Mortgage Solutions speaks to Joe Noon (pictured), regional account manager for the Yorkshire region at buy-to-let (BTL) lender Landbay.
Which locations and how many advisers and broker firms do you cover in your role at Landbay?
I cover a large slice of Yorkshire and the East Midlands, with SK thrown in for good measure. My patch includes the postcodes BD, DE, DN, HD, HU, HX, LN, LS, NG, S and SK.
What personal talent or skill is most valuable in doing your job?
It would have to be my organisational skills; a good to-do list for the day ahead is essential to make sure your energy is directed in the right places, while you also need the flexibility to deal with anything urgent that lands at your door.
What personal talent or skill would you most like to improve?
Probably anything technology-related. I still don’t use artificial intelligence (AI) as much as I probably could, although I’m getting there. The more I learn about it, the more opportunities I see to build it into my daily routine, freeing up time to strengthen relationships with brokers and, hopefully, spend fewer evenings on the laptop.
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What is the hardest part of your job?
Prioritisation. Some days it feels like a million different ‘urgent’ cases or bumps in the road land on your desk at once. At times like that, it’s important to work out what genuinely needs to come first while setting realistic expectations. Working closely with office-based colleagues while I’m out on the road is often key to maintaining a high level of service, getting cases over the line quickly and, in some instances, saving a deal.
What do you love most about your job?
That’s an easy one – being out and about speaking to brokers and meeting new people. You learn a lot about different life experiences and what makes people tick and motivates them, as well as hearing a bucket load of funny tales and horror stories. I also enjoy working with brokers to understand the challenges they face and helping to provide solutions that support their businesses and their customers. Seeing a deal come together after overcoming obstacles and finding the right outcome is incredibly rewarding.
What is the best piece of career-related advice you have ever been given? Who gave it to you?
“Always look for opportunities to learn new things/gain new skills, as no matter how long you’ve been doing something, or how good you think you are at it, there’s always lots more to learn/improve on,” which was from my dad… I’m not sure that was the exact wording, to be fair, but it was certainly the sentiment.
How do you keep up to date with market developments?
A mixture of industry press, podcasts and LinkedIn. They’re all great ways to stay on top of what’s happening in the market day to day, while identifying both the challenges and opportunities emerging across the sector.
What is the most quirky or unique property deal you have been involved in?
Back when I was an adviser, actually, it was a former bingo hall that was being turned into a Wetherspoons.
Tell us about your trickiest case – what happened and how did you resolve the problem(s)?
During my time at a previous lender, an owner of a small local village pub had a fire that took the best part of a year to repair and get back up and running as normal. Coupled with the fact that it was not too long after coming out of the Covid pandemic, ordinarily, given the impact on more than two years of their accounts, it wouldn’t be something we’d have been able to support.
Although, after working closely with the head of underwriting, seeking out their previous business performance/accounts – albeit quite historical by the point – as well as even trawling through local news articles showing the support they were receiving from local residents, given their troubles, we were able to get comfortable with the deal and approve the funds required. I even had an email sent through from the owner(s) with the offer of a free drink of my choice – which I’m yet to take them up on as yet, thinking about it.
What was your motivation for choosing this career?
I sort of fell into the mortgage side initially, when a colleague at a previous company advised that a large bank was putting successful candidates through CeMAP qualifications as a result of the Mortgage Market Review changes to regulation. I also had a background in accounting/economics through university. And I’d say, since getting into the business development side of things, what’s kept me here is going out to meet people each day, both old and new, while also making long-lasting friends in the process.
If you could do any other job in the property sector, what would it be and why?
I’m really happy doing what I do now, to be honest, but if I had to pick one, it would probably be a surveyor. I think it would be interesting to look around different properties and, at the very least, I could get some ideas for the garage games room that I’ve been threatening to do for a number of years now.