Independent Mortgage Broker Services

romik

Hi,

Sorry if this is being posted in the wrong section, perhaps mods can move it to a more appropriate one.

I am a taxi driver and would like to gradually phase out of this trade and have been looking at various businesses that don't require a huge initial capital, so a friend of mine mentioned that they know a bloke that does pretty well in mortgage brokering, he is an independent adviser, though does have a desk at one of out estate agents.

I understand that training is not expensive at around 500-600, but I am concerned about the average level of business that independent mortgage advisers do generate nowadays with quite a few mortgage comparison websites available. I do understand that everything is relative to personal circumstances, promotion, etc. I am more interested to find out whether mortgage brokers, independent ones, still are in demand.

I remember bumping into an indy broker that did a couple of mortgages for me in the past and he said he is not in the trade any more as he can't generate enough trade.

Thanks!

ACG

Ive been doing this for around 2 years now. Getting started is really really difficult... finding clients is a nightmare. Estate Agents have their own brokers in place already.

This year has been a lot better than the first year and im actually doing ok, but last year i had to go and get a job to run alongside this whilst i was building up business - i suppose that is something you could do?

Do you have any experience? I dont mean this to sound condescending or to try and "big up" what we do but its not just a case of finding a mortgage and submitting an application.
I found the easiest part was getting the exams, the hardest part was getting competent advisor status (CAS) in the current climate with no experience you will find it difficult. I got lucky as i had been in the industry for a while and someone i knew managed to pull some strings but until he stepped in i was getting nowhere.

kingstreet

As I mentioned in another thread, there were 36,000 mortgage brokers back in 2008. Now there are 9,000. The business has shrunk by approximately 75% in that period too, although it appears to be increasing again.

If I had my time over, I'd become a plasterer, plumber, tiler...

They all appear to have higher incomes and a much more relaxed lifestyle.

Dan-Dan

A plumber earns more than you ? , your obviously not doing that great Kings

kingstreet

Let's just say the "tax rates" for the manual trades appear a little lower than for those of us where everything is paper-based.

amnblog

avoid this career choice at all costs.

If you want to get yourself trained get into something that is expanding like IT.

The only brokers in high demand are ones that can do the really tricky stuff and that needs experience and contacts not a few hours training.