
That Home Loan Hub
Welcome to That Home Loan Hub, your ultimate guide to mastering the world of home loans and property. I'm Zebunisso Alimova, here to simplify the complexities of real estate and provide you with expert insights and the latest trends.
Whether you're a first-time homebuyer, an experienced investor, or simply curious about the property market, this podcast is for you. Join me each week as we unlock the secrets to property success and help you make informed decisions. Let's dive into the world of property together!
That Home Loan Hub
The 10-Day Wait: Is Working With a Mortgage Advisor Still Worth It?
The mortgage landscape is shifting dramatically with banks now challenging advisors on their traditional strengths of service and turnaround times. We dive into a fascinating case study of siblings buying identical properties – one going direct to a bank with same-day approval, the other using an advisor and waiting 10+ days for identical rates and cashback. This real-world example perfectly captures the current tension in the home loan market.
Beneath this surface-level comparison lies a deeper story about value. While banks excel at processing standardised applications quickly, mortgage advisors provide a comprehensive service that extends far beyond a single transaction. Drawing on our combined experience from both sides of the industry (having worked in major banks and as independent advisors), we reveal what happens behind the scenes when working with an advisor – the multiple lender options considered, the personalised strategies developed, and the continuous professional development required to stay current with all lenders' criteria and products.
The relationship factor proves especially crucial for first-time buyers and those planning to build a property portfolio. When clients need guidance at 9pm on a Sunday after viewing their dream home, or when they're looking to access special rates that could save thousands of dollars, the value of having a dedicated advisor becomes crystal clear. While banks operate within strict business hours with frequently changing staff, advisors build lasting relationships that span multiple property purchases over many years.
For those weighing up which path to take, we're hosting a free webinar this Thursday specifically for first home buyers where we'll address these differences and share practical tips for getting onto the property ladder. Comment "webinar" to register and join us as we help demystify the home buying process and show you how to position yourself for success in today's competitive market.
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Hello and welcome back to the episode of that Homelon Harp hey Conch Kia ora, how are you Wonderful, hey Conch, interesting. You know how we scroll sometimes on Facebook and we see things. Yeah yeah, there's one particular page and a lot of comments that triggered my attention, triggered both of our attention, actually.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's talk about the elephant in the room. Yeah, so bank versus advisors.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's interesting because in the past, brokers well, advisors were seen as the ones that would provide you with the better rate and faster turnarounds and you would go to them. But now it seems to be the banks are fighting back for their business, Correct?
Speaker 2:correct, but now it seems to be the banks are fighting back for that business. Correct, correct. So they've turned it around and what they're doing is they've been able to service their customers and turn it around in 24 hours, versus we have to wait 10 plus days, some fun times.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's interesting because we deal a lot with self-employed clients, right, and sometimes it goes to a different department small business, medium business, et cetera and they take even like 20 working days and it makes us look incompetent.
Speaker 2:It does. And it's a little bit frustrating as well with the timeline, because me, speaking from someone who's just recently come from the bank as well, I do know how an application is processed on the other side, so the 10 days is a bit frustrating, but I do understand that the demand in the bank, in the broker world, advisor world, is actually gaining traction, or it's a lot busier, which is good because it's showing that people are still utilizing their advisor channel.
Speaker 2:Um, it's just that the banks don't have the manpower there in the advisor channel to service the demand that the advisors are feeding in. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:so there was a particular case and I want to just unwrap that case a little bit, and there was this case of a woman writing saying that her and her brother own townhouses in the same complex. Brother went direct to the bank and got a turnaround answer within, I think, a day. And then she went to a mortgage advisor and got turned around within 10 days, correct. And they got exactly the same rates, exactly the same cash back. The difference was she had to wait 10 days. Brother didn't have to wait that long. So she was asking and and I mean that's a fair enough question, absolutely why did she have to wait 10 days for exactly the same outcome? What are your views on this, before I start spilling out mine?
Speaker 2:well I, my view on that is um, the bank would capture your information and things like that quite quickly, bang bang bang, they send you the approval, whereas the advisors do take a little bit of time and more care and sit down with you and understand your personal situation, circumstances and then they're able to actually tailor the approval to suit the client. So it could be a lot of different options as well, because we're not just dealing with the main one bank, we're dealing with a couple more banks as well, because we're not just dealing with the main one bank, we're dealing with a couple more banks as well. So my thoughts on that is you get more option with working with an advisor. Yeah, the timeline is a lot longer, but the benefits of an advisor is you get the option of being able to select and we've seen that as well, like clients have had, you know, three options, more than three options, so they can choose which one best suits them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and just to give an example back, for that is recently we had a client come to us. He already had an approval from the bank, but what he found was the lack of help and lack of assistance.
