Mortgage Broker Broadcast
Developing your knowledge to help you build a successful Mortgage Broker business. Craig Skelton shares his thoughts and experiences on all aspects of mortgage advice covering everything from operating in the banking world, estate agency based advisers all the way up to working as a self employed broker. He will be joined by experts from within the industry and other business sectors which all play a key part in becoming a successful mortgage broker in the modern world.
Mortgage Broker Broadcast
Lucy’s Journey: From Mortgage Broker to Leasehold Reformer
Ever wondered what it takes to thrive as a self-employed mortgage broker while championing leasehold reform? Join us for an eye-opening conversation with Lucy, a dedicated mortgage broker from Southend in Essex, as she reveals her inspiring journey into the financial services industry. Lucy shares how she turned a personal leasehold nightmare into a professional passion, educating clients on the often-overlooked pitfalls of leasehold properties and advocating for systemic change. Learn from her experiences, from coping with personal loss to finding her footing in a highly competitive field, and discover her tips for balancing a demanding career with single parenthood.
Lucy’s journey is nothing short of remarkable. She recounts her progression from Southern Mortgages to First Choice Financial Services, all while making bold career moves that defy the norm. Her story touches on both the challenges and the triumphs of diving straight into self-employment, shedding light on the importance of autonomy, the thrill of career growth, and the satisfaction that comes from helping clients navigate the complexities of mortgage brokering. Lucy's enthusiasm for steam trains and her personal anecdotes add a relatable and human touch to her professional narrative.
The episode also delves into the pressing need for leasehold reform, with Lucy discussing the collective responsibility of industry professionals to ensure transparency and educate buyers. From the intricacies of capping ground rent to the benefits of common hold ownership, she paints a comprehensive picture of the current leasehold landscape and its future. Moreover, Lucy emphasizes the importance of a supportive community for brokers, sharing her strategies for stress management and the invaluable role of a positive, collaborative mindset. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting out in financial services, Lucy’s journey offers a wealth of insights and inspiration.
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Hi and welcome to this month's Mortgage Broker Broadcast. My guest this month is Lucy or not, or Lucy not, who's a mortgage broker, and the reason I wanted to get Lucy onto the podcast. She's been doing quite a lot recently in terms of which she'll talk about with regards to leasehold reform and things like that which she will talk about. So I won't even talk about that in the introduction, but I wanted to get lucy onto the podcast. She's been a mortgage broker now for three or so years and I've sort of connected with her on linkedin. We've sort of I see her post, what she's doing.
Speaker 1:She's very open, very honest, very transparent and I just thought she'd be a great guest on the podcast to talk about her journey into financial services and how she balances sort of like work life and home life with a daughter and just what she's passionate about, what she cares about and, yeah, just experiences and challenges she's faced, why she went self-employed uh, because that's things she went straight into self-employed as a mortgage broker, not going down the employed, then self-employed route. She talks about that and why she made those choices and just things about what she's passionate about. But yeah, it was just really good to interview her just to get the, which is exactly what I expected that she gave a real sort of true, honest account of herself and was very passionate about what she's done, what she's achieved and what she does. So, yeah, let's just get Lucy onto the podcast. So, welcome onto the podcast, lucia. How are you?
Speaker 2:I'm fine nervous so.
Speaker 1:I'm calming down now much better, thank you good, that's it with.
Speaker 1:The podcast is very relaxed, very informal. We're just here to get to know you a bit more about you and your background and your journey and the future and things like that. So don't worry, just um, they're quite relaxed and informal. So, uh, yeah, I think it just finds it better that way. So I'm pronouncing right, first of all, lucia, you're not italian or anything like that background with anything, no, which is why I told most people to just say lucy, because it's easier to pronounce, easier to spell, easier to remember all right, so you use lucy.
Speaker 1:Is that what you use day in, day out?
Speaker 2:mostly, yeah, yeah, most people.
Speaker 1:When people call me Lucia, now I think I've done something wrong so if I call you Lucy, I then now know you're even more relaxed. So yes, um, so yeah, and when I do the introduction to the podcast I will call you Lucy, not then right, that'll make it sort of um and then now no. So thanks for playing for now. So first of all, for those people that don't know you, don't know who you are and not seeing anything on social media about you, do you want to just give a brief introduction about who you are?
Speaker 2:so, um well, I'm lucy. Um, I am a mortgage broker from south end in essex. Um, I'm a mother of one massive, massive sass pot. She's nine years old, just turned nine years old, and you think she's gone on to 29. And I can't be mad at her because her vocabulary is amazing. She's extremely articulate and I have no idea where she even gets that from. But I really really struggle to tell her to calm it down and at the same time I don't want her to calm it down because I want her to be opinionated and comfortable in her surroundings. But it makes it so much harder to parents sometimes. You know when you really want to shout at them, but you can't because it's you. You're basically shouting at yourself. So yeah, that is basically my life. I help people with mortgages, I try and calm my own child down.
Speaker 1:I do the school runs. I'm just a normal working mum. Okay, I mean, not, I'll take the normal at this stage, but I'm sure there's nothing normal about sort of what you do day in, day out. So we're going to obviously explore about you in terms of mortgage broking maybe not touch too much of your parenting, but we never know what comes out on the podcast. Anything else up the what sort of things do you do away from being a mortgage broker, anything that excites you and gets you motivated, apart from, obviously, parenting and mortgage broking?
