Asking the right questions is the key to specialist advice – Khadr

With all aspects of mortgage advice, asking the right questions of the client is absolutely crucial. Brokers will know this only too well – it’s only by digging into a client’s circumstances that you can get a true picture of their financial situation and understand what they will really be able to afford.

Equally, the right questions help brokers establish what type of products are viable options to achieve the desired investment outcome. The client may have come in dead set on a two-year fixed rate, but if it’s clear from your questioning that they are incredibly risk averse then it may end up being more suitable for them to opt for a longer deal.

It simply doesn’t work if brokers have to rely on their clients to provide all of the most pertinent information upfront. The reality is that the client themselves may not realise whether something is relevant or not, or even understand their risk profile.

Instead, it’s up to the broker to get to that information to uncover those elements through simple questions in the opening exchanges.

The complication of specialist finance

The importance of asking the right questions is no less pronounced when it comes to specialist finance, but recognising what to ask can prove rather more difficult.

Many mortgage brokers will have a well drilled routine when it comes to regular residential mortgages. They handle cases for these mortgage products on a daily basis, and so identifying the right questions to ask at the right time will be almost second nature.

This isn’t necessarily the case with specialist finance. While bridging loans, development finance and the like have become more prevalent in recent years, advising on them is not necessarily a regular event for large numbers of brokers.

They may handle only a handful of such cases a year; while they will want to offer the best possible service to that client, doing so themselves can seem like a less than straightforward prospect.

Working with experts

Some advisers in this position will simply inform the client they cannot help with the borrowing needs. Others will partner with adviser firms who spend more time working with such cases.

There is another option though. Working with the right technology partner can make the advice process of specialist cases far easier, removing the difficulties that may ordinarily put brokers off.

It’s a good example of how technology can make a tangible difference to the workloads of mortgage brokers. Where previously the broker may have felt compelled to turn the client away, or refer them off to someone else, they can now feel confident in working with the client in identifying the right finance for their project.

And crucially that technology is backed up by a personal service, so that there is always a real person on hand to support where necessary.

Asking the right questions is at the heart of good mortgage advice, whether you are working with a residential buyer or an investor adding to their portfolio. But brokers don’t have to handle it all themselves. Working with the right partners can help advisers enjoy full transparency over the important aspects of a case from the outset, and ensure that the right finance is pinpointed swiftly and reliably.