But what if it’s not “such an exciting time”? What if it’s overwhelming, confusing and overall, a stressful time?
We talk a lot don’t we about how we can support more first-time buyers within our mortgage industry. We see product innovation and new entries designed to “support more first-time buyers” but what if instead of supporting first-time buyers we strove to make homeownership more accessible? Accessible to everyone who wants to be on the ladder, regardless of postcode lottery, family wealth or disability – to name a few.
Widening accessibility
Did you know 56 per cent of first-time buyers last year were reliant on financial support from family to get on the ladder? And that statistic doesn’t account for first-time buyers who required non-financial support such as understanding what a mortgage is or learning one of the thousands of acronyms we’ve all become accustomed to.
Where do those without that network, or indeed with that network, turn to for advice? They turn to us, as mortgage professionals, and can we hand on heart say we are doing enough? Are we reaching far enough, to make our corner of the world as accessible as possible? What about for those with a disability?
Research Skipton Building Society conducted took a closer look into first-time buyer confusion. We found that 53 per cent of those polled who identify as having a disability feel embarrassed to ask questions that confuse them when going through the home buying process. One in four first-time buyers were worried about feeling stupid or ignorant when speaking to professionals, with 47 per cent of adults with a disability feeling worried every time when speaking to estate agents, brokers or solicitors.
That’s almost half of adults with a disability feeling worried when they speak to us. I’m not sure how that makes you feel, but it made me want to leap into action when I read the research.
The barriers in place
People with a disability in the UK on average took longer to buy their first home compared to those who do not have a disability, with those who identify as having a disability taking an average of 5.72 months to complete their purchase, compared to those who do not have a disability taking 4.97 months.
Both numbers are shockingly high in my opinion, but the numbers highlight an important differential, and we must ask ourselves why.
The call to action is that this isn’t someone else’s problem, this is an opportunity for us all to work together to display how open and accessible our industry can be. Whether that is as a client or as someone starting out in their career. I’ve had firsthand experience of how we have so much to shout about in terms of the positive steps we are taking to promote equity, equality, support social mobility and embrace diversity in everything from thought to action.
Let’s keep this momentum up.
Do you do everything you can to make your work accessible to many? Do you share ideas, break down jargon, and as mortgage advisers – do your clients know what you stand for? Do they know how they can interact with you if their disability means they have different requirements?
If you’re not sure where to start, you could look at what resources your network or club are offering, seek out events where accessibility is on the agenda or even spend some time familiarising yourself with industry research which might on its own spark some ideas about how you can make small changes that create a huge impact.
I’ve included a few resources below, together we can make big change, even if all by taking that first small step together.
https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/2016/09/02/dos-and-donts-on-designing-for-accessibility/
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-communication