Speaker 2:I'll just sound like a right bleeding nerd, but I, I love steam trains. I love engines, anything that makes a noise, that can build up speed, I'm all for it. Um, but I I recently went to Kent, actually just to go on Spa Valley. It's not the most amazing um steam train day, but it just goes straight up and down, but it was amazing to me and I got to sit right at the front and I got to kind of have a little wave at the, the people in the front, and it was brilliant.
Speaker 2:That's, that's my sort of day out. I like to have a bit of food, a couple of drinks in the afternoon I don't drink alcohol, so it'd be like mocktails or something and, yeah, a good little stroll on the countryside in a steam train. That is my ideal day off. It's very expensive, so I'll go for the cheaper versions in Kent, but that is what makes me very, very relaxed and happy. But other than that, in Southend, um, there's a lot to do if you're a tourist and you're not used to it. But for me the novelty wore off many years ago because I've lived here all my life. So it would be just a case of going down to adventure island um to spending time with my daughter in the many parks that we have. I don't have a lot of hobbies. I've lost motivation for a lot of hobbies but occasionally I'll whack out the older oil pastels and oils and paint that's just me getting lost into my own little world.
Speaker 2:It's just painting and stuff. But yeah, I'm quite a um, I'm quite an introvert. So I like my home, I like to be close to my home and, um, yeah, if it gets too crowded or too leery, I know that I'm close enough to just walk home. I will just leave a crowd and walk home.
Speaker 1:I won't even tell anyone I'm going half the time, I'll just go home but that's like that is you, and I love how, straight into the podcast, you've given a really honest account of yourself straight away and being being total transparency, which is which is just the best way to me. But I love going back a bit in terms of you say the same bit geeky, I'm not sure, I'm sure that so steamed, so it's. When you sort of talk about engines and speed, it's more, it's the steam thing, or cars or any other cars.
Speaker 2:I love, love cars. I really, really do um tractors.
Speaker 2:I can see that your eyes little yeah, I do love anything like that, but a steam train should just add a little. I'm a massive history fan as well. So when I go on a steam train and say it's one for like 1950s and the decor hasn't changed and it's all that old, dark wooden interior, and I sit down and I just think now how many, how many blokes have come in. Lads have come in in the morning and they're reading a newspaper before they go to work. How many ladies have stood there with their little heels on and little petticoats on back. You know, or maybe that's going a bit too far actually, but um, I just think. How many stories do these carriages tell? What sort of of people stood here, what sort of people sat here, how many coffees were spilled, how many times were people late, getting on the wrong train? And yeah, I just sit down in a carriage and go into a complete world of my own.
Speaker 1:I know, but that's amazing because that's your release from the mortgage broker world, absolutely. Yeah, the thing, lucy, is that we all need. Everybody needs that out of somewhere of the outlet, whatever that looks like to them, and that's sort of that's like interesting because I I get what you're saying about. Like you think about the journeys and the apprehension that people have had, being sat in those seats and what, what experiences they were going to or what experiences they were getting away from and things like that. So, like I said, there's a lot of I understand that I get that with sort of like buildings. A lot of the time I think like, like, what are the? What are these walls seeing? What are the? What has sort of gone in under this roof, kind of thing.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I understand that, but no, steam is I'm not, I'm a car person per se, I am a speed person like you, but then steam trains have just never I understand them and that we've got, yeah, quite, have you got any sort of aspirations with steam in terms of weight? Like, have you got any goals in terms of wanting to travel on certain kind of train or seeing a certain kind of train, or I prefer steam trains to diesel, but um no, I think it's just because I run out of steam myself a lot.
Speaker 2:So if I can just sit there and watch someone else fill the steam up, it's better. I don't have any particulars or anything fine.
Speaker 1:So we know you, we know your way. You're out now in terms of um, what puts your mind at rest and gets you focused away from mortgages and the rest of it. So, um, so yeah, so thanks for thanks for sharing that. So, bringing back into sort of the world of mortgage broken how long have you been a mortgage broke for?
Speaker 2:only three years, I say only three years it feels like bleeding 30.
Speaker 2:It was like a decade for each year I complete. But, um, yeah, three years ago I just I completed all my c-map and, oh, it's quite. I had quite a rough start. I'm not no victim mentality or anything, but I did. I think I had quite a rather rough start because it was, um, you know, just coming to the end of pandemic and we had no stamp duty neither. That had gone for a while to bring up the market. Um rates were extremely, quite disgustingly low. Obviously brilliant for us back then, but now it's quite sickening trying to jump from that to suddenly four point. But, um, yeah, I, I really struggled. Everything that you learn from cmap gone. It's nothing like the real world at all and I kind of struggled a little bit with that.
Speaker 2:And, um, my nan passed away in January 2021, which is when I um, I'd only passed my CMAP one by then and with her passing it, kind of to keep me occupied, I rammed myself into CMAP 2 and 3 and passed everything that month. So there I was, newly, freshly qualified, and I didn't actually know what to do with myself, other than I knew that I wanted to be a mortgage mum. I really, really wanted. I don't know if you've heard of the Mortgage, mum. Yeah, yeah, I really wanted to join them and um, I was part of the training group and everything, and I I really had my heart set on it and it sounds really sad, but I didn't.
Speaker 2:Um, I didn't have any other plans to go elsewhere. That was where I wanted to be. And then I had my interview and I I faked that up majorly because, um, I was. It was literally just two weeks after my nan passed. I had the interview with Sarah and Jamie and I was nervous and I wouldn't stop talking. I didn't quite know what to do with myself and I thought, if I stopped talking, I'm going to cry. And um, I I thought it was the best thing for me to go in with them, but then anyway, out of 16 interviews I had, they were the only ones to reject me, which was quite a similar.
