Finding a niche and becoming an expert could be one of the most effective ways to grow your business, industry experts said at the annual CAAMP expo in Toronto
Finding a niche and becoming an expert could be one of the most effective ways to grow your business, industry experts said at the annual CAAMP expo in Toronto.
"There weren't many players in the sandbox [of real estate investment] so I realized you could become an expert quickly," Peter Kinch, CMP's top 50 broker of 2008 told the crowd. "The clients value the info so much that they just want you to do the mortgage based on you being the source of that info."
As part of the broker panel, which included Monster Mortgage's Vince Gaetano and Tom Hogg of the Mortgage Centre, it also covered topics ranging from building lender relationships and dealing with aggressive banks - all in one breath.
To finish, the three brokers took turns fielding the question: what advice would you give to someone just getting into the broker industry?
"You have to go home and study all the lenders, whether you are going to support them or not," said Hogg, also adding that he started his business off by seeking out referrals from real estate agents.
"You work so hard to get them, and then you work so hard to get rid of them," he said with a laugh.
Gaetano emphasized making sure your client understands what's going on.
"They don't want to hear acronyms, they don't have to hear buzz words," he said, adding that before picking a brokerage, be sure it provides adequate training. "Job shadowing is a good thing, for at least six months."
Kinch added to that, saying training should be the first thing on every new broker's mind.
"If one of [the new broker's] first questions is 'what's your commission split,' then that's the end of the conversation," he said. "Training should be the most important part."
