'I would never take on board what a lender says in terms of their published deliverables, I would set my own'




Bridging & Commercial recently held a virtual roundtable in partnership with Precise Mortgages to discuss whether a two-week completion is still necessary in bridging.

The live webinar — which took place on 8th November and was moderated by Medianett’s editor, Beth Fisher — welcomed OSB Group’s head of specialist finance, Emily Machin. 

Rob Jupp, group CEO at The Brightstar Group; Jason Berry, group sales and marketing director at Crystal Specialist Finance; Harry Landy, managing director at Enterprise Finance; and Jodi Lund, head of the real estate finance department at JMW Solicitors made up the rest of the panel.

When talking about whether headline timescales and USPs are more problematic than promotional, Harry said that there are businesses claiming to deliver in certain timeframes, but they can’t. “When an enquiry comes to us, we know the right questions to ask the customer which will enable us to place that case with the most appropriate lender for that customer’s circumstances.”

He admitted that he never takes on board what a lender says in terms of their published deliverables. “I would set my own deliverables and say, ‘You want to get it done with three days? No chance. You want to get it done in three weeks? Absolutely.” He added that lots of brokers they deal with use his expertise on what is possible and achievable, rather than what is promoted and in the press.   

Rob stated that the emphasis is not on how speedily a bridging loan can complete, but how fast the broker can get the offer. “The only bit we can control is how quickly we can get the offer done,” he said. “If you’ve got the right valuation partners, processes and team, getting the offer produced really quickly shouldn’t be an issue.” 

On the topic of what is causing delays in the bridging market, Emily highlighted that one of the biggest problems right now is the notion of making bridging mainstream, resulting in the sector attracting conventional mortgage brokers. “We’ve seen it happen with complex BTL and we’re seeing it happen with commercial. For years, we’ve talked about diversifying your business, so it’s inevitable that you’re going to get brokers that aren’t familiar with the process and don’t have a really high level of knowledge.”

She explained that while Precise is happy to take business from all brokers, its preferred panel gives introducers an additional route, utilising the experience of a bridging expert.

“If we were to look at the data in terms of turnaround times, it would be our preferred panel [rating] best, compared to our standard mainstream brokers who do bridging with us.”

The full virtual roundtable can be watched below:

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