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A successful broker shares the significant benefits of tapping into the lesser-known medico finance market and tips on how to succeed in the area.
Medico finance encompasses any finance that a healthcare professional requires, for a home loan, equipment, refinancing and more. Due to the fact that most healthcare professionals are high-income earners with steady incomes, often lenders categorise them as low-risk and thus offer them “generous” policies, according to medico finance broker Bang Duong.
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The Positive Lending finance broker highlighted that, for example, some lenders allow healthcare professionals to borrow up to 90 per cent without lender’s mortgage insurance, and assess their applications differently, taking into account their often exponentially increasing income.
For brokers, the value of tapping into this space is forging deep customer relationships with clients who come to view you as a trusted adviser, Mr Duong tells The Adviser.
“[Brokers] always push hard with the bank and get a better deal for the doctor. A better structure,” Mr Duong said. “So, you become part of the doctor's team. You've got an accountant, you've got an agent, you've got a property manager, you've got the broker. And the doctor keeps buying every year.
“It becomes a relationship where he or she can say, ‘Okay. This is what I want. Yes or no?’ You don't become just the loan writer. You become one of his trusted advisers,” Mr Duong elaborated.
Succeeding as a broker in this area requires patience and comes about by taking the time and effort to lay the groundwork in the beginning, Mr Duong explained.
“This is a relationship business,” he highlighted. “So, don't worry about your internet marketing… it's just relating to people. Pick up the phone or go knock on doors. Always be in front of them. It might take you 12 to 18 months to score the deal, it might take you two years. So, you've always got to be present. And then after a while, once they use your service, then they'll start referring other doctors to you.
“It's building a network and being in it for the long haul. It's slow and steady [but] then once it picks up, it's gang busters. It just comes down to relationship building, which doesn’t happen overnight. It might take a year or so.”
Mr Duong added that when an opportunity to help a healthcare professional with a medico finance loan does arise, it is important to “take it with both hands” and deliver.
“Word of mouth can work against you and it can work with you. If you deliver on the deal, then the doctor's going to turn around and get you three other doctors,” he said. “Then your business is always growing.”
Further, he underscored that starting to offer clients medico finance doesn’t require brokers to undertake any further training or obtain extra qualifications.
“Just learn the medico policies. That's all there is. That's one of the beauties I thought about being a broker. I could start straight away.”
[Related: ‘Order taker’ brokers unlikely to survive]
