“In order to be really successful, you’ve got to be able to deliver that – and that’s a big commitment to make,” he said. “Part of it is to actually work on all parts of the business, not just sales which is where most people focus on, but also operations, marketing and branding.”
This year both Banosian and his team went up a gear to keep up with what probably had been “the most intense purchase market in history”, with technology proving a vital ally.
He said: “We’ve embraced the change and ultimately utilized all the tools available to make the client experience better. We had our team really buying into things like income and asset validation, and in some cases appraisals, which can take days and weeks.”
With so much pent-up demand for housing, bidding wars reached record levels, leading to cash deals in one out of every five home purchases. This, in turn, forced brokers to work even harder to make sellers take note of borrowers.
“When a client is getting financing, you have to make them more appealing to the sellers, and you can do that by providing more certainty and a faster closing,” he said. “That technology allows us to shave days, weeks off the process and make the client experience better.”