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Founder and director of Victora-based brokerage MTA Mortgage Brokers, Kerry Kalendra, recently sat down for the Elite Broker podcast to talk about his journey into broking, some of the highlights of his 20-year career in the industry, how his team engages with the local community, and his top tips for other brokers.
Here’s what he had to say:
How long have you been broking and why did you become a broker?
I started back in 2002, so 21 years coming up this year. I decided to become a mortgage broker back then because I worked at Qantas for the airlines, I was a flight attendant, and I was getting a little sick of just handing out chicken or beef as you go down the aisle.
I needed more of a challenge and I needed to have something that I could build and take ownership of for myself and be able to work the hours I wanted to work, while also being able to have the time off when I wanted it.
What have been the biggest highlights for you in the last 20 years?
I think the first highlight was going from paper applications being faxed through on the old fax machine to what we have now, electronic submissions and uploading of documents. That has to be a huge highlight and a major shift for the industry.
I think the other highlight for me is having the opportunity to shift my thinking and where my direction is heading within our mortgage business and industry thanks to my mentor, Todd Duncan, from the US. That has really helped turn our business around.
Who’s who at MTA and how many people are on your team?
I’m proud to say we probably have one of the most diverse groups of people working for us, not only from a cultural point of view but also in age range.
We have Naz, who started with us earlier in the year, and he’s 24 with an Irani background. We also have Vee who’s 32 with an Indian background, myself at 54 with a Lithuanian background, and we have Theodora who’s 72 and she’s a lovely Greek lady that keeps us all together and grounded.
We’re growing and we’re ready to recruit another two people in the next few months.
Who writes your loans?
I would say I’ve pulled back from writing loans by 50 per cent. Vee is now our main driver in the writing of the business, which is backed and supported by myself.
Naz is already accredited as a loan writer and we’ll slowly progress him into full-time loan writing within the next few months once we’ve recruited another processing person.
What does engaging in the community look like for MTA?
I think there are two parts to that. The first part is around our local and expanded community and how we can help them. My mentor Todd has made me realise what we could be doing for communities and that’s really changed my life.
The second part is really engagement and how we get the team to engage with our local and expanded communities.
When it comes to actually going about doing that, I realised it’s all about having the right team on board because without the team being invested in community engagement on a local and wider level, we wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing.
The other thing is really identifying what type of community engagement you want to invest in and more so what can we give back to that community and what they’re looking for.
What are your top tips for others in the broking industry?
Having been in the industry for over 20 years, I’ve seen that there is a lot of change that has occurred. There’s a lot more to know and to be able to do in becoming a mortgage broker.
It’s really important to surround yourself with the right people within the industry, you have to be a mentor. I also think it’s important that you go and work with an experienced brokerage to gain the wisdom, skills, and knowledge needed before going out on your own.
My advice for new brokers that would like to start up their own business would be to make sure that they have a good mentor and to make sure that they are financially stable and have the funds set up to be able to get them through that initial period where it takes to really be able to grow your business.
You can find out more about Kerry Kalendra and MTA Mortgage Brokers in The Adviser’s Elite Broker episode, How this broker encourages diversity in his brokerage, below:
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