Career change advice needed - Mortgage Broker

th05

Hi everyone, I am after advice on the route and future working as a mortgage broker / advisor. I have not yet begun working towards this and am doing my research to ensure it is the correct path as at this moment, I can chose any path at all but am attracted by this.

haras_nosirrah

You will probably need to spend some time in an estate agency type set up (I would say 2 yrs at least) to get the experience and contacts to make it on your own. I went self employed earlier this year and for me it is much better but I spent a long time (12 yrs) as an employed advisor first so have a solid reputation and client base which has made the transition easier. With hindsight I wish I had got out years ago but as the main earner with 2 young kids (and female) my job gave me quite a lot of flexibility and maternity pay.

Can you make 50k? As a newbie to the industry I doubt it. With experience and clients absolutely

th05

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

You have echoed what was in my head and I am willing and aware I need to cut my teeth and earn my spurs to build up a client base and a reputation but as long as I have the potential to get to where I want, well that is good enough as it means it is up to me rather than an unlikely or impossible end result

haras_nosirrah

I am expecting to earn around 120k this year. It is certainly possible but you will need to have contacts, a good reputation and be able to sell insurance to do it.

th05

Well that is a cracking income level. I guess another contributor to income level would be location. If you live in central London and most of your mortgages are for properties in Mayfair you are going to earn substantially more than if you are based in some regions of South Wales where you can pick up houses for £100,000

haras_nosirrah

I mainly do shared ownership - most of my mortgages are around the 60k mark. I had one of 21k earlier this month. I am though known in the south for being a specialist in it and am recommended by housing associations so I do around 20 mortgages a month. I get a few larger mortgages but not many. I don't live in London but am in the south.

Marcon

Why a mortgage broker as opposed to something else? What attracts you to it? I ask because sometimes when people explain what they believe the attraction to be, someone who is actually doing the job puts a (useful) spoke in the wheel by saying it isn't quite like that...