Speaker 2:And then I found Sue at Southern Mortgages and she took me on for two and a half years and I owe probably nearly my whole career to that lady and Southern Mortgages for their help. They made me who I am today. And in October last year, um a new opportunity found me and I went with Paul Neal at First Choice Financial Services. This is not promotion, by the way, it's no way financial promotion, but I joined Paul in October last year and it's been. I hit the ground running. It's going to be quiet at the moment, where rates jumped up and then went down and then jumped back up again even though inflation was going down. But yeah, I'm really enjoying it. Sometimes you've just got to make that big move, no matter how loyal you feel, no matter how sick you feel doing it. You just have to do that big move. If all you can think about is I need to change.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, do that big move. If all you could think about is I need to change, yeah, yeah. And I think like, so you can overthink those things as well and like say, obviously, from what you said there very passionately about, sorry, your history as a mortgage broker and like, who you owe your career to and things like that is it's sort of testament to those individuals, because and it's testament being on the podcast talking about those individuals in such a sort of, again, genuine kind of way. So I think, like I said, you've always got to think about yourself. It's always about it's your life, it's your choices, it's your decisions, it's your personality, it's your everything.
Speaker 1:And it's sort of difficult sometimes where we always sort of think, oh, we can't do that because we're sort of worried about what other people will think or what other people will say. But sometimes you just got. But I would always sort of say it's your life, you, you've got to live it however you want to live it, and it's your, it is your life and you're, you are an individual. So but just going back a little bit in terms of I don't know apologies for doing this if it is like, say you three years ago, and a little bit further than that. What made you want to be a mortgage broker? What did you think? What did you wake up one day thinking I want to let myself into this chaotic roller coaster world of mortgage broke, you know yeah, I just thought I want to kill myself slowly, so why not?
Speaker 2:no? Um, I had Simon from Affinity come and do my mortgage back in 2016, I think then, and he made it look so easy and I just thought I could do that, absolutely I could do that. And then I lost the balls, completely lost the balls to do it. So it wasn't until a few years later that I actually approached him and said look what's it entail. Do you still love it? Is it a rewarded job? Because all I want to do is just help people and have a rewarding job, not just sit at a desk nine to five and it gets me absolutely nowhere and I don't feel like I'm helping anybody.
Speaker 2:And he returned my emails and it was kind of his words that spurred me on a bit more. But the main thing that made me even email him in the first place was a leasehold. So you might have seen me rabbited on LinkedIn and socials about leasehold Not an advocate at all. I can't stand the tenure, but it was that that kind of made me think I'm stuck in this loophole because nobody advised me any different. Um, my ground rent went up within less than a year as well, so I got one bill and then a month later I got another bill and when I questioned it they said oh no, your ground rent's doubled, you're now 500, which outside of London is extortionate, and it then dropped my property value as well. So, and with that it was so, I think. Um, it was priced at really zero because not even lenders would look at it with a 500 pound ground rent outside of London.
Speaker 2:Um, so then it kind of spurred me on to say no, actually I want to help people. I don't want to sit here and watch other people fall in the net that I've just fallen into. If I can just tell one person a month what leasehold is and save them from going through what I've gone through, that'd be brilliant, and I've done more than one person now. So in the last three years I've probably helped about 20, and especially shared ownership. When they're coming to me and I'm saying well, did you know? You can actually put that five percent closet down and get 95 percent and affordability is there, so you don't have to go into shared ownership. There are other ways and other mortgage schemes as well that we could put you with if you're eligible. Um, I think, leasehold and shared ownership down south essex.
Speaker 1:I don't know where you're from um, I'm originally from sheffield but live sort of cumbria way now, so all right, so we didn't know.
Speaker 2:No, essex is, um, it's like London prices. The Starbucks, the McDonald's, the properties state edge of it, everything is like London prices. So, for instance, I went for a walk in Lee um, on yes, not yesterday, day before and there were flats going up for over half a million pounds and they sell as well they sell. So could you imagine trying to reach affordability and then you're still stuck? You've got that mortgage completed, but it's a leasehold, so you've still got ground rent to pay, you've still got service charge to pay. You've basically paid over a million, over half a million pounds for a piece of paper to say that you can live there for so many years. I mean, I know where I'd rather put my money and it isn't like that yeah, no, exactly, lucy, I think.
Speaker 1:I mean clearly you sort of I think it's such an inspiration from what you wanting to get into the industry based on your experience of not wanting other people to experience the same and the challenges you face is a massive thing. That is such a inspirational thing to to talk about and sort of take what better way to to do something like clearly you feel passionate about it now that you can still see that obviously it's still now several years on that you're still doing this and you've had some wins recently. That am I okay to talk about that? Share you're okay to share that? You've had a few wins recently in terms of leasehold stuff the reform.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, reform actually finally gained all a sense. So this is um. Do you know if you wasn't going to bring it up? I was anyway, because it's coming out like verbal bloody I knew you was going.
Speaker 1:It's absolutely fine. Sorry I beat you to it. You did um. It's coming out like verbal bloody vomit. I knew you was going to, but it's absolutely fine.
Speaker 2:Sorry, I beat you to it.
Speaker 2:You did. It's brilliant. So, yeah, we've gained royal assent finally, and it's now law. Whether it's going to take their time to actually implement the law, I don't know, because obviously things aren't going to change overnight. There are hundreds, thousands of freeholders that are going to be happy with it, but it's one step forward. For us leaseholders, it's.
