holiday let market

Here's a transcript of this episode:

How are you?  

Yes. Good. Good, good, good. Love to see you today.  

You too. You too.  

So you are launching in devices, you've just moved to devices. That's an exciting life change.  

Yes, it has. I mean, we got to the stage, Jill, where we were sort of rattling around in the house in Gloucestershire and we thought that a downsize would be better now than should we say in five years time.

And, having thought about that, and actually having done it, I'm so glad we did because there was a lot of hard work, there was huge amounts of stuff to physically dispose of, physically give to charity shops physically sell and of course there's lots of paperwork and stress involved in a move. So from a broker point of view, it really did teach me.

It made me fitter and it taught me lots of lessons, to be fair. It made me really think, and I sort of appeal to all brokers out there who listen to this, you know, really think about your customer because they're going through an awful lot. You are just doing the paperwork, you are ticking boxes.

You are getting hassley calls from a valuer or from a lender or from an underwriter. And you are thinking about it from your point of view, but sometimes you just need also perhaps, and I've certainly learned from this, and I've been doing this a long time, just think about the customer too, because they will be going through all kinds of different emotions.

Yes it is, it is a very emotional situation because it's you know, it's your home. So talking of that, how are you settling into the new house?  

Love it. Love it. So basically, Jill, we come down to devices. We bought a house half the size. We just find everything so convenient here. So we were in the Cotswolds, we loved it in the Cotswolds. You had many, many friends up there but you know, Claire's just come back from shopping and it's taken a three minutes to go to the supermarket, whereas it's a 20 minute run and then 20 minutes back before. So think about that. You know, used to the environment and all that stuff and, and her time.

And our time. You know, it's just a tiny thing, but it just shows and, and everything is around. The neighbors are friendly. The house is lovely. We got work to do. Of course, we have to make it as we want it, but basically, It works. Hey, we've got solar panels, Jill, so I don't understand them, but they seem to be doing the job because there's three green lights on whatever three green lights means.

So I need a, I need a chap to come around and show me, a chap or a lady, I should say, shouldn't I, to come and show me how the green, how the solar panels work. But we've got a water softner, so I got a think it beep tap me the other night and I had to get up in the middle night and pour some salt in it cause he got hungry.

So we're having lots of fun, um, working out new things. And we got one of those, one of those kettle Taps. Yes. Hot tap. So, so we now put the hot water straight in the cup. So that's the, that's another great thing. So yeah, loving the house, loving the area. We found some really nice walks. Wilshire is a, an understated county.

Everybody talks about the Cotswolds and the beauty of the Cotswolds. Yes, I get that. But one of the reasons we came here was because we got married here 35 years ago and we wanted to come back and we are not disappointed. You just go literally a mile out from where we live and you are on a beautiful hill overlooking, you know, all the way back to Bath, all the way back to Salisbury.

Absolutely fantastic, that's brilliant. That sounds great. And, yes, and I'm loving the solar panels and water softeners and, you know, and how, what a difference those things can make. In your life, you'll see a difference, I think, in your electricity bills.  

We certainly will. We've got no gas. We, I've got no gas bill now, so that's gone west.Dealing with, dealing with the utilities is another thing. You know, it's an interesting thing, I'm trying to deal with my county council to get my council tax up and paid, you know, the, the, the direct debit. Set up and everything else, and they keep asking me to register with an account number, well, they haven't given me an account number, so therefore I can't register.

And so yet again, you know the frustration of dealing with a larger organization and all you wanna do is speak to someone. All I want to do is pick up the phone and say, if it's Jill, hi Jill, can you tell me how I access my account number for my council tax? Cause I'd like to pay you, but I can't speak to anybody.

It's so frustrating. Bt promised me, I shouldn't say bt. Should I? A? A? Internet provider promised me it would be all done on the 3rd of May. The man came round and he was a nice man and he said, I'll have this done in 10 minutes. And then he disappeared for five hours and I never saw him again. And it, and his boss had to get involved and basically said to me, you know, It was a problem he should have solved.

I'm really sorry. But that was four days later. And it is so frustrating because all you want to do is speak to someone and in the, I shouldn't say the old day, should I, but back in the day, you could phone someone and a local person would be involved. And I, it really worries me. You know, the, the whole future, the whole AI thing, and it's what we do, you know, helping people with mortgages.

If people can't help people, then you can have as much AI as you like, but frankly it's going to cause major problems, rant over. That's really interesting and a very interesting rant, and I think, you know, that's something that we think about at House and Holiday Home is about relationships with customers and focusing and listening to what people's needs are. And then, you know, tailoring our response to that. And maybe what we need to do with AI is, you know, get it to do the number crunching so that we can focus on customer relations.  

Yeah, I know. Yes No, you're right. I mean, you know, the first question we're asked is, why, why should I come to you?

Why can't I just go to the bank and do this? Well, you can, good luck. If your case is very straightforward, you can probably go to a, a high street leading bank in your town, online or whatever, and it will work, but, Honestly, Jill, 90% of the cases we see are not straightforward.

