Wasted realestate.com.au Home Loans sold to eMOCA
Mortgage aggregator eMOCA believes it is ready to start competing with some of the market heavyweights after finalising the purchase of the fifty per cent stake in realestate.com.au Home Loans it didn't already own.A $2.8 million cash purchase allowed eMOCA to take 100 per cent control of realestate.com.au Home Loans. The vendor - realestate.com.au - is an ASX listed company controlled by News Limited.The home loan brand - attached to the popular real estate search site - turns over a low $50 million in new loans each month. This may be very low given the traffic heading for realestate.com.au. Hit data suggests that variants on the company's name account for four of the top nine real estate related search terms used by Australian internet users. Data compiled by Alexa show realestate.com.au is the most popular property website in Australia.David Kirk, general manager of realestate.com.au home loans, said , "We are here to compete with Aussie Home Loans and Mortgage Choice. We are looking to train area managers in recruiting skills and mentoring to look after an anticipated boost in loans as realestate.com.au Home Loans utilises the eMOCA broker network."We are getting leads at the moment, but do not have staff to go out and follow up. The broker channel is being wasted in some really good areas as we simply don't have sufficient resources".The wholly owned subsidiary will attempt to grow the brand by providing an increased level in service to the website leads, capturing a greater amount of the market share through the vastly broader network of brokers and through greater experience.Realestate.com.au Home Loans currently generates around 16,000 mortgage leads per month, but has an insufficient broker infrastructure to service the applications.Kirk continued, "I firmly believe, with the resources eMOCA can provide, we can increase lead conversion from the current low levels to over one third, once our training and mentoring program has been established."A lack of trained and experienced broker resources, compounded by a small broker network, did not allow realestate.com.au Home Loans to provide a sufficient face-to-face service required by our customers.Kirk explained a training model will be implemented where area managers will continue to actually write loans while looking after their team, keeping them closely in contact with the everyday dealing of the mortgage market, which will help in mentoring new staff and improving the skills of medium-term subordinates.The company will be headquartered in Sydney, but new training will take place in Queensland.No re-branding will take place for a minimum of fifteen years.