Helping a 58-year-old first home buyer left this broker in tears
After working in the industry for the past 12 years, Carrie Wilson says the most memorable lending scenario she has ever encountered left her in tears – but they were tears of happiness. MPA spoke with the Mortgage Choice broker about why she left the world of conveyancing to become a broker and how she helped a 58-year-old first home buyer achieve her lifelong dream of property ownership.
From property law to broking
In 2008, Wilson reached a turning point in her career. After working in property law for 19 years, she had learnt a lot about property acquisitions, boundary realignments, matrimonial transfer and other complex deals, but she had a thirst for change that conveyancing could no longer satisfy.
Having started to study short courses about mortgage broking, she was one day given an opportunity that she couldn’t resist.
“I had an acquaintance, Nick Cook, who owned Mortgage Choice in Ipswich and I was having coffee with him one day and he offered me a job.”
“I jumped at the opportunity and hit the ground running.”
In 2016, Wilson and her business partner purchased the business off Nick to become the new franchise owners of Mortgage Choice Ipswich.
Diversity and the challenge of tech
She says the thing she loves most about the job is the variety it brings through the diverse range of clients and scenarios that come her way.
“Every day is a new challenge.”
Helping clients through the different stages of their lives is another highlight for Wilson, who has been broking for so long now that she is starting to position some of her clients’ children to buy their first homes.
In an industry that is constantly changing, Wilson says keeping up with technology has been her greatest challenge – something she deals with by having tech-savvy support staff on board.
“As a high performing broker my time is spent interviewing clients and writing home loans so I learn the basics and fortunately I’ve got staff that I’m able to delegate to who are able to help me out when I’m challenged.”
Helping to turn dreams into reality
Wilson says the lending scenario that sticks with her most was a first home buyer client she helped a couple of years ago.
“She was only purchasing for $200,000 but she was 58 and had felt that she’d lost the opportunity for the great Australian dream.”
“We struggled on everything.”
“We struggled on serviceability, we struggled on genuine savings, we struggled on exit strategy and on a high LVR.”
After working for several months with the client she finally got the result they were looking for.
“When I phoned her to tell her that her finance was finally approved, she broke down in tears and had me crying as well.”
“It was such a low dollar value loan and I probably didn’t make any profit off it but it sticks with me.”
“That’s what we’re here for – to assist people to obtain their dreams.”