Speaker 2:The fight hasn't been for nothing. We finally got somewhere. It's not the best ground. Rain cap wasn't mentioned, which was promised in parliament that it was going to be mentioned, but it wasn't. They backed out that last moment. But other than that, it's um, um, it's reward, it's reward. You know, it's been a fight for many, many years. Nlc has been going on for um, about eight years now 2016, I believe they started, so it's, if I just got my maths wrong. That's incredibly embarrassing, so I'm gonna. We'll have to think about that and edit it later. Um, yeah, so to get that was just a massive win. We haven't won the complete fight yet. That's only solving half the problems. There are a lot more to go, especially with shared ownership, especially with retirement homes, because they also have extortionate charges as well and they're not as protected neither. So, yeah, there's a lot more work to do, but we got Royal Assent.
Speaker 1:It is finally passed it off. Is that like the first in your eyes? The first, it's not the end goal. By the sounds of it, it's just the first step in terms of the process that you are going through.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's taken us eight years to get here and obviously every year in in the parliament they, they speak about a reform coming and then a day comes and it's never even mentioned, it's never spoken about. So we all get a little, a little disheartened and it definitely plummets the fight a bit down it. It dampens our spirits a little bit. But when you've got um things like this that happen and obviously everything that we fought for has worked, it's it's like euphoria, it's an absolute amazing feeling and we all owe it down to Katie, kathy and Joe at the National Leasehold Campaign as well. I've mentioned them in previous podcasts.
Speaker 2:I was in, but we really do owe a lot to these free women who have gone through leasehold themselves. I don't believe any of them are leaseholders anymore. I think they managed to extend, sorry, buy their freeholds or moved out, but they still continued with the fight because they can see how barbaric the system is. It's not working. I mean, people like to think that it has worked for so many years, but it's not. It's cost homeowners I say homeowners a lot of money that shouldn't have cost them, because if you buy a house on freehold, you move in, that's it. You've got no charges. It's your home, you can do as you please. Leasehold isn't anything like that. You're still basically being told what to do, when to do it, what colour to paint your front door and everything, and it's very old and outdated and it needs to go.
Speaker 1:I think it's just clearly about education and about educating buyers that could potentially get caught up in the same situation that you have, and you are passionate about that and I think because you don't, if you are, if you don't know about, you're just in that euphoria of getting your first home, buying your first home, getting your mortgage agreed, getting the office sorted out, going through the solicitors and all those kind of things, and then you just see something like, okay, we've got to, this is something, it's leasehold and you've got to pay this charge every single year.
Speaker 1:You don't, you're focusing on the end goal, which is your home, that. So there is things you'll not pay too much attention to, whereas what you're trying, what you were doing, is making sure that that they are aware, like there are. Obviously you want to get rid of the whole thing. That, yeah, a little bit away from that which you honestly, you've been honest about that, but it's about educating the people that are buying the, the homes. The realization that this is not quite this is what this means. Obviously they understand that, oh, this is freehold, this is leasehold, but it's what does that?
Speaker 1:don't understand that though which is probably fair enough, then I think that's they understand. They don't understand the difference with it. They might hear the words but then they don't understand the differences and then what the consequences are of the leasehold, which is great that you are trying to educate those buyers at that key moment really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think that was. The problem with me is that my conveyancer didn't make me aware, my broker didn't make me aware. My broker didn't make me aware. The estate agent had no clue neither. So I think it's um, obviously there's a triangle, isn't there? Like the conveyancers, solicitors sorry, conveyancers estate agents, brokers we all need to work together and we all need to be making sure that the client is absolutely well aware. I mean, that's the whole point of making a well-informed decision is that they know what they're making that decision on. A lot of us didn't because our conveyancer let us down.
Speaker 2:Now I'm not bashing conveyancers, in no way. I've had a fantastic conveyancer, ruby at Woodstock Legal, who'd done my deed of variation last year. She was fantastic. So I'm not bashing conveyancers at all. It's a really hard job and it's not one that I could do.
Speaker 2:However, I do think that a lot of them either purposely didn't mention it, because obviously no one's going to buy that property then, or some of them just haven't. They don't quite understand it themselves as well especially if they've just started just how, um, in-depth and full of jargon a lease actually is, and I do appreciate how long the leases go through to get all the information and it does delay can delay a mortgage application as well, because there's a lot of questions that come with each lease. But yeah, I just feel like if we could all just boost up our knowledge on it, make others aware of it, and then I don't think it's going to plummet the market at all. If some person won't buy, another person will. Another person may understand what they can do and they maybe even got the cash to extend the lease, therefore making it a virtual freehold.
Speaker 2:I hate that. Saying it's absolutely pointless, but you know to them, if they've got the cash, they can make it a virtual freehold, which means getting rid of ground rent and putting it down to peppercorn. So for them it's brilliant. But for us who haven't got that extra cash and weren't made aware, this is what I'm here for I I feel like I do my job quite well in making other people aware of what they're buying and how long they're buying it for, because a lot of people just think I know it's not the land I'm buying, it's just a property. It's not even the property. You're literally just buying a piece of paper and, like you said, when you're a first-time buyer, you're excited, you're completing, you get the keys. You have no idea what you've just stepped into.
Speaker 1:No, and, like I say, it'll not be.
