Opinion - Combined strength

This activation of a buyer’s need for finance around the time of the property transaction presents mortgage brokers and real estate agents with a tremendous opportunity to work together.

The benefits include the achievement of mutual success, effective financial solutions and a seamless purchase experience for joint clients.

Such an opportunity has not always been present. If you look back to the early 1970s, the mortgage process was conducted very separately from the sale itself, with banks and lawyers controlling the allocation of a loan.

Fast forward to today’s market in which after several years of extended growth and prosperity, many agents are now facing the challenge of adapting to changing market conditions.

With uncertainty rife, buyers and sellers are looking to agents more than ever for genuine and realistic market advice. In the competitive real estate market, the onus is on agents to ensure their clients are fully educated so they can make accurate, rational decisions around property.

Mortgage origination is an area on which agents may be asked to advise clients. But even if they don’t seek advice, a potential mortgage lead is created the minute that an interested buyer walks through the door of a real estate office.

In my experience, a successful broker will have such a strong relationship with that agency that they will immediately be notified of the lead and will begin to use the relationship to the mutual benefit of the broker, agent and buyer.

The operative term here is ‘mutual benefit’. Real estate agents possess in advance the leads that mortgage brokers work so hard to create. However, there needs to be incentive and value for the agent for them to be able to sustain a lasting referral partnership.

Technology has certainly paved the way for brokers and agents to work together effectively, and the ability to collect data is cementing relationships substantially.

I am always asking myself whether new technology can create efficiencies and value for my team and our clients.

Agents are obviously eager to benefit from the effective transfer of leads to brokers, but they are usually pushed for time when it comes to completing the required paperwork.

With an automated system in place to collect the information that real estate agents collect as they normally do as part of due process, after a given period – and allowing for privacy issues – the data can be transferred to a broker for routine follow-up.

At Century 21, this process sees the capture of a larger number of leads, while allowing the agent to stay out of the mortgage process, which frees up their time.

The agent is able to capitalise on the full extent of their lead generation ability – that is, all 100 prospective buyers who walked through the door, not just the five who purchased. The mortgage broker, meanwhile, has the opportunity to transact with a larger number of potential clients, including those who are yet to even buy a property but who are obviously considering it.

Many successful broker/agent relationships will find that such data sharing progresses naturally to combining marketing efforts, allowing brokers and agents to offer their clients a streamlined property purchase.

The alternative scenario has buyers required to communicate with a number of unrelated parties throughout the purchase process.

They will now be able to benefit from an established connection between two key parties, increasing their ability to remain fully informed throughout the entire purchase and, potentially, saving them valuable time.

Such a seamless process helps to create brand continuity, adding value to the professional businesses of both broker and agent. In order to achieve this, brokers should consider how they can work more effectively with agents – and vice versa.