Caroline Mundey, recent winner of the Editor’s Choice Award from the Better Business Awards in South Australia, sat down with host of the Elite Broker podcast, Annie Kane, to talk about her career as a leading broker, how she got her start in broking, how it’s changed over the years and the challenges she’s faced over her career.
Why did you become a broker?
I’ve been a broker for just over 10 years; before that I spent most of my time raising my five children.
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I wanted to get back into working, so my first step was to go back to my original background, in accounting. I was working as a personal assistant for a property investor, and through that connection it led me to someone who was starting out as a mortgage broker, and after a while of working as a loan processor, I decided I wanted to become a broker too.
I then went into business with the other broker and we established Directional Finance 10 years ago.
What do you think makes your business successful?
Personally, it’s the connections that I make with clients. I think that’s the most rewarding part but also the most important. For me, this business is mostly about helping people achieve their dreams, and there’s an immense feeling of satisfaction to know that someone achieved something with my help...
I've come from a pretty tough background, so I also have a lot of empathy for people that are struggling. I know how difficult it is to be in a place where you really just want to have some security, but you don't know how to get it.
It's quite rewarding to guide someone through that process and help them to achieve what they're looking for. It can take a lot more time, but for me, that's the rewarding part about it; you're investing in them and the reward at the end of it it far outweighs anything that you've put in.
It's something that I very much enjoy, and it's very close to my heart… helping people that otherwise have been written off.
What sort of loans do you focus on?
When we first started out, we were working mostly with property investors. Our main, core business at the beginning was writing loans for mums and dads that were looking to build a property portfolio.
Our focus evolved as the market changed, and property investing has become a lot harder now. Nowadays we offer a really broad range of home loans.
How did you choose your aggregator?
It was from a referral from somebody else. The broker I was working with at the time had been with a different aggregator, and they were looking to start this business with me. So, we both looked at what our options were.
It was generally word of mouth; who was happy with their aggregator? What did they have to offer? Those sort of things.
We ended up with Choice… I think it was the family feel of it [that attracted us]. That was really important - to feel a part of something bigger than ourselves - because mortgage broker can be quite lonely.So being a part of a family where you felt that you could connect with other people, and there was no competition. It was just about everyone helping each other just to provide the service that we're all looking to.
What were some of your biggest challenges you faced when you first started broking?
The main thing when we first started were the changes to how investment lending was being assessed and the interest rates at the time. Back then, they decided to load investment loans and interest-only loans, so most of our clients that bought property at the time were under the impression that with interest-only loans you could keep going and just refinance, get another loan and manage their cash flow better.
How did you find your clients when your business first started? And how do you find your clients now?
At first, they all came through a property investment club. We had a connection with someone that was running a club based in Loxton who were looking for a broker, and since we were doing so well, they felt that their clients would get well-looked after with us, then it sort of organically grew from that.
These days it comes from several sources. We’ve got our existing client base that we get a lot of referrals from. We’ve also made some good relationships with real estate agents and they’ll refer people to us. It’s important for real estate agents to know that if they send someone to a broker, that broker will do their best to get them across the line. It’s something we’re quite proud of.
Social media is another tool we use, particularly Google Reviews. We started using that about four years ago, and it’s taken off a bit from there. We’ve got quite a few positive reviews, and I think for someone looking for a mortgage, they’re looking for what people have actually said about the business, rather than how many reviews it has.
You have two offices at the moment. How do you split your time between the two locations?
It’s a little complicated. I have an office in Loxton which is three hours outside of Adelaide, but I actually live in Adelaide, so it’s split between my home office and the shop front in Loxton. There’s a lot of traveling involved. Some of our clients are happy to go through the whole process over Zoom meetings, however I know how important face-to-face appointments are for most of our country clients, so I try to get up to Loxton every three weeks.
You can find out more about Caroline Mundey and top tips for success, in The Adviser’s Elite Broker podcast.
Tune in to the episode with Caroline, How Caroline Mundey runs two broking offices, below:
