Young Broker of the Year revealed - Nov 2012

My Mortgage Freedom’s Anthony Alabakov took home the coveted title of Young Broker of the Year after the Victoria-based broker managed to settle more than $65 million in residential mortgages over the 2011/2012 financial year.

The Young Broker of the Year ranking, partnered by Citibank, ranked the nation’s top performing brokers under the age of 30 across several key business areas, including dollar volumes settled, other business written and number of settlements.

Brokers’ residential mortgage volumes made up 40 per cent of their overall score, while their settlement numbers made up another 40 per cent and the amount of non-residential business written made up the last 20 per cent.

Club Financial Services’ Joshua Egan was placed second in the ranking, settling more than $62 million in residential mortgages, while Smartmove’s Simon Orbell rounded out the top three.

Speaking at the Young Broker of the Year lunch in Sydney yesterday, Anthony Alabakov said the biggest challenge for young brokers is having a depth of knowledge.

“When you first enter the industry, you never really know what you are getting yourself in for," he said. "You don’t understand the back-end processes and how to talk to clients. You also don’t know how long it will be before you start making money.

“If we want more young brokers, we need to implement retainers and give them the time to get a really good understanding of the industry – get to know the ins and outs of credit.”

The report uncovered a number of fascinating insights into the industry's youngest business writers with 68 per cent having added a new revenue stream to their business in the past 12 months alone, while 40 per cent of the top 30 had generated leads through the use of social media.