Leading brokers regularly featured in the Toronto media suggest that with that exposure comes an obligation to bolster personal and industry credibility with straight talk focused on objective advice and avoiding unnecessary hype.
Leading brokers regularly featured in the Toronto media suggest that with that exposure comes an obligation to bolster personal and industry credibility with straight talk focused on objective advice and avoiding unnecessary hype.
“The market can’t always be hot; it can’t always be positive: there are dips and we have to deal with issues at hand and be truthful about it,” Vince Gaetano, owner of MonsterMortgage.ca told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “Not everybody deserves to be a homeowner and the reality is, as hard as leads are to come by, sometimes our industry tries to stretch things and try to fit round pegs into square holes.”
Gaetano, and colleagues at his brokerage, are often featured on CP24’s Hot Property, hosted by Ann Rohmer. The show invites potential buyers to call in and have their real estate questions answered by industry leaders. And one thing Gaetano endeavours to do is to be completely honest with the audience.
“I’m trying to be as unbiased as possible, it’s not acting any different than I act every day,” he said late last week. “It’s not a short term thing – you have to be in the spotlight, educate, be blunt and you can’t always sugar-coat. If you start to do that, you lose your credibility.”
Diane Alvernaz is another MonsterMortgage.ca broker often featured on the show and she does what she can to appeal to the mass audience, while still providing useful information.
“The show attracts viewers from all walks of life...rich, poor, young, old, married, single, so I actively use layman terms,” Alvernaz said. “I try hard to position rules, regulations and product information in the most general terms possible so it's useful to all viewers, while still answering a caller's question.”
And like Gaetano, Alvernaz values honesty.
“All of the viewers value honesty, so I give it to them straight... with some political correctness,” she said.
As for how many leads have been generated by the duo’s appearances on the show, it’s hard to pin down exactly how many.
“The show generates a lot of inquiries for Monstermortgage.ca; some of them result in commission, some of them don't...and that's OK,” Alvernaz said. “At the end of the day, I feel personal success when I have educated the consumer and the show reinforces my credibility. A lot of people are surprised when I make a house call.”
