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We speak to Ms Sanghera about her transition to mortgage broking, the value of a local community, and the multi-pronged significance of support.
Louisa Sanghera never forecasted a career in broking, stepping aside from the banking sector, and work in general, following the birth of her son. However, facing a shifting cost of living and the subsequent pressures, Ms Sanghera held her breath and dived into the industry in 2013.
In the almost 10 years since, the principal broker at Zippy Financial has established herself as a go-to resource for her clients and a recognised leader in the industry, being named the Women in Finance Award's Mortgage and Finance Broker of the Year in 2021.
We speak to Ms Sanghera about her transition to mortgage broking, the value of a local community, and the multi-pronged significance of support.
The Adviser: How did you enter broking? Was your background always finance?
Louisa Sanghera: So, my background is with NAB – I was actually the operations manager Europe for NAB, where I managed mainly two of the four banks that they owned in the UK. I sort of started off with the bank at 16. I left school as soon as I could and went into banking for a year. The plan was to earn money and then travel, but that didn't end up happening because I ended up really enjoying my work. I was a branch manager at 21, which was unheard of in those days.
What was the catalyst for that shift?
I had my son, and decided to take a 10 year gap. I didn't want my kids to go into daycare. I wanted to try and bring them up myself, which I did, and that was the best 10 years of my life. But we moved from Geelong up to Sydney and house prices here had absolutely skyrocketed. We also had a slight issue with my son, because when he was five years old, he had the learnage of a 15 year old, so we ended up having to pay school fees. After that, I decided that I needed to work.
What made you land on mortgage broking?
It was my mortgage broker. She asked why I didn’t consider becoming a mortgage broker. Initially, I was like, "Oh no, don't think I want to do that." But she said it can really work around the children and everything. So I thought, why not?
How was that initial transition?
At first, my plan was to do two mortgages a month but things took off in the playground. The mums weren't having that, so thanks to the mums, the business grew quite quickly.
The moms are great referrers and that is my space. We're all working moms, we get them, they get us, and they are great referrers. Women make the decisions, I tend to find, in the household these days.
It’s interesting how your clients began with those you were talking to day-to-day. Was that your core market?
Yeah, and it still is. The school that we were in at the time, the mums were great to me there. Word soon got around the playground that I was a mortgage broker, that I was saving them all this money, and then it went from one school to the next school, and the next school. I can remember going into a school in the inner west and meeting this mum in a cafe. All these other mums were coming in and she was like, "This is my mortgage broker. Come and meet her”. I left with six mortgages that morning.
Do you still mainly write owner-occupier loans?
We are quite big in the investor space. I'm a big investor myself. I've got properties in four states and I've always been into investing. We did win an award a couple years ago as the best brokerage in the investor space and so we've pulled in a lot of investors from that. But we're 99 per cent residential mortgages. I'd like more because I used to be head of credit – I love doing the commercial stuff – but it just doesn't come through.
We know you do a lot of community financial literacy work for mothers. What sparked that decision?
To be honest, I just find it unbelievable that schools don't teach kids about cash flow and how to manage their own finances. Even from being in the bank, I used to find it quite frustrating that all these people would come in, and they didn't have a clue how to manage their money. But I think as brokers, we don't realise how good we are with our finances. So I just really wanted to help people. I just wanted to educate people.
This idea of support is so crucial for succession planning and building value in a business. You’ve had a couple of serious medical issues over the last two years with your heart. How did you manage?
I've got the staff that can do the work. My right hand lady is a broker with 30 years of experience. She's a much better broker than I am. She's amazing. So I've got the staff, but I'm the one that has to sign that document.
I was really frustrated at the time, because it's a real shame that we haven't set something up in the industry to help each other. It would be nice to take some time off to have an operation or to take holiday without having to sign the bloody documents. I just wish somebody, perhaps the MFAA, could look at that to support the brokers. We’ve all got our health to think about. and it's a tough job. Especially when you're doing the volumes. You need some support.
What are your plans for 2022?
Just continue to grow the team. I've got a couple of other businesses, so I've actually brought staff in to totally run those businesses now. Perhaps I can look to promote somebody internally to take over from me.
You can find out more about Louisa Sanghera and her focus on customer support in The Adviser’s Elite Broker podcast.
Tune in to the episode with The importance of succession planning, below:
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