Mortgage adviser!

Vincent79

I have recently passed the Cemap qualification and want to be a self employed mortgage adviser and not have to work for a company. Can anyone give me advice on how you go about working for yourself in this industry, what it is like at the moment and who are the best networks to work with??
Thanks

TBeckett100

You should be employed for a while. Get experience and confidence and a bit of cash behind you and contacts before going it alone.

ACG

I would suggest you work with another compant, even if it is on a self employed basis.

Firstly you need to get CAS (Competant advisor status) which is not something you can just ask for. Secondly its a good idea to have someone around you can run things by, bounce ideas off and get some help and support when you get something out of the ordinary.

If you are adamant you want to do it your way, then you need a business plan and a network who will sign you off with CAS as very few will. More a case of which networks will accept you rather than which is the best.

Vincent79

Thanks for your advice. Are there any networks that you could recommend that I talk to?
I have been self employed in another field for quite a while and need a change of direction. I really don't think I could go back to being an employee for a couple of years, did 5 years at a high street bank at the start of my working life.

amnblog

Baffled why you would want to enter this market when then are so many other markets in other business areas.

However, if I were you I would take a good long look at the national and local brokerages you can find. You will find a massive divergence in the way that operate. Some using modern methods, some still frankly 20th century in their outlook. Some specialising in certain areas, some jack of all trades. Some high volume, low fees, others low, volume high fees.

You first need to decide where you see yourself in 2020 and plan from there.

TBeckett100

To be honest, you need to carve a niche. I'm not sure I could put up with babies in the office etc and running around for people shopping around. Personally you should charge £250 to see them initially and that weeds out the casual shoppers. You do less volume but you get paid for everyone you see.

A friend of mine is a MA and has found certain types of society will keep cancelling meetings or go elsewhere "because their cousin etc" will do it cheaper. Therefore he weeds them out with the fee to get rid of them.

Also, how much do you want to earn? Target £1,000 per case and aim to do 200 a year. That's £200k which after passing a bit to the network should leave you with 100k.

With Life Cover, try and charge a fee instead of commission. That way they save money as premiums will fall and if they cancel their cover, you have no clawback. It works for him he says.

amnblog

TBeckett100 wrote: »

A friend of mine is a MA and has found certain types of society will keep cancelling meetings or go elsewhere "because their cousin etc" will do it cheaper. Therefore he weeds them out with the fee to get rid of them.

Careful! Let's not get naughty.

This problem comes up with all enquirers.

Also, how much do you want to earn? Target £1,000 per case and aim to do 200 a year. That's £200k which after passing a bit to the network should leave you with 100k.

and where will these 4 cases a week come from? How many brokers do 16 cases a month?

ACG

I have a very different opinion to TBeckett on everything in that post, but im sure other brokers have an entirely different opinion to me so it does mean he/she is wrong.

TBeckett100

How many cases a week do brokers do then? I would have thought networking with estate agents, solicitors, developers etc would generate 4 cases a week?

amnblog

I suspect you will find that on average brokers will do a quarter of that figure.

A broker personally generating 200k gross would be well into the top 5% of business generators.

ACG

Introducers need paying. So you then need to write more to pay for them.

Solicitors in my experience are not good introducers. Estate agents who generate decent volumes tend to be on the greedy side

Personally speaking I am busy enough to not need introducers, but I can guarantee I could not write 20 mortgages a month.