In his second full financial year as a broker, he was able to settle $59.5m
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While brokers generally possess excellent people skills, they often work best if they can hone in on certain customer demographics. Some may gravitate towards small businesses and investors, while others may enjoy working with millennials and first homebuyers.
For Jonathan Preston, a senior mortgage broker with Home Loan Experts and a 2018 Young Guns finalist, high net worth clients are his forte.
“I think it’s rare for clients to come across a broker with more advanced technical knowledge than I have [in this area],” Preston told MPA.
Prior to becoming a broker, Preston worked with many high net-worth investors at Perpetual Investments, National Financial Advisers, CMC Markets and City index. His job involved building investment strategies, providing market outlooks, doing risk profile assessments, assisting with budgeting, and assessing risks to determine the appropriate level of insurance cover needed.
Preston was able to develop significant in-depth knowledge around the use of leverage and advanced investment strategies from being a financial adviser, and his work in financial derivatives, which involved stocks.
Armed with this rich financial experience, Preston began investing in property. His interest grew and soon he found himself helping people build their own portfolios full time. Now as a mortgage broker, he shares the wealth of knowledge he has gained from wealthy investors to a wider audience.
Collaborating with banks
With bank representatives regularly visiting the Home Loan Experts office, Preston and around 20 other brokers are able to remain on top of market changes, which help them determine the best way to position transactions for specific lenders.
The advantage that Preston and his colleagues possess allows them to service loans other brokers have trouble getting approved. They’ve become specialists at working with high net worth applicants and investors.
While Preston acknowledges that some things are better done face-to-face or over the phone, he encourages his team to communicate via email where possible so he can resolve more than 15 inquiries in an hour. He also recognises the efficiency emails provide in tracking and managing workloads. As much as he can, Preston monitors his work progress regularly and reviews submissions and settlements each week.
Preston was able to settle $59.5m-worth of transactions in his second full financial year as a broker. By building his own team, he aims to settle $100m annually over the coming years.
