Just a little advice needed on being a mortgage broker.

Dan_Collins_2

I love my job and would love to be in it forever, it is rewarding! I just feel that the world is a little against us at the mo, and if I was at the start of my life now, I think I would have got my self a trade, just like my dad told me to!!

MortgageMamma

Yeah I love my job too, but I don't think there is much of a future for pure mortgage brokers anymore, as has already been pointed out we have internet searches which are getting more sophisticated, banks who undercut us with their direct products, mountains of paperwork making the smaller cases unprofitable, the inevitable RDR on mortgages, the TCF regime, increasing bad publicity on tv programmes which are factually incorrect and tar us all with the same brush, falling house prices, unavailability of products, massive restrictions in lending criteria, the AMI barely represents us, the FSA criminalises us all and worst of all of this, we are considered small fry by lenders who are laws unto themselves. They don't even bother to acknowledge our complaints and TCF seems to exclude them.

At the moment I feel that regulation is not stopping far short of harassment and bullying, you can no longer rely on your own judgement for fear of your networks not liking it, we have IFA's fleeing their profession to become mortgage only brokers because they can't stand the thought of more exams/the RDR and not only are we expected to deal with all this and adapt our business models and remain fee free, but our procuration fee's have been reduced too!

If housepricecrash.co.uk wants to quote me on this again please feel free. I will put my name to it. This is how it is being a broker at the moment. Not good. Not profitable and barely possible. I feel like a dinosaur at the dawn of extinction!

TwelfthMan

Crikey MM you know how to put someone off !!!!

I'm 3 weeks away from the start date of my new broker job. It's gonna be really tough but I've never known the good times previously so don't need to set myself unrealistically high targets. I will also be looking into studying for IFA qualifications in the near future but want to master what I can already do first.

As I've said before on here, if I get through 2008, I'll get through anything.

MortgageMamma

Sorry mate, thats just the way the industry is at the moment. you get the optimists and the pessimists but I'm trying my hardest to be a realist. FWIW you are a very good adviser, which I was before I quit my company I wanted you on board big time, I just hope you will be ok - I dont mind admitting that since I relocated and joined the estate agents my business levels have more than halved

payless

dunstonh wrote: »

I have no regrets at all about being an IFA. There is no way I could earn or have the lifestyle I have now in another profession.

with hard work you would have progressed in any profession- as skills are often transferable Saying you would not have earned at much surely implies that you think you ( and or the industry) does not offer a fair pricing structure as compared to other professions.

Conrad

The name of the game is specialisation. It's not uncommon for me to discharge 12 hours work before we get anywhere near a case being approved in principle. Some cases sit on my desk for months before I find them a home.

Long live the fee charging specialist!

dunstonh

payless wrote: »

with hard work you would have progressed in any profession- as skills are often transferable Saying you would not have earned at much surely implies that you think you ( and or the industry) does not offer a fair pricing structure as compared to other professions.

Perhaps my wording was not great. My major qualifications are all financial so by the time I realised banking was going downhill as an option it was a bit too late to have a U turn for a totally different profession.

And, yes I do think that the industry doesn't offer a fair pricing structure on maximum commission basis. I think low skilled advisers are paid far too much and offer little for it. However, I can say that on the back of having benefited from it myself and once being a low skilled newbie tied agent. It was that period which then allowed me to be where I am today and work virtually on CAR basis only which is much fairer. It's a bit ironic that as my skills, knowledge and qualifications have gone up, my charging level has gone down, in percentage terms.

neverdespairgirl

Retired_I.F.A. wrote: »

There is only one way to make real money and it applies to every job imaginable. Get folks to work for you. Do it all yourself and your just earning a living.

Tell that to the commercial and tax QCs who gross over £2 million a year.....

Conrad

Retired_I.F.A. wrote: »

There is only one way to make real money and it applies to every job imaginable. Get folks to work for you. Do it all yourself and your just earning a living.

The one man band broker, dentist, plastic surgeon, developer, actor, Lawyer, plumber, therapist can make a lot of money if you follow the correct formula.

I didnt want advice giving staff as my stress levels would have increased, and a life full of stress to me is a pointless wasted life.

To become a millionaire (from work alone, leaving out investing outside the business) I would agree the broker would need to take on staff though, but you can still be very comfortable as a one man band if you find the formula (every single endeavour has a perfect formula).

Dan_Collins_2

If you are good as a broker, all you need is clients to see and a good business model! The hardest part is getting the clients to see.

Conrad has a good point. Specialist lending is a way forward, the more strings you have to your bow the better. We cant or may not make a living off the £150k remortgages!!