The time to mend the roof...

Thankfully Uinsure survived the downturn and went on to prosper but memories of those initial tough years have stayed with all of us. Or at least, that’s what I thought. Apparently, that isn’t the case.

Whilst I wasn’t working with Uinsure at the point of its launch I was, of course, working in the industry and speaking to mortgage brokers on a daily basis. I remember vividly hearing about the struggle many of them we’re facing. Banks had all but shut up shop, first-time buyers were nowhere to be seen and as such broker business levels were falling drastically.

As we all know many firms were forced to exit the market. Indeed, we lost some very talented intermediaries during those years - creating a skills gap that has yet to be filled. Money was not coming in, it was as simple as that. And if you’ve no income you can’t continue.

Why then do brokers seem so quick to forget these hard times? Now the market has improved immeasurably and, even with the uncertainty of Brexit and the challenges facing the buy-to-let sector, business levels are steady. Brokers have enough mortgage business and, as such, they’re not looking elsewhere for revenue streams. They seem to have forgotten that things can change. That just because they are busy now that may not always be the case.

A lot has changed in the last 10 years and I’ve no doubt there are some things most of us would like to forget. But those challenges the market faced when mortgage business fell should not be one of them. Creating additional revenue streams for your business is just good business sense and now, when the market is buoyant, is the time to do it. Remember what they say about the time to mend the roof.