Speaker 1:There's so much going on when you're buying a home. There's so much going on with legal jargon and, like I say, it's down to professionals to point this out of the consequence of certain things, of certain key things with regards to buying the property. So and I think it's just commendable for you that I think the thing is with it, lucy, is that it's not about just educating the clients and the people the 20 something people that you've already helped and educated from that point of view, which is amazing. They say, focus on one and you've helped far more than that but I think it's also as well about educating brokers to making sure that their clients are aware of exactly what it is. They are not letting themselves in folks that's like that sounds too much harder sentence but just being aware of what that means to them. At the end of the day, it's their choice if they choose to buy that home. That's their choice. All you're there to do is make them sure that they're aware of what the consequences are and what that means.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah definitely, if I've made them aware and they've still gone ahead, I've done my job. I'm perfectly happy in fact I'm more than happy to help them through to the last bit, but I've done my job in making them aware. They're well informed. Therefore, no complaint can come back to me in five, ten years time and say she didn't actually tell me what I was buying and I save the emails as well. I always do it by email and I will save those emails and I will upload them if I have to as well, just so no complaint ever comes back to me that's best way to be, absolutely best way to of.
Speaker 1:What's that the next? Obviously you've had the, the big win recently. What sort like? What's the next step for you in terms of this? The reform?
Speaker 2:I'm not quite sure. There's so many bits that we need to sort out, including and bringing. I mean, most of us want common hold to come in, but again it's a. I don't even know if I'd ever see that in my lifetime. To be honest, it's taking, it's dragging quite a lot, but definitely ground rent needs to be capped, or even all ground rent made to peppercorn, which is, again, is going to annoy the freeholders, because they're going to be losing out on money, and it's an investment to them. Our home is their investment, which is, again, horrible to say. That is.
Speaker 2:The reality, though, is that my house right now, my flat right now, is somebody's investment. This could be their pension pot, and I hate thinking of it like that. Whereas I can't build, I can't include this flat into my future because my lease will run down eventually. I won't be here forever. I'm fully intent to move out in the next few years, but, yeah, you can't include your leasehold property in your future. You have no idea what's going to go. So I've got the question, if I'm honest, craig.
Speaker 1:What's that the future for the?
Speaker 2:Oh, yes, the reform. Yeah, sorry, I'm having it on, and on and on.
Speaker 1:But that's great's great because it shows you how passionate you are, and I do that all the time. I say things and go. Does that actually answer your question? I don't think it does, but anyway, you don't understand my point, but no it. So the question was just what, what's next? You've obviously achieved what you've achieved so far, and it's taken a quite a period of time. But then you did answer because you said I don't, you're not quite sure what is like the next for for you service charges need to be sorted.
Speaker 2:Um. Freeholders need to be brought up to account as well for or even maintenance companies need to be brought into account for charging people and not actually giving those services as well. I myself have a fantastic maintenance company. They're here every week. They definitely get there. We get our money's worth with them, absolutely.
Speaker 2:But there are loads of companies that don't, and then the residents having to go out and and cut all the bushes. They're having to clean the windows, all the stuff that maintenance companies should be doing. They're having to get quotes in for drain repairs and stuff, but then they've got no sinking fund funding either, because the maintenance company haven't even put their money into a sinking fund, so then they're having to pay out their own money as well. There's there's a lot that that needs to be um improved with management companies. They need to be a lot more transparent, which, um the bills are now being a lot more transparent. That is part of the new reform and the law. But, like any company, when something doesn't go your way, they'll probably find a loophole to get around a few things, which is why we need to keep on fighting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think, once you've got the momentum, now it's about keeping that going until, like you said, keep fighting and sort of trying to change the whole system really. But you've got the first win, shall we say, under your belt and it's just keeping that going.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah, I hope it does keep going. To be honest, it was absolutely just. Oh, I would have actually posted it on friday, but I was really, really busy, so posting it yesterday was yesterday or monday, I can't remember when I posted it. But um, yeah, it felt good to let others know it felt because you see me moaning about leasehold a lot and I do it for a reason and this is that reason because we needed this reform and it's worked it was yesterday and it has worked.
Speaker 1:Like I say, it was yesterday. When we talked about it was, it was, uh, on Tuesday. So so, um, thanks for being totally honest and very passionate about sort of that. There's just a few other thoughts. I wanted to if we can sort of pull it back into mortgage broking. But I wanted to, if we can sort of pull it back into mortgage broking.
Speaker 1:But I love actually I have we've you, trust me, with no agenda. We knew we're going to look at and we've gone into. I thought we might, and it was my fault because I like brought it up before, kind of thing. So, um, yeah, but I just wanted to do just a couple of things that I just need to understand in terms of your, where you actually have quite a few things that you sort of shared and you sort of said you'd you had a tough time at various points and things like with so when you sort of got into mortgage booking, were you straight into self-employed or was that employed at the time? So when you were going for your interviews and what you were doing, were you looking purely at employed or self-employed, or where was your head at?
Speaker 2:I'm self-employed. I was looking for self-employed and I have been self-employed ever since. It's hard, it doesn't come without its hardships, but the flexibility is worth it. You know, I get to do the school run without having to ask a manager if I can pop out quickly, and then I get to come home with my child rather than passing her over to a child mind that you know there's all these things that, as a parent, self-employed is sort of the only option I suppose that we have. If we're offered it. It's the only option we've got to go with. Employed just wouldn't.
Speaker 1:It wouldn't work with me okay, I know that's just interesting to hear whether that was always part, because you've got you're not only learning a new industry, but then you're also dealing with the self-employment aspect of as well, and she interested to sort of get your take on where you was at that point and why you absolutely you've gone straight and self-employed.
