How did you overcome the obstacles?
I looked in all the mainstream as well as the specialist lists for a lender who would be interested.
There was a bit of apprehension as the clients wanted that property and there are obviously time sensitivities to consider when making an offer on a house.
We phoned everyone and was lucky in that the underwriter from the lender we chose was engaging and hands on.
We went with The Mortgage Lender. The rates are slightly higher than the norm, but they deal with slightly more esoteric cases, such as poor credit or expats.
Their processes are open minded and you can speak with the underwriter, which is massively helpful.
And while our mortgage sourcing systems are great, you cannot always trust the computer to say yes.
For example, we put in all the criteria needed for the search for lenders, such as the fact the client had missed payments and a CCJ, and it narrowed the list down to just a few, but The Mortgage Lender was not on there.
So even though the system was not showing them as an option, I gave them a call anyway.
What does that show, in your opinion?
Naivety and inexperience can be your friends in these matters - you are able to ask everyone and to be open to just picking up the phone and asking the right questions.
It it not always good to say you know what you are doing and to simply rely on systems, no matter how great these are.
Some people may get so 'expert' that they become set in their ways and think they know everything.
But as we found out, the outcome might not be what you think it is - so it is always worth putting in that extra legwork.
What was the outcome for the client?
They got the property. They are living in the house they thought they would never own.
We keep in touch with them now for protection discussions, and they talk about us to everybody, which is great in terms of word-of-mouth recommendations.
Clients who have a good experience with you will stay with you.
We have found that referrals are either where clients have felt so comfortable with the process and refer their friends and family to us, or their circumstances have been unconventional and they feel that we can think outside of the box.
To some extent, some people could do things themselves, but they might be missing an opportunity and we won't charge anything for the initial conversation.
Service is very easy to talk about but very difficult to portray unless you are actually experiencing it.
What would be your top tip for someone starting out on their journey to become an adviser?
If you don't think you have enough experience, don't worry.
