Broker Spotlight: Daryl Coxon, Aussie Home Loans

I first started my own brokerage over 20 years ago. At that stage I specialised in plant and equipment finance. In 2004 I moved into home loans with a Wizard franchise and five years later that progressed to Aussie where I now own the Dubbo store.

How did you get into the industry?

By accident actually. I had a background in car sales in my early 20s and was asked to take on the finance role at a large dealership and so I thought, why not – and have stuck with it ever since.

What are the advantages of broking in a regional area compared to the capital cities?

Lifestyle for sure. I have a young family and it is fantastic to be able to drop everything at a moment’s notice to witness some of the milestones and achievements of my kids. I can be home in under five minutes (seven in a traffic jam!) or get across town in less time than it takes to cross the Harbour Bridge on a good day.

What are the disadvantages of broking in a regional area?

From a business perspective regional areas have a few more challenges. The average loan size is obviously smaller than metro areas and so we need to settle more numbers to compensate.

The flipside is that I think regional brokers tend to be more relationship focused rather than transactional focused and our clients are probably “stickier” as a result.

What are the misconceptions that city brokers have of regional brokers?

It sometimes appears that some city brokers think that because we don’t settle the same volume that maybe we aren’t as experienced as brokers. That misconception couldn’t be further from the truth.

Because of our location we tend to see a huge variety of business and have a very diverse client base.

What’s the best thing about being a broker?

It’s a great feeling being able to help people achieve their dreams and a lot of our clients turn into really good friends.