Bridge lender's 'rising star' on the attraction of mortgages - despite the turmoil
“Communicate to your clients clearly about what their options are, because there are other ways to finding the solutions the client needs.”
So says Taylor Osunsedo (pictured), Alternative Bridging Corporation’s (ABC’s) newest BDM, about how brokers should confront the most testing period in the mortgage industry since 2007.
In such a highly volatile and challenging environment, with average mortgage interest rates now at 6.07% - the highest they’ve been since 2008 - and the biggest fall in mortgage deals since the height of the COVID pandemic, brokers are having to negotiate around an ever-decreasing and confined space.
Osunsedo is nonetheless bullish about prospects, at least when it comes to the bridging and commercial sector. “Learn the whole market and communicate that to borrowers,” is his advice to brokers.
Described by ABC’s director Jonathan Rubin as “one of this industry’s rising stars”, Osunsedo is also “home-grown talent”, and still in his 20s.
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After leaving university he spent a year-long stint in the insurance space before landing at ABC as a case manager three years ago, clear that his future lay in the mortgage industry (“I’ve always had an interest in property and property investment”).
Even though his knowledge of finance was limited at the time, what he lacked in experience, he made up for in enthusiasm.
“I’m always keen to learn new things, so I’ve learned a lot from my peers, ranging from directors, underwriters and case managers,” he told Mortgage Introducer.
“I shadowed the director James Bloom for a year or so, and we also had a year of working remotely due to COVID, and I think it was sort of the eagerness coming out of that to get out there and start meeting people and start building relationships and contacts which drove me to where I am now - and probably drove me at a slightly higher rate.”
Now firmly established in the company, he said ABC had so far weathered the storm better than most rivals, partly due to the current popularity of short-term lending and the fact that the company has not yet been forced to pull products.
“We’re quite lucky because we’ve got multiple sources of funding lines, which allows us to offer a wide range of products and gives clients that flexibility to choose what route they want to go down,” he said.
Asked to explain why bridging appeared to be less exposed to market volatility than other, more conventional, longer-term products, he said: “Interest rates are increasing, and banks and mainstream lenders are restricting their lending criteria and their loan to values, but bridging is rising because of that - we’re not as expensive, so at the moment bridging is booming.”
ABC is heavily involved in the commercial space, a sector that at one stage looked poised to take a tumble during the rise of remote working brought on by lockdown.
A report from The Times in January revealed that office space had shrunk by millions of square feet in England in 2021.
The consequence of that is that the number of office buildings approved for conversion to residential housing has increased substantially in the last year (up by 24%), an increase of 1,180 from 950 in 2020, according to a report published in May by wealth law firm, Boodle Hatfield.
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Turning excess office space into much-needed housing is an opportunity not only for developers but lenders.
Osunsedo agreed.
“We are seeing a lot of office conversions and office developments which you weren’t seeing before. That’s where our level of businesses is increasing,” he revealed, adding that most of the business was centred in big cities such as London, Manchester and Birmingham.
Clearly, boom can always turn into bust within a very short space of time, and not even bridge lenders can afford to ignore the ripples of a downturn, especially when all the current economic forecasts are decidedly gloomy.
It begs the question whether this is still a good time to join the mortgage industry. Asked what advice he could give to a young hopeful, very much like the man he was when he started out, he said: “I learned a lot from getting out of the office and going to auctions and going to property shows. So, if you’re like me, then definitely try and get out there as much as possible and put yourself out of your comfort zone.”