There's always something. There's always someone else living in the house. There's always a little blip with the credit. There's always, I don't know, an annex on the property. There's always something, and that's why basically robot mortgages never really got off the ground because they thought it was a great idea, but in the end, what did they do?

The robot companies all employed Lots of brokers to speak to people. Hey, that's interesting, isn't it? It really is. And, and you're right, and I, I read something in mortgage strategy today about how they, they're thinking that even more complexity is, is coming up in the future around mortgages, so we can have a little chat about that in the minute in.

I, in fact, Jill, I'm really worried about you actually, Jill because everybody, Jill's our marketing lady and, and she is a creative writer by profession. And now she's talking to me about reading mortgage strategy. Jill, what have we done to you? I'm gonna speak to Joe when he gets back and say, just leave Jill alone.

She's now reading mortgage Strategy. It's great. Jill, we're so pleased with what you are doing, but I'm very worried that you are going to, won't be able to write the next Harry Potter.  

I have to say, I'm finding the world of mortgages really, really fascinating and I'm loving it and I can see that it's actually a really interesting subject area.

So there you go. There you go. People, hang on a minute. This pause. Pause this podcast. I gotta go and get a drink, Jill. I was like, this is good. I've been doing this for years and Oh, bless you. Okay, come on. Next question.

Okay. So actually the next question was about the future. So, what are you looking forward to, forward to in the future as far as changes to your lifestyle and any property changes that you want to make around the house that you're thinking about? You know, not, not right now, not immediate changes, but things you might like to do.

Okay. So I think Jill, it's really business as usual for me at the moment. Joe and I are embarking on growing this business and in the meantime, you know, I have a large book of clients who I know that when you, and, and I know brokers will relate to this, you come offline for four or five days because you have no internet and you know, despite your efforts to use your phone and everything else, It's a nightmare, you know, because basically we've gotta look after people and I've got a big enough mortgage book to continue looking after people for, you know, many a year certainly as long as I'm fit and able to do so. So it's just basically me moving the office from Gloucestershire across the border, getting a ticket to get out of Gloucestershire into wheelchair, get signed into Wilshire and carry on. Business as usual and carry on. I'm half an hour closer to Joe physically, so that's easier for us.

We can meet halfway, half an hour away each, and, you know, we can continue to build and grow the business. So yes, I'd like to a little bit less, but I don't think it's going to happen for, for a while. I don't think I'm going to be allowed to. Joe won't allow me and the customers won't allow me, so I just won't give up and just keep going basically.

But yes, no, I do want to think about my own mental health. Think about. You know, my future so I think really the honest answer to that question is, uh, Eight, Busby Close, Stroud is the same as 10 Tilly, close Devices, Wiltshire, crack on, keep going with our customers, speaking to customers from all over the country -- spoken to 3, 4, 5 new customers this week. They're coming in by all your efforts and the efforts on our internet is doing and providing there's still a big market holiday let out there, there's no doubt about that. You know, there's, there's some doubts and concerns out there, but there's still a lot of people who want help.

Right. That's interesting. That's interesting. And, yes so are there any activities that you'd like to get involved in locally?

Well, yes. No. Golf. Yes no golf. So, basically my golf is pretty bad, but I do love it. So there, there's two golf courses. Within, within a, within a drive of here. I don't see, well, not my drive.

Might be Joe's Drive, not my drive, but anyway, there's a posh golf course in North Wiltshire and there's a course that is, should we say, changing ownership and need some help and the new owners have bought the course and they're going to put it back to its original state. So it was really exciting going over there the evening.

It's beautiful evening, beautiful course lovely trees and, and beautiful countryside surrounding. And you just think that the guys there have got a blank canvas when they get the greens mended and the grass mown. Fantastic opportunity though. I feel like I should be going in something new on that particular course.

And, I've actually asked the bowls club if I can come along and play bowls like, you know, like a lot of people, we are all good at bowls in the garden and we've all played together in the, in our time. We've all been tenpin bowling. So I think it's time to go bowling and. I actually missed the open day because we were moving in on that day.

And, but they had 27 new members. So I think there's a myth out there that bowls is for old men you know, and older people, forget that. I think there's a, I know that this particular club, there's a lot of young people there and whilst I'm not quite in that young category anymore, I'm looking forward to Getting on the green I think that's the right phrase.

I don't know. But, so waiting for a call back from those guys. I've found some walks. We live right next to the Kennet and Avon Canal. So I've been walking down the canal this morning before I started work watching the Swans and the narrow boats go by. So what's not to like?

Yes, I've heard the same thing about bowls that it's really growing in popularity and lots of people, lots of younger people are getting involved. So, hopefully we'll get a little bit more of a French attitude towards how relaxing it is and what a lovely social activity it is.  

Yes. When I start seeing you reading bowls weekly, I shall really start worrying about you.

