Adviser keeps it real, to better support borrowers
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Forget the three piece-suit and presenting yourself formally, the days of suited and booted mortgage brokers have gone, believes Brett Walker (pictured left). Clients these days want authenticity and to see you how you actually are - and that encourages honesty, in his view.
So, Walker - a tee-shirt clad, unshaven man (certainly when we chat), who goes to the gym five or six days a week and also teaches martial arts - might not cut a dash in a pin-striped suit, but don’t mistake his informality for a lack of expertise.
A highly experienced broker, who’s been in the business for over 20 years, including working for respected London brokerage, John Charcol, Walker clearly knows his stuff. Self-employed, he currently works with Poole-based BWM Mortgages.
“Some people are a bit stuffy and try to be overly formal with people,” he told Mortgage Introducer. “I just want people to feel comfortable so they'll tell me the truth and they'll be honest with me, and the more they tell me the truth, the quicker I can get to the bottom of what's actually going on and give them the best advice. People want to deal with actual, real, normal people. There is really only one version of me, the same version all day and every day, and this is how I talk to you.”
Read more: Are Asian brokers properly recognised in the mortgage industry?
From aspiring police officer to successful broker…
If things had taken a different path, Walker could perhaps have been hunting down the criminal fraternity of Bournemouth, where he’s based - his first ambition was to become a police officer. But, looking for a post-university job to tide him over, he replied to an advertisement for a position at the Woolwich Building Society.
“Within six months, I was fourth in the country as an open plan adviser, earning twice as much money as a police officer,” he said. “I ended up carrying on as a broker. I just guess I had a bit of a flair for dealing with people. I'm a little bit of a nerd and mortgage broking is problem solving. It's looking at someone's situation and finding the best solution for their set of circumstances.
“There's a lot of anxiety around these big transactions, and I think if you do a good job and you have this general demeanour of giving people confidence, you give people comfort. There’s a bit of skill in broker cases, knowing where to put things, knowing who to talk to and how to set things up and give advice, but I don't think it's hugely complicated. It's learning how to explain to people complex transactions in a really straightforward way.”
He added: “Every time you find a solution you have a bigger repertoire of solutions to problems, and what you end up being able to do is foresee the problems that you're going to get before you get them, and solve the problems for the client before anything arises.”
Walker has dipped out of mortgages several times – once, in his early career, to become an independent financial adviser, giving a broader range of advice on areas such as pensions, which he believes he was too young to deliver with any authority (he’s exploring revisiting it now that he is older), and he also took time out to develop some properties. But now he’s firmly back in the game.
“I’m really busy at the moment,” he enthused. “I think I wrote the most business I've ever written in November, and all my stuff comes from referral. I don’t regret one bit not being a police officer. Given a re-run, I think I would've done five years in the military, then maybe on to this. If you're good at it, I think being a broker is a good job. It's certainly the best, bar somebody giving me a big pile of money and me being able to just go to the gym and lie on the beach. Nobody's offering me the job of James Bond - mortgage broking is as good as it's ever going to get for me.”
He added: “Whilst it's not a job that you would put your hand up in school and say, ‘I want to be a mortgage broker’, it turned out alright for me. I get satisfaction from the clients being happy.”