Defying Death, Brisbane Broker Finalist in AMA 2020

BRISBANE, SEPTEMBER 24th: Darin Hindmarsh was enjoying an ideal life after building his own company from scratch in early 2000s until he met a car accident that almost killed him. He went through numerous operations, a lengthy court battle, and endured divorce. But life must go on for him, after defying death, he revived his brainchild--Intellichoice Finance--and named as finalist in Australian Mortgage Awards 2020.  

After battling with injuries following a vehicular accident that almost killed him, a Brisbane-based mortgage broker was shortlisted as a finalist in the 2020 Australian Mortgage Awards - Pepper Money Broker of the Year – Specialist Lending.  

Darin Hindmarsh, founder and CEO of Intellichoice Finance, couldn’t describe his feelings when he saw that he was one of the finalists in the Specialist Lending category in this year’s AMA-Broker of the year.    

The list of shortlisted brokers in Australia to be this year’s best of the best lenders was a bit of a surprise to him. Not that he’s not equally qualified to be touted as the best broker, but it came just a year or so when he revived Intellichoice, which he built some 18 years ago.  

For his part, re-establishing the company to its former glory was an achievement in itself, but landing on the shortlist of finalists is yet another level of achievement.  

His story  

Since early 2000, Darin founded Intellichoice from scratch. It specialised in providing niche products across several industries. His journey in the property market began when he started building a mortgage and finance business, then a financial planning business, and expanded by venturing into an international property marketing business.  

Darin embodied the term “If you want something done-give it to a busy person” as working to solve a multitude of difficult and challenging tasks became his mantra.

For several years, these businesses were operating profitably along with his own investments and properties. He was juggling all of these while raising a family--everything seemed to be going very well according to his plans.  

In no small part to having the support of AFG, his aggregator, and the people and lenders, they attracted and gained insights from a business coach that worked as an advisor to Michael Dell.  

However, life does not always go to the best laid plans and a car accident-rear ended at traffic lights, just ended it all rather quickly.

Multiple surgeries requiring the partial replacement of cervical spine, electronic implants, endless therapies and a court case lasting ten years and ending in tears took its toll. This resulted in selling properties to live, closing and selling other businesses.

As if all these terrible things aren’t enough, these took a toll on his personal life as well--leading to the breakdown of his marriage and leaving him to become a single dad.  

“Life has many lessons-not all of them fair-and that somewhere someone has it a lot worse, so live life like it is a pleasant gift ultimately this experience shaped how Intellichoice assists clients,” Darin said in retrospect.  

Lessons to learn

With all the professional and personal tragedies that he went through, Darin could have just easily walked away and done something totally different, but he didn’t. Instead, he gathered all the remaining strength he had left and pulled everything else together.  

“How this relates to specialist lending is that having empathy for a person’s situation is one thing-having lived it is another.  Experiential insights into niche funding areas such as owner builder lending, which according to our lenders has the highest volume in Australia,” Darin added.  

Darin added that helping people in recovering from challenging life circumstances requires a depth and breadth of knowledge that need a clear understanding of outcomes.Finally supporting and training others whether file administrators, new brokers or educating others Darin looks to provide some hard-earned wisdom.  

ENDS

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Media Contact:

Jereco O. Paloma, Senior Managing Editor
jerecop@intellichoice.co

Pictured: Darin Hindmarsh, CEO Intellichoice ,
Finalist AMA Awards 2020