Broker Spotlight: Richard Lugert, Oxygen Home Loans

I started with Oxygen in July 2014 so am very new to mortgage broking. Before joining Oxygen I worked as a branch leader for National Australia Bank.

How did you get into the industry?

I was working with NAB as their in-house mortgage lender at a number of branches in the Toowoomba area. I was looking for a change, however it was tough finding another role and I decided to look at becoming a mortgage broker.

I knew I could do home loans confidently, broking was just a matter of learning about every other bank out there other than just NAB. I spoke to Oxygen, who are now providing the support I need, and was given the opportunity to work with McGrath Estate Agents as a referral source which has helped me start my business.

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

Potentially the average property price and the loan size is probably a little bit more affordable than capital cities. We all know what’s happened in Sydney, where especially recently it’s been a lot more expensive than little old Toowoomba up in Queensland.

So I see our region as being more of an affordable area for people – that’s definitely the main advantage. In the regional area, we are relationship builders: given we have smaller populations, word of mouth and strong relationships are really important. We want to take care of our clients for everything else they need that’s related to finance.

What are the disadvantages of broking in a regional area?

Straight away, it’s that our loan sizes are also reflective of our property prices so our loan sizes aren’t as big as say the capital cities. Getting clients could also be a disadvantage.

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

I really don’t know what they think of regional brokers. The only thing I hope they don’t think is that we’re riding around on horses with a piece of straw in our mouth.