Speaker 1:I think that's the best way to do it and you've just had to get on with it and make it work and make it stick with the challenges you face. But I think, like I say just I'm guessing I'm getting that sort of thing like if you went employed I think I don't know if whether you'd sort of be enjoying being a mortgage broker if you were not employed in the corporate world. They've been told what to do, when to do and, like you said, feeling guilty, I need to go pick my daughter up from school, I need to do that. It's that guilt aspect of that as well as where you've got the cap in hand, of sort of please can I do this and please can I do that, which is, um, yeah, do you think you'll ever be employed? Do you think you could ever?
Speaker 2:be no, no, no. I don't like being told, um, what to do, when to do it, um, and I don't like being watched over. Neither. I don't. You know the whole point of a manager coming through every now and then just to see what we're doing. I don't know, that doesn't sit very well. No, I've got, I've got away with it for too long now. I'm quite. I've adjusted very well in my role and I get to just work on my own. I like my own solitude, I enjoy my own solitude, so I just, yeah, I work, my, I get stuck in my role and I get to just work on my own.
Speaker 1:I like my own solitude, I enjoy my own solitude, so I just, yeah, I work, my, I get stuck in my little zone but like the thing is you, you're just worrying about yourself and your business, you're not worried about what somebody else is thinking, saying, yeah, doing, happening behind, behind your back, kind of thing is literally, you are, you're in control of you, are you? You are in control of something that you can't control. It's uh, which is the important aspect of it, and you've got that freedom and you're not worried about and second guessing and everything else and the insecure, I think. It said to me the other day, which I've said so many times I like the security of being employed, like why, why is that?
Speaker 1:Why does employment give you security? So, yes, you're going to get paid at the end of that month, but that's about as much security as you've got, that you don't know how long your income is going to be there for, whereas what you're doing by you being self-employed at least you're in charge of your own income and you know what you need to be doing to to your actions will generate income. That's how it, that's how it works, whereas you certainly that's the case, so to go in so straight into self-employed mortgage broken you've then. So have you always sort of trade under somebody's, always been under somebody else's trading style, I haven't got the bollocks to go on my sorry, I haven't got the balls to go, I can't do it on my own.
Speaker 2:No, I need to um trade under. I did actually think about it last year. I did think about like, could I, could I do it on my own? And I did speak to family and friends and they were like, yeah, absolutely, go for it. That's the worst thing that you could do is ask people's opinion, because then I felt like, oh no, if I do it now, I'm gonna be a failure.
Speaker 2:And then, um, paul came along just at the right time and I just thought you know what he's? I've known him for a couple of years. He's a fantastic, fantastic broker. There's a lot of, I think, quite I'm going to say selfish brokers who don't like to help out. They don't like talking to other brokers. They think your competition from the get-on. But Paul has helped me for the last couple of years with as soon as I started.
Speaker 2:Basically he was one of the first brokers that I kind of clicked with on LinkedIn and, um, yeah, so his opportunity came at the right time and I just thought, no, you know, do you know what I'm? I've got an umbrella rip, I'm just going to trade under someone else's company. He could take all the financial strain and the compliance sizzle and I'm just going to relax in my little electric boat while he powers on. Yeah, I couldn't do it. It takes. It takes um a strong person to deal with all that and mortgage advising as well. So I'm here whenever he needs me. We work very well together. We um talk about the company together, but financially wise I have no idea what's going on and I don't want to. Um.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know my lane and I stick in it no, and that's really like I said, because there is a lot of um. I don't even know what word I could use, but in terms of um, the abundance mindset is is not always with everybody. In terms of particularly mogsburg, people see each other as competition, which is not. I never really see that as the case. It's all. We can always help each other and support each other because there is enough to go around. There is absolutely enough. So when you've got somebody that has that mindset, then it's just a different culture. It's a totally different setup of a firm. Generally, when somebody has got that kind of mindset, which is fairly unique, like you say, it is a. There's not many people that you come across in the industry that are. There's certainly people that will help and support you absolutely. But in terms of from a business point of view, having that abundance mindset is key to and, like you say, you know, you know your lane, you know and you're, you are, you're enjoying that which, clearly, that you are.
Speaker 2:I am. Yeah, I think there's two, lots of brokers really. I think you've got the compassionate ones who know how hard it is, and they're there for another one. They want to build up their person, which is me. I've built up a good I don't want to say it but little clique on LinkedIn. I've got my brokers, who I go to for help, who I go through to for support, and then you've got the other ones who don't want you contacting them, don't want to help you, um, and then they'll do a post afterwards and be like so I've just been contacted by another broker who's asked for help.
Speaker 2:The audacity of this person and it's like why can't we just help each other? There's no way I would ever put another broker down or anything. If anything. I I have helped brokers and I think it's a bit of you know, I scratch your back, you scratch mine, sort of thing it's. I wouldn't say that people just take, take, take, because that is taking the piss a bit. But yeah, I think we all need to support each other. We need that community. We don't need any of the selfishness. We don't need any of the the sort of old-school bullying not bullying but, um, segregation, like division. Do you know what I mean? We don't need any of that. Our job's hard enough as it is. If we could just get the support from another person, that would it means the world. It means the world to me when another broker helps me out or even comes back to reply of mine, and I'll always do the same back.
