Features

Specialist lending & complex investment opportunities

As confidence increases in the commercial property market, our brokers are reporting a growing...

BTL fraud is everyone’s business

While landlords, lenders and brokers are no doubt enjoying the growth of the buy-to-let...

Solicitors remain uncertain about activity

Many outside the housing market are continually looking for signs of an improving market...

Huge potential still from protection

Although the protection market is enjoying something of a purple patch at present –...

Shifting attitudes towards inheritance?

The interest-only time bomb stories may have died down slightly from the wall-to-wall coverage...

Let’s not ‘innovate’ ourselves into another disaster

I’ve written before about the use of the word ‘innovation’ in the mortgage marketplace...

‘Know your broker’ is changing face of DA market

The Know your Broker initiative is having a real effect on directly authorised advisers...

Is apathy a broker’s greatest threat to business development?

Diversification has been something of a buzzword for mortgage brokers in recent times as...

Solvency II could scupper equity release

Those of us that work in the equity release industry are fully aware of...

Beware conveyancers from the Dark Ages

While the UK property and mortgage markets could not be said to be ‘sizzling...

Sun, sea and sangria

Spain’s financial and economic woes may have left a huge glut of new and...

Be prepared for more spurious claims

With the number of payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling claims finally starting to decline...

Two trends behind buy-to-let boom

The saying goes that success begets success and the buy-to-let market certainly seems to...

Vital to capitalise on adviser interest in equity release

The equity release sector received a shot in the arm recently in the form...

COMMENT

We need to wait to get a clearer picture

It's been a week where the political and economic backdrop has moved almost as fast as rates themselves, and it's worth taking stock of...

Leasehold valuation reform: the consultation is asking only half the question

The Government's consultation on leasehold enfranchisement valuation rates is important because it will help determine what leaseholders pay to extend leases or buy freeholds,...

What commonhold will mean for mortgage lenders and brokers

Commonhold is often presented as the straightforward alternative to leasehold. It removes the freeholder, gives flat owners greater control and avoids some familiar problems...

Why you need to know what sits behind the average review score

There’s a funny thing about review scores. The better they are, the less likely we are to question them. If a company is sitting at...

The new Chancellor wants to remove barriers to growth; he should start with housing

There was probably a degree of unintended irony in the Treasury choosing to call the Chancellor, John Healey’s, first major market ‘intervention’ his ‘Growth...

Latest news

FORTO Finance launches with focus on expat mortgage market

FORTO Finance has launched in the UK mortgage and protection market following a pilot...

Just Mortgages appoints Gina McLaren as Midlands area director

Just Mortgages has expanded the management team within its self-employed division with the appointment...

Brokers value access to underwriters over slick technology

Mortgage brokers would rather have access to an underwriter than a sophisticated lender portal...

Imperial Chartered and Cornerstone golf day raises £11,000 for MNDA

Imperial Chartered and Cornerstone Finance Group have raised more than £11,000 for the Motor...

PROFILES