Our new Beenleigh office, branded as Homeloans is opening next Monday and so we're flat out preparing for that.  There's all the usual rigmarole of ordering phone systems, internet, furniture, marketing material so it's very busy here.

I'm quite excited as this will give our Brokers in South East Queensland a base of operations, and we're setting up a number of desks in the office so that our brokers can work from there on a casual or full time basis.  Historically, I've found that brokers who network or work with other brokers improve their own productivity dramatically, so I really believe that the office will help our team to grow as our brokers spend more time with each other and myself. 

Shane Webcke from Homeloans will be coming down for to the shopfront in a couple of weeks to meet with all of the team and talk about his involvement as the "face" of Homeloans in Qld and NSW. 

We've had a big jump in our member numbers over the past few weeks.  The main reason seems to be our credit representative offering, with membership as a credit representative and our software packaging only costing $440 per year.  Also the number of internet hits on www.brokermentor.com.au seems to be increasing which is fantastic news.

In terms of leads, the Christmas period was quiet as expected, but we're now starting to see some results from our lead generation activities, so the outlook for this year is very positive.

My thoughts go out to the people of Gympie, who are the latest victims of the flooding in Qld.  We're very fortunate that we live in an elevated area, but even so I can't believe how wet everything is - I walked across our front lawn yesterday afternoon and sank ankle deep, and this is on turf.  I can't begin to imagine what it's like for those who are watching the floodwaters inundate their homes and businesses. 

2011 is here, finally!

This month we are opening our new shopfront in Beenleigh, branded through our new agreement as "Homeloans".  For those of you who aren't familiar with them, Homeloans is a publicly listed mortgage management company.  We have entered into a branding partnership with them to offer Homeloans products through our newly branded "Homeloans" business.  Our members can still choose to operate under their own trading names or our other brand, Vision Mortgage Solutions.

We have also finalised our ACR option for members and we now offer ACR status for an annual fee of $440, which is very competitive in relation to the rest of the market.  We've seen many new credit representatives join the team and I believe that 2011 will see the team grow in size.

Finally, I hope you will join me in hoping for fairer skies and some relief for the many people affected by the storms and floods of 2010.  I know that Rockhampton and a few other towns and cities still have more to come and my thoughts are with those who are still experiencing this.