What locations and how many advisers and broker firms do you cover in your role?
My region is East Anglia with a of couple extra postcodes for good measure, this spans around 1,400 registered brokers. The patch is fairly large, so my poor Passat covers around 25,000 miles per year as I’m usually on the road three or four days a week.
What personal talent/skill is most valuable in doing your job?
This industry needs professionals that are reliable. That can be as simple as answering the phone or responding to an email, but also knowing when to say ‘no’ or ‘I don’t know’. The important part is having connections with the right people to find out and come back with the right answer in a timely manner. I have some great relationships with both internal and external stakeholders that allow me to do that.
It’s very easy to fall into the trap of saying ‘yes’ to every enquiry and hoping it works out, but in doing so you will end up burning bridges and closing doors which makes the role harder in the long run.
What personal talent/skill would you most like to improve on?
Accepting I cannot do everything myself. I am surrounded by some incredible people who are more than capable but still I have this subconscious state of mind that tells me I should just keep an eye on something, when in reality I don’t need to do that.
What’s the hardest part of your job?
When there’s an event a good distance from home requiring an early start/long day, then realising the emails and calls that come in whilst I’m there still need completing when I get home. It can mean some weeks are harder than others, but it usually balances out nicely as events are quite seasonal.
What do you love most about your job?
Getting a really complex deal across the finish line, often saving time and money for the client. There are countless times a broker makes a call under the impression something cannot be done, or perhaps thinking a short-term loan may be needed first, when I can actually model the deal to work in a more cost and time effective way. I love getting calls from brokers who start with: “I thought I’d call because if anyone can point me in the right direction, it’s you.”
What’s the best bit of career-related advice you’ve ever been given?
I don’t actually remember where I heard it from but I firmly believe in sticking by what you believe in and being confident in saying ‘no’. Nobody really likes a ‘yes’ man.
How do you keep up to date with developments in the market?
I’m a regular on a number of forums, groups, industry media outlets and social media channels that keep my finger on the pulse. I also attend property investor meetings too.
What is the most quirky/unique property deal you’ve been involved in?
I was approached by a broker who was trying to buy a property for himself and wanted help modelling the deal. The property was previously used as a fairly large children’s daycare and had the planning permission relevant to that. It physically appeared as a daycare too, so it needed some minor conversion work to turn it into a ‘ready to go’ buy-to-let.
As the property was vacant, I explained that with good communication with the valuer and vendor, we could value it ‘as is’ but as the property is undergoing works to turn it back into a buy-to-let so we need to inform the valuer to get an ‘after works’ figure too. The council also provided documentation confirming they were happy to change the planning back to a C3 residential dwelling.
The vendor agreed for the client to complete works between exchange and completion, with a reinspection before drawdown too. This exercise saved the broker tens of thousands in legal fees, bridging interest and product fees. He was quite happy with the solution I offered.
Tell us about your trickiest case – what happened and how did you resolve the problem(s)?
A number of years ago when the scheme was in its infancy, I was involved in what we now know as beneficial interest trusts. This is where the landlord uses a trust to assign the rental income to a company despite having the titles in their personal name. I was working for a different lender at that point and the credit team were really unsure what was going on. They declined the cases, I couldn’t help but feel it was being declined out of lack of awareness rather than actual increased credit risk.
I have good connections with some tax experts, they were kind enough to educate me on this so I could challenge the decision with credit. After referring this case, and involving more senior stakeholders, the cases were reinstated and the portfolio was reconsidered.
What was your motivation for choosing this career?
I actually fell into it really. I wanted to be in the army when I was a kid, but in my late teens I joined a local brokerage doing a junior role and things just progressed from there. I really enjoyed working in financial services and realised I could make a successful career out of it. That was about 15 years ago and the rest is history.
If you could do any other job in the property sector, what would it be and why?
At the moment I’m really happy working in lending, but I do have a desire to progress into a leadership position so I will say a promotion into a head of sales type role would be very much on my radar.
What did you want to be growing up?
When I was at junior school, I really wanted to be a professional footballer. After realising by my late teens I don’t quite have what it takes I started to reconsider my options and for a short time I focussed on a military career path, before stumbling into financial services.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
I haven’t been asked that question in so long. I used to say to be able to fly, I still think that’d be pretty cool.
What is your strategy for tackling challenges?
I tend to strip it right back and focus on the customer, putting myself in their shoes and going from there. A lot of challenges in this role involve a case hitting a roadblock for a variety of reasons, it’s always best to take a pragmatic approach and ensure you understand all angles before proceeding.
And finally, what’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked?
I once went to a broker’s house when I had just started my career as a business development manager I sat in his living room and whilst we were talking his daughter came over to us. At the time I didn’t realise but in her hoodie pocket she was holding an Albino rat. She pulled it out and asked me if I wanted to hold it, so I spent the rest of the meeting with a pet rat climbing over my suit jacket.
