Brokers are ‘elite money managers’, says PIPA chair

When asked whether mortgage brokers could differentiate themselves from their competitors by getting a property or financial advice qualification, Mr Kingsley said: “I'd love to see that happen. I'm a big advocate for the fact that mortgage brokers are elite money managers, and can give fantastic advice and strategic strategy, and structure around how they set up the mortgages for investors, but what do they know about property? Where's the 10,000 hours of expertise that they've gathered to be able to do that? I mean, everyone has a view on property, and that's the biggest challenge, and why everyone's playing in the space at the moment.”

Mr Kingsley added that his company set up a separate company for the financial planning, and then for the buyer's agency, because “they all operate under different regulation and compliance”, but noted the lucrative opportunities diversification can provide.

“There can be a monetisation piece to that,” he said. “Our property wealth planning division will generate around $950,000 in fees for property investment advice this year. That just gives [brokers] an idea that you can potentially charge, and it's a wonderful complementary service to what they're doing. Then, if they want to implement that plan there's also that connection that they can make with a buyer's agent as well.

“I think there's an amazing opportunity, in terms of what's going on, to be able to diversify your business. It's not easy, but if you do it well you'll have a client for life.”

He added: “It's a lot harder to do, but I think ultimately if you can get a team of professionals who are specialists in their area, guiding a household onto their future wealth, and have a relationship as opposed to a transaction, you're onto a pretty good thing,” the PIPA chair added.