mortgage Brokers vs. financial advisers

[caseyzeman]

Are you ever faced with this epidemic? A potential client tells you that they have a financial adviser that they want to consult before going with you? If you are a mortgage broker who has been around the block then chances are you have. Well I am shocked that more people don't understand that a financial adviser knows nothing of mortgages or loans and often times doesn't own one themselves. Their only function should be to tell you if you can afford your home. However a mortgage broker is more qualified to do that because they are the ones who work the numbers for qualifying a borrower. A financial advisers only role in someones finances is to get them the proper life insurance and programs for money markets and mutual funds. Their job is to put people into the best retirement programs etc...
It always annoys me when someone thinks that a financial adviser is something of a finance guru in all things. NO not true, they have a license to sell insurance and a license for trading etc. They are not experts in home financing. If you ask your financial adviser to qualify you for a house chances are they wouldn't know where to begin. Most of them don't know how to do simple mortgage equations. They create graphs to show you how much you will save in the future with a particular plan they want to put you into.

This has always annoyed me. I was looking into become a financial adviser for awhile then decided to stick with being a mortgage broker. I don't have anything against financial advisers it is just that people have a false perception of them as a one stop shop, a guru. Not true. Everyone should have a mortgage broker that they trust as well as a financial adviser. I have gotten burnt and under appreciated too many times because people would turn to their financial adviser for house advice and that financial adviser would suggest that they stick with him. Suddenly I lose a client who I have already started work for while they call up a friend of theirs who does loans to get a pretty hefty kick back. Often times manipulating the sale to get more money from the deal.

just my ranting...