Speaker 1:He's a first home buyer. He doesn't know what he's doing and even though he got an approval from the banker straight away, same day, he chose to come to us because he needed that help, he needed that guidance. And it's not just for one property. Eventually, you know, in five years time he would want to buy another house, and guess who will be there? You know us, hopefully, because with the bank and I mean you worked at bank, I worked in the bank the turn um, the turnover of staff is quite huge and fast yeah yeah, people change their roles all the time.
Speaker 1:They get promoted, they go on maternity leave, etc, etc. Here I mean, I've been in the same role pregnant, giving birth. You know there was no maternity leave I still worked through it.
Speaker 1:My people had me as their advisor through the last seven years and even though my team has grown you know introducing you and a few other team members on the blog the buck ends with me they still have me at the end of the line and I think that's important for people to realize that.
Speaker 1:Look, if you're just transactional, come in, get your approvals through the bank, settle on that property and then, if you're out of the country forever, if you don't want to deal with properties in New Zealand, cool, maybe the bank is the better option for you. But if you are looking at a bigger picture, if you want to build your property portfolio, if you want to learn how to get on a ladder, you know, then I think this is where the advice matters and right now, the reason I'm so passionate about it because on the other side of the coin, I'm in the chat groups with the advisors across New Zealand right, and I'm on the Financial Advice New Zealand team. I can see it's a frustration across all of the advisors in New Zealand right now because, at the end of the day, we're in this profession because we want to help people, exactly, exactly exactly.
Speaker 2:It's a relationship as well that you build of your community. So it's actually your community that you're helping grow. Like you know, I've seen um just in my short time here with you that you've helped. You know almost the whole kindergarten sort of thing. You know almost the whole um school. So it's actually amazing to see like advisors are there to help the community grow. Advisors are working for you as well, which I really like, as opposed to the bank, you know, sees it transactional. You're another number.
Speaker 1:Let's go next client sort of thing One product, one solution type of thing right. And yeah, it just frustrates me that right now we've got this. We have to prove ourselves to our clients why they should come with us, even if delay is so long. Yeah, and it just makes us look incompetent. Yeah, and we hate it because we had to study day and night to get our certificate. Don't study.
Speaker 2:To get our certificate. That's another episode.
Speaker 1:We don't talk about Bruno. You know we still have to study, we still have to keep up all of our accreditations. You know we have to keep up accreditations across all the major banks that we accredited with. So when you're in a bank like I remember, you know, when I was in my like a yellow bank it was just you do their modules, you learn about their product and that's it. It's all about just one bank, one module. Yeah, here I have to constantly upkeep my learning across all the different banks. Every month there is a different quiz, there is a different assignment I have to do for various banks. So it just frustrates me and my advisor community that we cannot show that on the face to the client.
Speaker 2:No, because it's all about time and clients only just see the time that is put in or the time delay. Yeah, don't see what's in the behind the scenes Behind the scenes Of what you actually need to put in in the advisor role.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I mean just another example as well. Like, we've got a client at the moment. They approved, they're about to settle in June, but we know this other bank is offering fantastic rate for the first-time buyers. And I said to my client look, there's a better rate if you want. If you can't be bothered yourself again collecting all the information for me, we can go for a better rate, saving you thousands of dollars. And this is something the banker will not provide you with.
Speaker 2:No, and they don't have access to that rate. Yeah, and we do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think again that comes back to the difference between okay, cool, there's a time delay, but hey, on the other hand, you get this advisor that knows their stuff, that spent hours learning about these things and able to take your hand through and answer your calls on the weekends After hours, weekends.
Speaker 2:It's like a 24-7 cobble that keeps churning.
Speaker 1:Because a lot of our clients get excited. On a Sunday they go to an open home and they get excited and they're like, oh, I've seen this house. What do you think about this? And I mean, if they email to the banker, the banker will reply only on a Monday after 10 o'clock, after they've had their morning brief and a morning tea and a morning quiz maybe. Yeah, you know this is we are go, go, go 24 seven.
Speaker 1:Right, so I think that's the difference Versus we are go, go, go 24-7, right? So I think that's the difference. And I mean even this weekend, I think, I sat down on a Saturday night and I replied to a few emails. And then even on a Sunday, on a Mother's Day, I sat down and I replied to a few text messages and emails. And that's the difference that you get when you approach a mortgage advisor versus direct to the bank. Yeah, he ends my rant.
Speaker 2:Ends your rant. Good rant there, awesome.
Speaker 1:Thank you for coming along, kunj. Thank you Bye. Oh my gosh, I completely forgot so. Did you know that this Thursday I'm running a free webinar for the first home buyers? Yes, and we're going to address these issues as well, and we're going to teach you all the tips and tricks that you can use to get yourself to in a position to buy your first home. Amazing, make sure you click on that webinar. So comment and say webinar, and we'll send you the link direct to register.