Mortgage broker part time

minimike2

It depends where you live and what the average mortgage size is, as the proc fees are usually paid as a % of the lending amount - Typically in the region of 0.3% of the balance. Great if you are working in London with high mortgages, not so great up north, where really you are relying on the income from protection products.

Also worth noting that the majority of networks will not be interested in taking you on as a one man band new to the industry. There is only one that springs to mind and the costs are a lot higher to reflect the risk and investment they need to put into you. Most networks will look for an existing firm in your area and suggest you work under them until you reach CAS, at which point you have more options, but even then if your expected turnover is sub £100k then a lot of networks are still not interested.

minimike2

ACG wrote: »

It depends on the size of the mortgage, if you charge fees and if so how much, whether you write insurance on the back of them and whether you can generate the appointments.

Hah, you beat me to it.

David_White

Dangerous69 wrote: »

Lets say I do this and on average I do one mortgage a week and carried on full time in my current job

If you're working full time in your main job at what point are you doing the necessary work for your 1 mortgage a week?

Speaking to 1 client a week doesn't equate to 1 mortgage application a week.

Dangerous69

David_White wrote: »

If you're working full time in your main job at what point are you doing the necessary work for your 1 mortgage a week?

Speaking to 1 client a week doesn't equate to 1 mortgage application a week.

I would arrange appointments in the evenings as I currently do with the few personal clients I have.


I have a done a bit more research and it seems the only way I could do this and keep working full time as an accountant would be to obtain Direct Authorisation from the FCA and this would have an initial cost of £1,500 and I think there is also a yearly fee. Add to this exams, insurance and stationery and I estimate costs would be about £4K PA.


I would ne more than happy at breaking even in the first year and then I could decide whether I wanted to go forward with this. 10 mortgages a year would achieve this and I think that would be feasible to do on a part time basis. The question is whether the FCA would give me authorisation and would they be happy with my business plan (trading so little)

Conrad

So I've recently ceased being a regulated broker, directly authorised, after 20 odd years.


My honest advice is do one thing really well. As Warren Buffet always says when asked how someone can make money in life "be the best tiller in your area".


Things always appear easier from the outside - I often thought Accountants had a great model of repeating annual fees building over time.


To get this in perspective, a very comfortably off guy I know was a plumber, that's all he did, and slowly built his clients and ended up taking on staff.


It's the same story in every field, do what you do really well. I rarely find spinning more than one plate pays off.


One thing you need to consider is the horrendous stress of broking. People always think their job has stress, but with broking it's quite a unique stress generator as you are reliant on so many other stake holders in a given transaction. At any moment everything can fall through, or the client glibly announces they've decided not to move home, in effect all that work is whisked away in an instant and you never get paid. All jobs have stress, but usually you get paid regardless.


The constant background drip, drip stress, of a deal constantly ebbing and flowing, really can eat you, and that's why I got out, and note I was a high income generator. My stomach had a constant knot in it. Why shorten my life this way? Many brokers and FA's I've known died young - honestly. Classic grey palour, and care worn faces, dropping down dead in their 50's.


Life is too short and precious for such insidious torture and banality, and it's not as if you are really contributing anything to the Human journey. At least if you build a house it's something real and impressive, that will stand long after you do. Why take all that stress, when your impact on the world is more or less meaningless?


It doesn't matter how knowledgeable you become, ever changing lender criteria and the infinite permutations of client circumstances will catch you out over and again. It all seems so easy from the outside....

minimike2

What have you moved into now, Conrad?

Conrad

minimike2 wrote: »

What have you moved into now, Conrad?

Edit - decided to delete, just in case someone gets the wrong idea

amnblog

A broker doing one case a month would be under experienced and incompetent - in my view (and probably that of the FCA).

The view from outside seems to be you get your business cards printed then opportunities to earn come at you from all directions - they don't.

This is a service business where clients are suspicious from the get go and need to be identified and wooed. You are also in direct competition with some of the biggest firms in the World. The vast majority of brokers hang on to someone's else's shirt tails to obtain business (and pay for the privilege).

Those that can generate their own business are rare and the kind of folk that could make a living on a desert island.

ACG

Dangerous69 wrote: »

I would arrange appointments in the evenings as I currently do with the few personal clients I have.

What happens when cases need chasing, clients want to get hold of you, do not want to see you in the evenings? Clients worry, some want reassuring every hour of every day.

I have a done a bit more research and it seems the only way I could do this and keep working full time as an accountant would be to obtain Direct Authorisation from the FCA and this would have an initial cost of £1,500 and I think there is also a yearly fee. Add to this exams, insurance and stationery and I estimate costs would be about £4K PA.

I can not see the FCA approving you. You have no CAS, no experience and nobody training you up to ensure you are doing things correctly.

I would ne more than happy at breaking even in the first year and then I could decide whether I wanted to go forward with this. 10 mortgages a year would achieve this and I think that would be feasible to do on a part time basis. The question is whether the FCA would give me authorisation and would they be happy with my business plan (trading so little)

10 mortgages a year is not enough. Rates, criteria and even lenders are changing on a daily basis at the minute. You have to do around 50 hours CPD a year just to prove you are keeping up with an ever changing market. You may be able to do that, but you can not keep up to speed with lenders changes doing 1 case a year. It is not fair on your clients to pay a broker who is not prepared to invest their time 100% in to the job and ensure they are at the top of their game. I say that as a broker who did the job part time (I did it fee free whilst I found my feet) and it was only when I got going and was doing a couple of cases a month that I actually "felt" like a broker and that I knew what I was talking about. Even now after 3 years I make mistakes as does everyone, but I do that after 3-4 years and dedicating my full working week to the job, not a couple of hours in the evening after my main job.

There is a LOT to this job, mainly because it is ever changing. In the last week alone I can see at least 3 emails with changes to the lenders underwriting. I can also see another 3 emails with rate changes and I know of another lender who is changing their rates in the morning. The rate change emails are not as important, but I have a client who needs an application to be submitted which I was going to do today, by holding fire until the morning I will be saving him about £10 a month, nothing major but its £240 over 2 years that is better in his pocket. You are dealing with a families futures (as corny as it sounds) and possibly their biggest purchase of their lives, to not be committed 100% to the job is not the best sales pitch ever.

kingstreet

Quick straw poll.

Those of us who do this for a living, if you had your time over, would you do it again?

I started in financial services at 18 and I've recently turned 50. I definitely wouldn't.

So, it's a no from me.