Finance mover and shaker
SEEKING CHANGE FROM LIFE IN SYDNEY, CAIRNS MORTGAGE BROKERS DIRECTOR ROGER WARD PACKED UP THE FAMILY AND CAME NORTH. IT’S ONE OF THE BEST MOVES HE HAS EVER MADE, WRITES HAYDEN SMITH
Roger Ward will take the famous Far North lifestyle over Sydney’s corporate rat race any day of the week. The Cairns Mortgage Brokers director has had a taste of both worlds over more than two decades in the finance industry. His business — run in partnership with his marketing guru wife Michelle — is already making its mark in the industry. The CBCbased company was recently named Queensland Regional Mortgage Broker of the Year for the second consecutive time. “We’ve had tremendous success in getting market share up here and have spent a lot of time on developmental programs in the community.”
ROGER Ward will take the famous Far North lifestyle over Sydney’s corporate rat race any day of the week.
The Cairns Mortgage Brokers director has had a taste of both worlds over more than two decades in the finance industry.
“When we moved up here, I didn’t know much about the competition in Cairns, this was built off what I learned in Sydney,” Mr Ward said.
“We wanted to deliver something we could be proud of and knew would work.”
The relatively young business – run in partnership with his marketing guru wife Michelle – is already making its mark in the industry.
Their CBD-based company was recently named Queensland Regional Mortgage Broker of the Year for the second consecutive time.
“I felt winning a second time was a big ask – there was a lot of competition,” Mr Ward said.
“We’ve had tremendous success in getting market share up here and have spent a lot of time and effort on developmental programs in the community.”
Raised by a single mum in Western Sydney, he learnt the mortgage broking game from one of the best in the business.
Mr Ward joined Aussie Homes Loans, founded by the renowned “Aussie” John Symond, when the company was in its infancy.
“There was a real movement at the time to get away from the banks.
“He (Mr Symond) was someone who shook the market a great deal,” he said.
“Consumers can thank him, because bank margins dropped a lot.
“This gave me a mechanism to get into banking, which is what I wanted to do.”
Mr Ward then worked in the banking sector for several years before starting his own Sydney-based company, Ward Finance.
Needing a change of scenery after the global financial crisis, he and his family relocated to Cairns about six years ago.
“The short of it is: Cairns is an absolutely fantastic place to raise kids.
“We’re so much happier here,” the father-of-two said.
One of Mr Ward’s biggest bugbears has long been the exorbitant cost of home insurance in North Queensland.
He is driving a change.org campaign calling on the Government to reintroduce the State Government Insurance Office (SGIO).
“It’s unfair against the poor-
est people in our community,” Mr Ward said.
“Someone might be on a pension … yet they might be asked to pay $3000-$4000 a year on home insurance, which would represent a fairly large chunk of their income.”
The Kewarra Beach man said he would not stop advocating on the issue until change was achieved.
Mr Ward described the rise of the mortgage broking industry as one of the finance sector’s “best success stories” of the past 30 years.
“Our job is to get an understanding of the customers’ cur- rent financial position and what they want to do,” he said.
“We can work out which bank is going to be able to do two things: firstly the lending, which is where you understand credit criteria; and number two, out of that list we can work out who will give the best combination of interest rate and product choice to satisfy their needs.
“It’s the choice issue that drives consumer behaviour, which is why 60 per cent of the loans written in the economy are by mortgage brokers.”
Mr Ward said the Cairns housing market was far kinder to budding homeowners than major centres like Sydney and Melbourne.
“A few things are awesome about Cairns, number one is housing affordability. It’s absolutely brilliant,” he said.
“If you’re on average week- ly earnings, you can easily afford a home.
“And the mortgage is not going to be so large that it’s going to be untenable over the longer term.
“When I was in Sydney, we were doing first homebuyer loans for $800,000.
“For that you’ve got to be earning a lot of money, and it’s got to be dual income.”
Mr Ward said his family would stay in Cairns for the “long haul”.
“One of my challenges going forward is managing the growth we’re experiencing,” he said.