“Recognising the moment a case has moved beyond a residential remit and into specialist territory is what separates the advisors who keep their clients from those who quietly lose them,” said Jorden Abbs (pictured top), chief executive at mortgage broker Commercial Trust.
“There are lots of cases non-specialist brokers may struggle to place. Non-standard construction properties, large HMOs or hybrid properties, holiday lets with restrictions, buy to let surrounded by a high density of commercial premises are just a few examples of more complex cases that need a specialist lender, and may on the face of it look impossible to place if niche cases are not a broker’s bread and butter.”
The commercial case for engagement is also material. Landlords tend to return to the broker who helped them navigate a difficult case, making the long-term value of complex clients considerably higher.
“Turning down a complex case isn’t just losing one deal,” Abbs said. “Landlords remember which brokers helped them as they grew, and the one who handles a complex case often gets all their future business. So the long-term value of that client is much higher than a single deal — and saying ‘no’ usually means losing both the current opportunity and future work.”
On the supply side, the specialist lending market has remained unusually competitive. “The architecture of the market means that a case unsuitable for a mainstream lender often has three, four, or more viable specialist routes still open to it,” Abbs said. “And the work of identifying which route is most appropriate is precisely what specialist brokerages exist to do.”