Speaker 1:I think that it is important, lucy, that you because I do see, like you see on the Facebook groups, you see in various like, in wherever social media platform you want to look at it's sort of there, we are here to help and support each other. That's what we need to do. Like I said, there is that there is plenty to go around. If somebody feel doesn't feel that's the case, that's that's fine, that's up to them. If you reach out to somebody and they don't want to help, then that's fine, that is their choice. What is an interesting choice is then to then go on to social media and explain to the world that they're not happy about another broker reaching out to them to help and support, which I've seen, like we see time and time again, and that's again an interesting choice to make in terms of them and their life and where they're at really in terms of a, a broker, in terms of what their values are and what their like. I say that's not me, because we see it, you've seen it, I've seen it time and time again I just don't think that there is a place for them. That's absolutely fine. And there's WhatsApp groups that I know about, which has got a lot of sort of different sort of outlooks in life for certain people which feel as though they need to be those. I hate the word keyboard warrior, but do you know what I mean? It's those kind of things which make them feel better about putting other people down. Well, that's yeah, that's not um, and that's if that's their choice and that's what they want to do, then that's um up to them. But you're right, right, I think it's about we will need to be able to fail, that we can reach out. That's the whole point of the podcast. The podcast is not about me sort of like what I do, or anything like that. It's about helping other brokers that reach out to me say thank you so much for doing the podcast, because it's just helped me in becoming a broker, being a broker, and it's not. It's just about like the feedback is.
Speaker 1:I enjoy listening to other brokers talking about their experiences, their challenges, what they face, but having that same abundance mindset. There's a broker that I that I work with and he's like you said. The reason why he reached out to me and we worked together was the fact that I used the word abundance mindset and he's like you said, the reason why he reached out to me and we worked together was the fact that I used the word abundance, mindset and it's like because that's how that's one the things that he values and I think that's it. It's just there are.
Speaker 1:If you are a new broker in the industry or you are in the industry and you are struggling, there are people out there that will help and support you. There are people that you can reach out to, that will give you just that encouragement, just that motivation to actually keep going. You're on the right path, keep doing it, because you, you're self-employed, you've got to have a certain amount of self-motivation, absolutely. But we're always. We're all going to go through, we all go through days, don't we? Where we, where we're thinking. Why am I doing this?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes God.
Speaker 2:I have had many of them, moments I've had them weeks, months even where I just think can I keep doing this? What is the point in keep on doing this? And the proc fees are a very stupid amount. Now I'm just going to go out there and say the proc fees need to be readjusted because they are abysmal. So it makes it harder that we're paid crap. We go through a lot of crap as well with trying to get applications through and they're really really really hard applications as well.
Speaker 2:So just reaching out to another broker just to slag off the world you know, not slag off our career, because obviously we're all in it, because we love it, I am but just to have a good, I think every now and then we need a good moan sesh, you know, just to let everything off our chest. And that, and um, speaking to doing that with someone who is also in the same profession and knows what you're going through, it just hits different. Moaning to someone who doesn't know what you're on about there's, it just is like moaning to a brick wall. But moaning to someone who does know exactly what you're going through hits completely different. And then you come back more motivated because you know that you're not alone in that same boat, neither definitely, absolutely, and funnily enough, as part of my business we've got a help whatsapp group.
Speaker 1:So every broker that's part of the the business to quite a number of brokers on there. They all sort of they've got the help one. But then we've also got the. I've now labeled it, not help. I labeled it quite some time ago now because it's just vent. It's just.
Speaker 1:I used to call it vents because then, yeah, like you say, you just want to get it. People are that way, like we just need to get off your chest. You're not looking for a response or an answer per se, but just somebody and people will respond on there. But it's just, it's just just knowing that you convince somebody who gets it that the lender's decided at four o'clock that they're going to change the rates tomorrow and they just let you know and then the system is going to have a bit of a meltdown and the rest of it.
Speaker 1:So just those things, the daily challenges of being a broker. Every a lot of industries and a lot of um occupations have challenges. But then, like I said, we know it first time from being a broker point of view that the challenges that brokers face from it and again. And it's heightened because, as we know, buying and selling a house is one of the top three most stressful thing people do in their lives. So when you've got that heightened stress, you need somebody on your side which is you to that. But then you, you then take on that, you shoulder that responsibility. You want to give a a good service to your clients yeah, absolutely that is, um.
Speaker 2:I think that's probably the only negative side of this career that we probably all agree on is that, um, we do take on far too much stress. It's our job too, don't get me wrong. We're here to take the stress off the client, but sometimes, especially when we've got our own life issues to deal with as well, which you know we should be leaving at at the end of the table, whatever it is, we should be leaving it there and not bringing it into our work. But sometimes it's just hard when you're self-employed, so you're dealing with that aspect and then you're dealing with your home life and then you're dealing with all your clients Shizzle as well.
Speaker 2:There's only so much that one human can take every now and then. So even just like you say, whatsapp group just to moan and vent off is brilliant. I can vent off to Paul whenever I like it. We vent off, we call each other, we vent, vent off and then at the end there's that mutual um support that I think we need. You know, we encourage each other, we motivate each other. There's a support at the end and we just feel like we've got it off our chest now, like a weight has been lifted up for me. I can actually just crack on to work now just like nothing had even happened. I feel like I can crack on. But yeah, stress is a um is, I think, the biggest, the only negative thing actually about this career yeah, it is like you say you are.
Speaker 1:When you call the other side and you get the responses from the clients and and the feedback and the car thank you cars, thank you gifts, all those different things that the reviews that brokers get are down, obviously, down to managing the what is a stressful situation for everybody.
