In this week’s show Andrew Mirams answers a question “Can they really get a better deal in this environment?â€

As we head into the second quarter of 2015, Michael Yardney shares a series of questions designed to help you evaluate and glean the lessons and meaning of the year so far to help you clarify your direction and your plan so that you make any needed course corrections.

Here is a staggering stat for you… we’re going to have 4.3 million more households in Australia by 2036! How will that impact your property portfolio? Pete Wargent has been looking into this for us.

Have you heard of Title Insurance? Conveyancing expert Garth Brown tells us about this little known gem that could save you in the future.

Michael Cooney from Hodges joins us to talk about how to sell a very unique property with limited interested buyers and Greville Pabst touches on the topic of how oversupply of apartments makes area selection critical.

 
Transcripts:
Andrew Mirams
Kevin:  I received an email from Joseph that was quite interesting. I want to put the question to Andrew Mirams from Intuitive Finance. He joins us.

Good day, Andrew.

Andrew:  Good day, Kevin. How are you?

Kevin:  Good, mate. I’ve sent this through to you, but I’ll just quickly read it out. “Is it really worth my while using a broker? I’ve heard you talk about using brokers, but I have a good relationship with my bank manager. Surely that will be enough for me. Do brokers actually get me a better deal?â€

There you go. I think I know what you’re going to say, but let’s have it anyway.

Andrew:  It’s funny, you didn’t ring the bank manager for that advice. Thanks, Joseph, for your question. I think it is a really good question. The thing with anything in relation to this is getting experts in their fields to surround you. That’s the real key. Whether it be a mortgage broker or an accountant, it doesn’t really matter. Get experts in their fields to surround you if you’re trying to build a property portfolio or whatever it is that you’re doing.

Why should you use a mortgage broker? A bank manager’s job, for example, is to manage the bank, look after the cash, look after deposits, look after accounts as well as the loans and the lending side – anything ranging from a $5000 personal loan for a car up to a commercial loan. They’re probably what we would call generalists, whereas mortgage brokers specifically work in just the field of the asset finance, actually trying to get home and investment loans.

I think when you have a specialist rather than a generalist working for you, you’ll always get a far better outcome. That’s the first thing, as a comparison. The online market is coming on leaps and bounds, and there are all sorts of online specials out there. But when you sign on for just the low rate, do you really know what you’re getting? A mortgage broker can give you that advice.

Kevin:  Let me ask you, if I may, in your normal day-to-day workings, how many lenders do you have access to?

Andrew:  We have access to just over 30 lenders and well in excess of 500 products. Again, your bank manager, if they work for ABC or XYZ bank, they’re going to have just their product range, and they’re not going to be able to do all things for all people. That’s the other thing. What one bank may or may not do, we can find another one that will certainly be able to assist clients.

Kevin:  Let me ask you this other question, too, that’s been asked of me from time to time about brokers. How do I know that the broker is actually giving me something that’s best for me, not just pushing me to something that’s going to give him a higher income?

Andrew:  Yes, because brokers traditionally get paid a commission from the lenders. Every broker by law has to disclose what their commission is, and we openly advocate clients asking us why we’ve recommended that structural price or that lender to them. I have no problems adv