Mortgage broker part time

Dangerous69

Hi all, I'm after some much needed advice and thank you in advance for any constructive responses.

I am a 47 year old certified chartered accountant and I earn a decent salary. I am considering doing my Cemap exams as I am considering a slight change of direction in my career. Here is the plan:

Pass Cemap exams
Get CAS through FCA
Sell mortgages part time whilst continuing in my present employment.
In about 6-8 years time, work for myself selling mortgages and offering accountancy & tax services.

The experienced mortgage brokers out there will probably be able to point out flaws and pitfalls within my plan - all comments are welcome.

I would like to know if it is financially viable to sell say 8 mortgage products a month as I assume there are many associated costs.

Do I have to be part of a network and is it through the networks where I get access to mortgage products?

Can I subscribe to a certain software that gives me access to the mortgage market without subscribing to a network?

I'm in the early stages of researching this and early impressions are that it won't be easy.


Any advice is appreciated

dunstonh

Sell mortgages part time whilst continuing in my present employment.

The days of being part time whilst working another role have long gone unless you intend going part time in your existing role and accept that it will interfere with your other employment.

Client contact, provider contact etc happens at unexpected times and frequencies. Compliance work has to be done in a specific order.

Do I have to be part of a network and is it through the networks where I get access to mortgage products?

Networks are not required. Indeed, the trend is to leave networks. Although for mortgage only, there can still be an appeal to being with a network.

Can I subscribe to a certain software that gives me access to the mortgage market without subscribing to a network?

Yes. However, as a new adviser with no FCA history, they usually don't like having you go straight to directly authorised.

I'm in the early stages of researching this and early impressions are that it won't be easy.

I cant see how it could be in the modern regulatory system. You would also need a very sympathetic employer who is willing for you to see clients and deal with client issues during their working hours.

You say 8 mortgages a month. Where are you getting them from? Mortgage only firms are cheaper than full authorisations. So, cost shouldnt be an issue.

ACG

You do not get CAS through the FCA. You obtain CAS by writing Mortgages and a mananger/supervisor/business owner signing you off as competant. So you would need to work with another company.

I do not think you can do 8 mortgages a month part time whilst doing accounts. I started off doing this part time alongside working for a bank and it was a nightmare. Imagine lenders calling you for new information, clients wanting updates or to make alterations, estate agents wanting updates, then a lender decides common sense is not needed and you are having an argument with a moron who does not have a clue (this feels like it happens on a daily basis) and whilst you are doing that you are doing the books for another client...

Dont get me wrong, I love the job. But it is not a case of getting documents, submitting an application and waiting for the offer and the money. When this happens I am surprised, that is how rare it is when everything is 100% smooth.

amnblog

If you do 8 a month part time, that will probably be double the National average for full time brokers.

Think again.

Most brokers will probably tell you to stick with accountancy.

Contrary to popular belief, mortgage brokers are not benefitting from a new 'gold rush'.

David_White

How are you going to explain to your future clients that you'll only be available to them half of the time?

You'll probably gather by the type of posts on this forum that this job is not transactional as in it's not just a case of submitting an application and then job done.

The only way I could see part time being feasible is if you worked for a bank.

minimike2

ACG wrote: »

I started off doing this part time alongside working for a bank and it was a nightmare.

Who on earth in the bank's compliance / risk teams signed that off? What a MASSIVE conflict of interests! Come to think of it, who also signed it off in the Network / Firm you were working with?!

dunstonh

minimike2 wrote: »

Who on earth in the bank's compliance / risk teams signed that off? What a MASSIVE conflict of interests! Come to think of it, who also signed it off in the Network / Firm you were working with?!

Years ago you could do it part time. I recall a builder who was also a part time IFA. It was very easy 20 years ago to do it like that. Nowadays, not a chance.

minimike2

A builder I could understand, but my shock is that ACG was working for a bank as well as part time as a broker. Unless I have misunderstood.

ACG

Long story but I had an easy going principle at the time and the banks requests were minimal and easy enough to work around in a way that satisfied their requirements but allowed me to carry on. Strictly speaking I suspect the bank would not have taken me on had they known the full story but its not my fault their requests were ambiguous. Either way it was only a short term fix (5-6 months and I knew I had no intention of moving customers one way or the other).

Dangerous69

Thanks for the reply guys.
Before I dismiss this as a bad idea I want to evaluate it fully.
Can anyone give me an idea of what the costs are, such as software, insurance, etc.?

ACG

You would likely need to work under an experienced advisor initially or try to find a network to take you on, getting te exams is the "easy" bit, getting CAS is much more difficult.

You would probably have to give up 30-50% initially, however once you have CAS you could probably get that down to around 12-20% of written business if under a network (the more you write the lower cut they will take).