Organic Home Loans broker Jack Fouracre sat down with The Adviser’s New Broker podcast to share how starting a career in mortgage broking during the pandemic has reaped benefits.
As a former Australian hurdles champion-turned-property investor and mortgage broker, Jack developed a passion for the property market at aged 18 purchasing his first property, which ignited his interest in the field.
We found out how and why he made the leap into broking.
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How has your earlier career in athletics shaped your mindset in broking?
I take it for granted how much my career in athletics really carries over to my performance as a broker now. I didn’t realise it until I started really performing and looking around and seeing that I was doing much better than people around me and thinking, “Wow, I’m pretty good at this.”
How did you get into the property market so young?
I started working in the family business as a milk vendor, so I was delivering milk to different shopping centres and cafes at aged 16 before work and school. I was saving up for two years before I turned 18 and, as soon as I turned 18, I got a $10,000 inheritance from my Nan and then my dad pulls out the paper and he just said, “Why don’t you buy that house?” And I thought, “Alright.”
It was an off-the-plan unit, I didn’t know what I was doing back then. I was 18, but. a year later, I settled on it. I would never do it again, as there’s no guarantee you’re going to settle. [Today], I’ve seen clients that put deposits down 12 months ago or even 18 months ago and now we’ve had 11 rate hikes, so there [are] a lot of risks involved right now.
What got you interested in becoming a mortgage broker?
I didn’t really know what I wanted to do for the longest time, but, while I was on the milk run, I had eight hours a day to listen to podcasts and because I had bought a property, I thought I might as well start trying to learn about property.
I started listening to this one and so just got interested in what a broker does because if I was going to get a job in real estate, it was going to be either a property manager, real estate agent, sales, buyer’s agent, or a mortgage broker.
My thoughts were mortgage broking is something that you don’t get paid for unless you bring in the work. I thought I could start that while doing the milk run and do broking on the side but found out the hard way — it’s not that easy.
Where did you start your career?
I started with Australian Mortgage Options, just before the royal commission, when it was going through some changes. I didn’t get the ‘boots on the ground’ experience because I was half-in, half-out, as I had two mortgages and things that I had to pay for, so I thought I just can’t take that risk.
So I kept listening and kept educating myself on the property market until just over two years ago when I went all in.
I wanted to refinance and was talking to a broker, and basically, when we were talking to each other about what I wanted, he said, “You know a fair bit about this” and then we got talking and he said, “Get me your resume & I’ll get you a job”.
What’s it been like starting out as a mortgage broker in this current economic environment?
I think it depends on your customer base and your marketing strategy, your referral partners because there are a lot of brokers that are feeling like it’s quiet, the sentiment’s down, and it’s hard to get people to commit. But honestly, I’ve been busier than ever. I think if I was, I would pivot and try something else, but I feel like with the referral partners that I have and the way that I’m looking after my existing customer base, it’s really not that hard to generate business.
What are the main loans you’re currently writing and are you looking to expand your portfolio?
I do a lot of residential, but I’ve been doing commercial for just over a year now, that was just pure chance, that I fell into it and I quite like it. I think most brokers kind of steer away from it because it’s the unknown, but it’s actually really easy, especially with the third-tier lenders, which I deal with a lot in the residential space. Also, SMSF is something that I’ve been doing a lot of. So I’ve been really focusing on those three areas. NAB has been getting ‘a lot of love’ with investor lending, which is very popular at the moment.
How are you managing your workload?
It’s the hardest part of the job and there’s so many people relying on you. It took a while for me to get used to the thoughts just rolling around in my head because you think about this stuff when you go to bed, you’re thinking about one of your clients that the deadline is tomorrow and you need to get the approval or this whole range of things that could happen. But the hardest part is managing the team, building the systems in the business to have these all processed so you don’t miss anything — that’s been a pretty good challenge for me.
If you would like to find out more about Jack Fouracre, tune in to the episode New Broker: How podcast paved the way to mortgage broking.
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