Mortgage brokerage to produce own white label product

While only a few details about the product have been announced, the independent brokerage has said that the product aims to “beat the major banks on both price and policy”.

CEO Theo Chambers explained: “We’ve invested heavily into a revolutionary wholesale funding program as we believe [that] the current lending conditions are optimal for second-tier lenders or new funding programs to enter the market.”

The brokerage has also announced that its loan book has surpassed the $2 billion mark for the first time.

In the 2017 financial year, Shore settled $928 million of loans through nearly 3,000 applications, taking its loan book from $1.28 billion to more than $2 billion now.

According to the brokerage, its success can be attributed to the fact that it has integrated mortgage broking services with some large real estate brands (including Richardson & Wrench, Fletchers Real Estate and Phillips Pantzer Donnelley) as well as its focus on infrastructure and system upgrades.

Further, the brokerage launched Shore Legal, Shore Commercial and Shore Car & Asset Finance services this year to “help create stronger relationships with [its] clients”.

Mr Chambers said: “Our vision is to be the nationally recognised financial services partner for all real estate brands across Australia, small or big, who witness an improvement in results in their own real estate businesses due to integrating our services.”

Co-founder Alex Nochar added: “We find brokers try doing everything themselves; however, the service to the client is far more enhanced if there is someone specialising in that particular field, such as business funding or vehicle/equipment funding, etc.” 

He continued: “It generally takes six to 12 months before we see a volume increase in lodgements flow through to an increase in settlements, especially in markets like Sydney with much lower property stock levels in recent years. This is why we’re investing heavily into developing our systems and processes, so we can nurture clients through the house-hunting period. We’re looking at creating an automated process of reapproving expired pre-approvals without unnecessary administration work needed from the broker.”

Shore Financial has also started generating leads for its newer brokers and has a loan processing team to help package and process applications.

“We essentially want our brokers to focus on obtaining new clients and nurturing their client relationships and leave the data entry with the loan processing team that follow a standardised loan process”, Mr Chambers said. 

Noting that some brokers “can’t take the risk of little to no income with the first six to 12 months of their broking careers”, the brokerage is now offering new entrants a salary or a progressive tiered commission structure, should they so choose.

[Related: Broking’s rising stars share their proudest achievements]