Speaker 1:And then you're the thing is you, you will get everything as, because you are that kind of broker where, yeah, clients have got your mobile number, they'll ring you, they'll message you, the whatsapp, you, whereas maybe they can't get a hold of this stage and when they want they certainly can't get hold of the conveyance. I know you've sort of not you've promoted conveyance a little bit, but just in terms of, from a client point of view, not being able to get a hold of a solicitor, but then they can get all the view. Then they'll get all the ring you to complain about the solicitor. So again, you then take on the whole buying process for your, for your clients, because you've got those, because you're accessible, because you are accessible, because that's the service you want to provide for your clients, which then has, like I said, the negative aspect of it kind of thing which is then how you can get that vent out and then feel motivated again and keep going.
Speaker 2:It's only very slight, little bursts of stress, though it's not like it's going to last a whole day or two from one client. It's little bursts, like you're about to put the application through and suddenly they're not getting back to you. You just went with one thing answered and it's been like a week and you've got nothing. God, that really gets my stress levels up, because I've just worked my butt off to get all this done for you and now, for some reason, you're ignoring. Oh sorry, we're on a holiday, so why would you go on holiday when you just put for a bloody mortgage? Uh, anyway, I'm here for it and I'm always just like, okay, well, you know the email's a thing, but whatever, so we're gonna put it through now. But yeah, that stress, that's the only one that will last about a week and um, that's when I think I need one of those whatsapp messages just to unlash it all.
Speaker 2:And it's a very rewarding career and even three years ago, when I came into it, I knew that it was something I wanted to do long term, not just stick my toes in and try it out. I knew that once I was in um, I was going to be in for a very long time and I have been, and I hope to god that I've been here for another 10, 20 odd years. I hope it's not. I've been here for another 10, 20-odd years. I hope it's not going to be as hard and the rates will stable eventually. But yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1:Good, you're loving it. It's the main thing, and I see you're seeing this as a long-term thing. So in terms of so, just to finish on then, lucy, in terms of future, you're okay in your lane. You've got no in terms of anything else sort of financial advising or anything else. In terms of looking, you're okay doing what you're doing, cracking on with the leasehold reform that you're passionate about, and just delivering a good service for clients. Is that what the future looks like for you?
Speaker 2:At the moment. Yeah, I've got no interest in pensions. It stresses me out. I've got a pension advisor that I have full of that and I refer people to him because I it's. It's another thing that I don't know enough about, and when I try to learn about it, I just think, well, it's nothing like mortgages, and mortgages is where I'm sitting at, that's where my love is, not investments and everything else. So I'm not into financial advice at the moment. No, and I don't intend to make my own company. Um, I'm pretty vanilla. I'm a vanilla broker no, you're not.
Speaker 1:You're very passionate, but you're not a vanilla broker. Lucy, I think you've been a bit harsh on yourself with sprinkles feedback.
Speaker 1:You are, but you are like I say you are. It's not vanilla. You deliver a good service for your client. You care about, really passionate about what you're trying to, what you need to achieve for your clients, and the good thing is is you've got your outlay with, which is in your app, so your outlet and you release with your steam engine, so it all works. Yeah, that's your aspirations for the future. Look for the future. Let enough, enough steam to power a steam engine. That's the thing there you go.
Speaker 2:That's my future. I'm gonna drive one one day I'm gonna be up there at the front. One day I'm gonna video it.
Speaker 1:That's what I'm aiming for that's your goal, that's what you're aiming for. Yeah, lucy, thank you so much for the time. Thank you for agreeing to come on the podcast. Thank you for trusting me, with no agenda, just having a chat about you and your background and what more about you and your, your world. So thank you so much for coming on and also, as well, being very honest and transparent, which is I just absolutely love recording this podcast, as I know it would be because, seeing you on social media, I know you're very open, honest person. So great guest for a podcast. And thanks for agreeing to finally come on to the podcast you're welcome.
Speaker 2:I've enjoyed it. Thank you very much thank you, lucy.
Speaker 1:Thank you for finally agreeing to come on to the podcast and being total, honest, and it was great podcast to record. You trusted me with um having no agenda and it was just. I loved how you gave various honest answers, got very passionate about certain things and it was a great podcast to record. So thank you so much for that. Thank you for listening. Thank you for subscribing. Any comments, thoughts, feedback on the podcast, please leave it. On whatever platform you listen to the podcast or watch it on turn. If you can do a review on whichever platform, that will be amazing. I really appreciate that, because the more brokers we can get the podcast out to, the more brokers it can help. Then that will be amazing. So I really appreciate that, because the more brokers we can get the podcast out, to, the more brokers it can help. Then that would be amazing. So please do what you can from that point of view. Any suggestions for guests on the podcast? Please let me know.
Speaker 1:And, like I say, I've also now got the new podcast which is coming out, the Morning Mindset, which I'll tag into the and in terms of the posts on this podcast as well. So if you can subscribe to the new podcast daily, five days a week, focusing on a mindset, but I'm not going to too much detail about that. Have a look at the podcast that's on youtube and on normal social media platforms, as well as normal podcast platforms as well. And if you are becoming considering becoming a self-employed mortgage broker, looking to start your own mortgage broker brand and business or looking to accelerate your growth in your existing mortgage broker brand and business, please see my website, craigskeltoncouk. It explains more in terms of how you and I can work together and how I can help you with your next steps, with your journey and achieving what you want to achieve in your business. Thank you for listening, thank you for subscribing and, as always, don't forget to run your own race.