A mortgage broker turned business owner has created a loan book minding company designed to relieve busy brokerage directors looking to take a step back from their businesses.
Trail Portfolio Services director Sean Richardson (pictured) was a broker for 15 years before deciding to buy a plan book in 2010 which he said went horribly wrong.
“I almost lost a lot of money on that transaction, so I decided to set up Trail Portfolio Services,” Richardson said. “TPS gave me the idea that I could operate books I purchased and manage them on behalf of other brokerage owners and run the business like a property management company. I charge a percentage of trail fees and cover the back book for the brokerage.”
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Richardson said the company was designed to assist owners of brokerages who might be looking to leave the industry, go on extended leave, or maternity leave by providing a seamless exit strategy.
“We work through the exit strategy with brokers that best suit their businesses and clients,” he said. “When a broker decides to leave the industry, they can try and complete an outright sale of their brokerage, attempt to bring on a business partner (however this option will take some time), or consider a loan book minding company like TPS.”
Richardson said the primary benefit of loan book minding was brokers could take time away from their business knowing a professional organisation was continuing to monitor their trail book.
“It is our role to extend the life of the loan by providing referral fees back to the brokerage in case a client’s mortgage needs to be refinanced away from the loan book,” he said. “This is not a massive market, but it needs to be on of the suite of options available for a brokerage owner. Many brokers are burnt out and have not had many breaks. We all know this can be an intense industry, with many business owners considering selling their portfolios.”
Richardson said Trail Portfolio Services could assist brokers who might be unsure about selling.
“We have the capacity to step in so business owners can review where they are, decide if they want to sell or not and take back control of their brokerage if they choose too,” he said. “We can provide choice.”
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In 2017, Richardson realised he had built up $1 billion on the mortgage side of his business and could provide accurate reporting back to his business owners, so he set up another company called Radial Data.
“Radial Data enables me to automate commission auditing into one platform across 30 aggregator templates and trail settlement templates,” he said.
“Radial Data is now a platform where I help brokers complete mergers and acquisitions. I also use a software platform to help provide a level of appraisal value to brokers on their brokerages.
