Rob's Blog: Higher LTVs for FTBs

Rob's Blog: Higher LTVs for FTBs




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It’s nice to be back after an extremely rainy five days at Disneyland Paris with my lovely family. I wa

s amazed to hear that the park was 1.9 billion in debt which is surprising when you pay as much as you do to stay there, visit the theme parks and attempt to eat there.

My previous visit was arranged at better times back in 2007. We stayed at the Disneyland Paris Resort and were upgraded to the private area, enjoying breakfast and dinner with the Al Maktoum family.

Five years later, we stayed in a clad caravan with fake wooden logs and no breakfast. Our next door neighbours weren’t members of The Dubai Royal Family but a schoolboy football team from North Wales. The weather was predictably bad and the French were predictably French!

It’s fair to say that I have never been happier to get back to the ‘bosom of business’ and Friday came too slowly. When I arrived back at work I was reminded by our excellent office manager that we were having a visit that day from Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (he is also the boss of Housing Minister, Grant Shapps). Mr P came in at his agreed time with his parliamentary aides and listened intently to me banging on about the need to increase high loan to value mortgages for first time buyers. In fact, at one point I was literally ‘banging the table’, much to the amusement of my team. I’m sure that nothing major will come of this meeting but it was nevertheless a great experience.

I decided the week before last that I am going to cut down on my press work for the next quarter to concentrate on my day job as the MD of Brightstar. Therefore, this will be my penultimate blog for a few months - details to follow next week on the chosen replacement.

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