At a time when housing is hard to come by and money seems hard to find, a lot of people who call me feel a mix of emotions, but most feel desperate, worried and generally invisible. They are not having their offers accepted despite offering the asking price, or above, and the market continually goes up, like a ladder on an apartment building in Pretty Woman: it is being pulled away from them with every step they try to make upwards.
I hear from people who feel like they are painted into a corner. Stuck. Missing out. Even ripped off.
I’m known to tell it like it is, and I can say with hand on heart that I have helped many people in these past months climb confidently out of that corner, and it is an amazing feeling. How do I do it? Well, I listen from the beginning. Once I understand their predicament we have made a good start. Then I collect some data such as income, assets, liabilities and a few other things. I put their scenario together as something tangible to go to a lender with, then come up with some solutions for them. By now the client is still in the corner but at least they are standing up again. I tread carefully, as hope can be a perilous thing in matters of personal finance.
The people at the banks who work with brokers are not the same people that the general customer meets. Approximately ¾ of all home loans in WA are written by brokers, so banks have dedicated and experienced professionals who value that we bring them business. Fortunately for our clients, brokers are regulated by very strict rules about how to make recommendations to you, so you don’t have to wonder if we will push a loan onto you because some rep took us out to dinner. It just doesn’t work like that. It might’ve once upon a time in the past but thankfully the industry had a major clean-up, and the cowboys rode off to other industries.
Back to the process. Once you have heard my recommendations you decide if you want to go ahead when you are comfortable. Never pressured, never rushed. Borrowing money is a very big deal and this decision will affect your life from anywhere from a few years to 30.
Then I submit an application to a bank and I hold its hand while it makes its way through the lender’s particular system, and they all vary a little. The turnaround times also vary from lender to lender, so I tell you at submission roughly how long you will need to wait to hear if you have been offered the loan.
The moment that my client is confident to walk away from that corner is the best part, and it’s usually between loan approval and settlement of the loan. This can be when they then own a new home, or when that new car is ready for collection, or when they can finally afford to proceed with an emotional and stressful separation from a spouse or extricate themselves from some other sticky legal situation.
I suppose my point is that in these trying times it’s easy to think that you are on your own, but you’re not. Geraldton has some amazing professionals who are ready to help you and we thrive on referring our clients to each other. It’s a big enough town that these services exist yet small enough that people really care about others living in their community.
Many of these professionals will meet you initially free of charge or at little cost, and with mortgage brokers, you will never pay us, because the lenders do. It’s no trick; lenders just love us bringing them so much business and they are happy to leave the client relationship to us, as we’ve proven that their customers are in safe hands.
Yes, times have changed and things seem harder, but sometimes it’s a new approach that’s needed.
You don’t have to miss out.