Despite the recent developments in the sub-prime market and the furore surrounding Northern Rock over the last five days, eConveyancer believes clever conveyancing will enable brokers to get the most out of the market.
Alan Dring, sales director at eConveyancer, said: “There is no doubt that the mortgage market is going to get tougher in the year ahead, but that doesn’t mean brokers need to let their income dip.
“Consider the following: in July this year the Council of Mortgage Lenders reported a total of 186,000 mortgage completions. Only about 25% of those involved a conveyancer appointed by a mortgage broker, meaning that approximately 140,000 did not.
“Brokers typically earn £200 per case using the eConveyancer system to appoint a conveyancer on behalf of their client, which equates to £28 million in lost revenue during one month alone.
“If that revenue is divided amongst 20,000 brokers, it results in an additional £1,400 each per month (equivalent to just 7 cases at £200 each), thereby generating an additional £16,800 of additional bottom-line profit each year.
“What’s more, we know from our own statistics that clients save, on average, about £300 by using a broker appointed conveyancer, rather than appointing one themselves. Based on 140,000 deals a month, that equates to a massive saving of £42 million.
“The truth is that brokers can significantly boost their bottom line profitability simply by selling products and services such as conveyancing which are virtually compulsory purchases for their clients. The same principle applies to HIPs and the time has come for brokers to stop viewing HIPs as an unnecessary imposition and start recognising them as a valuable additional income stream.
“Just because the mortgage market is going through troubled waters at the moment doesn’t mean that brokers have to sit back and accept the inevitable.”
