"Low stress buy-to-let five-year fixed products will be key for buy-to-let borrowers with low yielding property to achieve like-for-like mortgage or even to capital raise."
Tell us a little about yourself, how you got into property, and your current role in the industry.
I am 29, I got into business when I was 16 and opened a letting agency and began trading after exiting that venture. I studied accounting in university but later decided to use my contacts in property to become a specialist mortgage brokers, focusing on buy-to-let, commercial property and short term funding. In 2021 I launched Mortgage Lane as a brand and within 12 months had 36 employees/brokers.
What would you say are the biggest opportunities for brokers in the next 12 months?
With the roll out of Consumer Duty, offering value and fair pricing is key to customer onboarding, especially extra oversight on vulnerable customers. In terms of buy-to-let mortgage product opportunity, low stress buy-to-let five-year fixed products will be key for buy-to-let borrowers with low yielding property to achieve like-for-like mortgage or even to capital raise. Lenders are also offering top slicing which is also a huge opportunity to borrowers declined on the high street.
How can development exit finance help to offset rising and ongoing costs encountered during the build process?
Occasionally developers run out of term on their development finance, due to delays on the build or delays on the sale of the completed units. Developer exit funding can be a useful tool to stabilise borrowers funding that may be at risk of repossession due to exceeding term length and occasionally borrowers may be also looking to capital raise beyond their existing loan facility in order to purchase more property or land/sites for development.
Have you noticed any emerging trends surrounding development finance post-election and how (if at all) do you think the new government will impact the sector?
I haven’t noticed any immediate trends with development finance since the election, however, we are expecting to see an increased focus on affordable housing.
What's new for Mortgage Lane, anything we should be looking out for?
Our website is growing and we are trying to provide as much value as possible, for customers requiring the most flexible of criteria we are challenging ourselves to answer every part of these processes including the issues faced on each respective valuation or conveyancing to give the most value.
We are expanding our self employed broker network and plan to grow this considerably in the next 12 months.
