Of course, you can use your own broker. No one can force you to use a broker you don't want to use. Sure they can stop you from buying an investment but that will rarely happen.
However…
In this day and age mortgages are much more complex and brokers have to specialise so the broker you used for your home or the one down the street may not really understand the investment.
So, in the end, it may be in your best interests to use a recommended broker. That doesn't mean you shouldn't still vet them as normal.
Video Transcription:
Hey guys, Property Search...Think Gladfish. I'm Brent Alegre-Wood, and this is Property Rant.
So today, the question that we get asked quite regularly, which is, "Can I use my own mortgage broker?" And the answer is absolutely yes, you can. There's no restrictions on being able to use it. I'll raise a couple of points here to think about.
But effectively, look, no, you can use your own. But let me ask this: If you don't have the time to do it yourself, do you really have the time to manage a mortgage broker to do it for you? So that's the first thing, is the time. Do you have the time? If you don't, then consider using our broker. We will handle everything. We'll get everything organized, and that way, we can press or push things forward and keep up to date and all that sort of stuff, rather than you having to chase that and you having to do that. So that's the first thing.
The second thing is, is the broker that you're actually going to use, are they skilled in the type of investment you're getting the mortgage for? And if they're not, then you might consider using another one, someone who is, because one of the things we are using is we're using people that are professionals. They deal with this type of property, this type of investment, all the time. And that's one of the keys.
Mortgages are rather... I was a mortgage broker 15 years ago, 20 years ago, and I was actually approving loans and doing all that sort of stuff. So I've got a really good background in this realm, if you like. It's changed. It's become a lot more difficult, a lot more process-driven. You know, the application which used to be this, now is this.
You know, the detail you've got to go into, and it can't just be broad. I remember back in the days where it was like, "How much is your mortgage owed?" "Oh, it's 95,000," when actually now, you want to be putting 94,756.20 cents or 20 pence. So times have changed. It's got a lot harder.
The processes you have to go through and the level of detail the lenders go through. I mean really, the government have...you know, they're a bunch of monkeys and idiots, because what they've done is they've taken away all the discretion from the lender, who is a business. Now the problem is, is the government bailed out the banks, so now they feel they own the banks, and so what they're doing is they're controlling them saying, "We don't care about an individual's circumstances. All we care about is systemic security and stability," and this sort of thing. And really, you know, the individual being able to, if you like, underwrite, which is the process we do when we do a loan, we underwrite it to the client.
There's no discretion there. The discretion is being taken off. Now it is so long and so hard and so difficult to go through a mortgage process. It's almost prohibitive, which is not good for anyone. I mean, there are people out there...and this, you know, building a portfolio is absolutely essential for most people's pensions, and that is being taken away. And what it's being given back to is big businesses that will profit from it. So they will profit from it, not the individuals. And the individuals are left with pensions that are totally underfunded.
But anyway, that's me ranting on. But this is Property Rant, so I suppose I'm allowed to. But anyway, so coming back to can you use your own broker? Yes you can, but do you have the time? Are they experts at what they do? And if they're not, then you might consider using them.
But certainly, yes you can use your own broker, but it's a whole lot easier to use ours. But by all means, when you speak to them, vet them. Ask them all the questions you want to ask, you know, or you need to ask to get comfortable with them. But certainly for your own broker. One final point, actually, one final point.
Your broker or whoever the broker is may be part of a network, and that's more than likely. They're part of a network and they've got access to a... and they will say [inaudible] market, but actually it's a segment of the market. Now you might find that actually, they come back to you and say, "Well actually, there's no lending at 75%. We can get you lending at 60%." You're like, "What? That's ridiculous." But what you find, if you swap brokers and go to a new network, that opens up new lenders, and then you can get your 75% mortgage.
So just because somebody says there's no mortgage on the market, there's no mortgages in their segment of the market, because not every network has every deal on their books. There's also deals where you can't deal with a broker. Say HSBC, they don't deal with brokers. You've got to go direct with them if you want that deal. So there's these sort of things, which you can, and we can discuss those with you anyway. But yes you can use your own broker.
Have a great day. Live with passion.
