Spring season strategies for brokers

It's the busiest time of the year, but new lending rules have caused strategies to change

By Neil Sharma

10 May 2018

Spring is the most frenzied season in the entire real estate industry, and with new lending rules brokers have had to tweak their strategies this year.

“B-20 and the interest rate increases have made this year different, so we’re concentrating on different things,” said Anne Brill, owner of Centum Metrocapp Wealth Solutions. “I’m doing a big thing on CHIP Reverse Mortgages, reaching out to my older clientele who this might make sense for. I’m also doing things like second position lines of credit with various lenders like Manulife, because it does not make sense for the client to break and pay a penalty and get a higher interest rate, but they still need money to do different things.”

Given the frantic season, Brill has been working to get things done in advance so she knows what clients qualify for.

“It’s harder today than yesterday to qualify for a deal, but I’m trying to find different strategies to get them into a home rather than waiting. Potentially putting a bigger down payment or maybe getting a parent on a home today instead of waiting. We are doing first-time buyer seminars in my office to give people options and ideas.”

Another part of Brill’s spring strategy is reaching out to old clients to inquire about their needs.

“At the end of the day I’m a true hustler—I’m on the phone all the time,” she said. “I’ve actually made the most money on referrals and existing clients, so I work on my existing database on a regular basis to see what their needs are and to see if I can help them on new adventures, like buy or sell or refinance. I work my database.”

Tribe Financial’s strategy is to focus on renewals. According to Peter Lirantzis, a partner at Tribe, the new guidelines have made things difficult but not impossible.

“The great thing with the renewals is with loans to value lower, we’re able to transfer over mortgages with the insurable rates, which gives us a huge edge over the big banks now,” he said. “It’s a little slower than usual, obviously, but when you have a little bit more time it gives you more time to get out there and visit your contacts, have a couple of coffees with your real estate agents, and all three of us partners feel a little lull in the market is a good opportunity to build for the future.”

Tribe anticipated a slower-than-usual spring season, however, Lirantzis expects it to be temporal.

“I tell people it’s just like the recession back in 2008; what goes up goes down, and what goes down goes up. Things will eventually correct themselves, and just like the recession in 2008, within six months the market was back up again. We’re telling our agents to be prepared; we are going to have a bounce back. It’s just a correction right now, but give it a couple of months and things will be back to normal again.”