whether it is ok to meet up with both of them to see what they individually can do for me, and what they suggest regarding structuring of the loan etc. I don't want to waste anybodies time.. but then again it is my money

Any advise would be appreaciated.

Cheers,
GF

 

[Rolf Latham]

Hiya GF


As long as you make it clear that you are speaking with a number of people, then I cant see an issue. EAch broker can then make an assessment to see if they want to "compete" for the work.

Where it does become an issue is where a borrower is chasing through a number of brokers and/or lenders without disclosure of such.

ta
rolf

 

[Qlds007]

And as Rolf mentioned when as a Broker you now that the client is just shopping the amount of effort you put into is less or non existant especially where what you quote or recommend is being used as the benchmark for the next broker to see whether he /she can better.

If that happens and I am aware of it I personally (probably like most of the MB's on this site) would rather walk away and assist the next clients.

 

[Spectre]

People ask (per se) 'what a broker can do for me' all the time...

Its by no means a one way street and should be IMO of mutual benefit.

So what do you have to offer them besides 'your money'... which isnt yours when it boils down to it.

 

[Perp]

Is it good customs to approach several brokers for pre approval for a home loan?

All the 3 prior posters are brokers - all excellent brokers, I believe (and know in one case, one of them is my broker) - so I'll offer a customer's view, to demonstrate to you that it coincides.

If you're looking for a broker, make it clear that you're just interviewing brokers, but don't get them to try and obtain finance for a particular deal during this process, as that can be very time-consuming, and it is poor form to get more than one broker to try and sell the same deal (if they don't know there are other brokers on the job).

First decide what it is you want from a broker, and ask them questions to ensure that they're the broker for you. THEN after they're "your broker", take your situation or deal to them and see what they can do in terms of loan products. For a full-doc house loan for a PAYG earner, pretty much any (good) broker will be able to serve you well, so I'd just find the broker you feel you have the best rapport with.

The question I'd be asking is whether that broker looks at commission-free products in analysing what's the best product for you. I don't know if it's even "doable", but many years ago I asked my broker to analyse all products, and if a commission-free product turned out to be best for us, offered to pay him fees in lieu of commission if we were better off doing that. Out of interest, do any brokers care to comment on that strategy? I'm now thinking that it was probably a pretty naive suggestion and that my broker didn't look at any commission-free products, but hey, at least I was thinking about it.

 

[Bradsdad]

All the 3 prior posters are brokers - all excellent brokers, I believe (and know in one case, one of them is my broker) - so I'll offer a customer's view, to demonstrate to you that it coincides.

If you're looking for a broker, make it clear that you're just interviewing brokers, but don't get them to try and obtain finance for a particular deal during this process, as that can be very time-consuming, and it is poor form to get more than one broker to try and sell the same deal (if they don't know there are other brokers on the job).

First decide what it is you want from a broker, and ask them questions to ensure that they're the broker for you. THEN after they're "your broker", take your situation or deal to them and see what they can do in terms of loan products. For a full-doc house loan for a PAYG earner, pretty much any (good) broker will be able to serve you well, so I'd just find the broker you feel you have the best rapport with.

The question I'd be asking is whether that broker looks at commission-free products in analysing what's the best product for you. I don't know if it's even "doable", but many years ago I asked my broker to analyse all products, and if a commission-free product turned out to be best for us, offered to pay him fees in lieu of commission if we were better off doing that. Out of interest, do any brokers care to comment on that strategy? I'm now thinking that it was probably a pretty naive suggestion and that my broker didn't look at any commission-free products, but hey, at least I was thinking about it.

I for one don't. The lenders available to a broker (their lenders panel) as set by their aggregator/s. I don't know of any aggregator that would have a lender on it's panel that doesn't pay commissions.
The other issue is that as a broker I have access to credit policies/procedures of the lenders on my panel along with the "nitty gritties" that each product offers. I however don't have access to such information to products not on the panel therefore it would be wrong to recommend such a product.
In saying this, I have compared products available to me against others that are not when a client asks but only in a limited way as I'm limited to either info available on the said lenders site (usually very thin in detail) or via a mystery shop by phone (scarey the answers, ummms & Arrrrggghs or guesses you get sometimes).


Regards
Steve

 

[Jamie_D]

I believe if you're not 100% confident or happy with your initial discussions with a particular broker then try another.

You should ascertain whether the broker is good enough within the first few minutes of your discussions.