Real estate agency enters advice market

Coronis – which has 20 sales offices through Brisbane and the Gold Coast – has established a financial advice business under the AFSL of Financial Wisdom, the agency’s managing director Andrew Coronis told ifa.

Mr Coronis said the company was aiming to offer a full suite of property and financial services “under one roof”, including sales, property management, broking, conveyancing and advice.

“The vision for the business is not to be a real estate agency – the vision is to have a property-based heritage but to be more about financial solutions and moving solutions,” Mr Coronis said.

Asked whether advisers would face a conflict of interest through an affiliation with a real estate agency, Mr Coronis said the financial advice business would operate independently and “stand on its own two feet”.

“Because of the way we've structured our business, different businesses have different responsibilities,” he said.

“The one thing they have in common is that whatever is best for that client is what we will do.”

Mr Coronis also said Coronis advisers would not place an emphasis on property investment over other investment strategies.

“If that means telling someone not to buy property, that's the culture that we'll have,” he said.

In terms of referring from one business to the other, Mr Coronis said there would be “synergy” between the real estate and advice services but that no formal referral relationship existed and advisers were free to refer clients to other real estate agencies.

According to Mr Coronis, a major drawcard for the expansion was the need to give homebuyers more support.

“I believe as a real estate service we are a nucleus for what goes on around us but before we've never actually helped our clients understand the process better,” he said.

In addition, he suggested financial services offered a way to deepen and extend relationships with clients.

“If you come to buy a house from us today, we have a relationship but it's hard to maintain long term because we've done our job,” he said.

“Whereas one of the things I love about financial services, like property management, is we create an ongoing relationship with the client.”

Mr Coronis told ifa's sister publication Real Estate Business that the company received 70 per cent of its revenue from real estate services over 2014/2015, but hopes that share to fall to 40-50 per cent in 2016/2017.

The move follows the much-hyped entry of a Ray White sister company into the financial advice market under the name of Wealth Market.