Come on. I'm still writing. I'm still writing. Still writing. So okay. So I was wondering if, although you've kind of answered this question, but I'm wondering if you've got any ideas about what you would like to do when it comes to the business, especially now you've moved.  

Business. I think basically the business is, Joe and I to continue to create and manage and grow a sustainable mortgage brokerage, which has a family feel to it.

A feel where brokers can join us and feel relaxed and not under pressure, and not governed by targets or silly rules. We. Belong to a network that look after us really, really well. Of course they have strong compliance aims and strong compliance objectives. We've got no problem with that because they're there to keep us safe and we must do our job correctly.

So I just want to see, I, I'd like to, you know, when I hang up my pen in a number of years time, I'd love to see, love to hand over a very successful business to Joe, for Joe to do as and what. As and when he wants with it. That's the aim, really. So let's keep growing up. I have to remember Jill, and you have to remember that I started this as just me and it was very much a survival operation back to the wall.

How am I gonna earn some money? My last company that wasn't my company had been sold and I was sort of left with nowhere to go and my network came and rescued me and. I was on my own and I, you know, was delighted to do one mortgage a week and, and you know, I thought, my God, you know, I've got to earn some money because there'll be no food on the table.

It was as simple as that. Now we have new challenges. Now, you know, we have all the regulatory challenges, we have the market challenges, and we have the challenges of owning a business with employees. You know, at the end of the month, I have to pay you, Jill, and we do that by, you know, all working together, putting our shoulder to the wheel, and hopefully, um, there's a little bit left for us all at the end of the day.

Well, I have to say from my point of view, it is the loveliest work environment I've ever had the loveliest team to work with. That I've ever experienced, so, and that's, oh, thank you, 25 years in teaching.  

We, we enjoy it. So know, it's, it's not easy. And, any broker listening to this will know that every day is full of hassle and nose and rejections and kickbacks and surprises and things not quite being like you thought they were gonna be. And lenders saying yes, and lenders then saying no and value was finding something that you had no idea was going to crop up. So there's always something, but hey, you know, To use the phrase, nobody died. It's just a matter of dealing with it.

And at the end of the day, going back to where we started this podcast actually making someone's move or someone's remortgage as smooth as you can so that they write a nice review, hopefully, and, but more importantly, that they're happy, that's the most important thing. And I know that while I was waiting for decisions from a estate agent's, decisions from solicitors, Arguing with decisions or arguing with calls made by solicitors, you know, it's a stressful time buying a buying and selling a house.

Absolutely. And I find that, that that warmth and that supportive atmosphere runs throughout the whole business, throughout the whole team. And that's lovely. So I was the next thing I was going to ask you is what are your thoughts about the current climate in 2023 regarding mortgages? Because things seem to be changing really, really rapidly.

You wrote something yesterday, I think about the new a hundred percent mortgage that's coming in and yeah. Do you think there are lots of products and ideas that are just about to come on the scene? I, I think that if you probably, if you could get the key to the door of the lender's clever box, you know, I think you'd find all kinds of things going on in there.

But then I think they have to get those to market they have to be profitable for the lender. They have to be regulatory compliant you know, as I'd said to you about the hundred percent mortgages, you, you can have as many snappy schemes as you want. But at the end of the day, they've gotta be affordable for the client.

And we, we are still battling in an environment where there is a shortage of supply. Um, there's a, there's a great shortage of, of housing stock and house prices continue to rise and, and salaries don't rise at that same level. So, You know, it's not easy. It's not easy you know, people look to equity release, more people, older people are having to borrow money to help their youngsters help themselves.

There's a, you know, there's a  lot of challenges going on.  A lot of, you know, there's a lot, there's plenty of work for a good brokerage. There's no doubt about that. Right, right. Yeah. Yep. Lots happening. Lots of changes going on. In the economy and, and in the world of mortgages.  

So, have you managed to, can I just say, um, to anybody listening that Dexter, the dog has joined us and he's a king among dogs.

Yeah. He, yes, we, you asked me about the house. We had a decorator come this morning, Dexter did not like the decorator, unfortunately. Yes you've been to Joe's house so you know how it works when you are a newbie in, in Joe's house, you have to do a lot of things to get accepted by the prince.

I'm not gonna call him the king cause he's the prince. I think he is. He's not, he hasn't reached king level yet. He likes to think he has. But, yes. The, the house and holiday home official dog Has a very large character you know, when your, when your son goes on holiday and leaves him with you, you suddenly realize he's a lot harder than your own dog.

Cause there's a level, a lot of responsibility, which you didn't worry about with your own dog. We weren't, we rambled. You go on. He's a, he's a, he's a wonderful character. And I, you know, and I'm wondering what you, what you have discovered or what you think the holiday let market in your area is like in your new area.

I think Jill, to be honest, you know, you've got Bath, you've got, you've got, we're not far from doorstep. We're not far. So, so, but in, in real honesty, you know, we are a nationwide business that covers everywhere. So, you know, I was talking to our colleague yesterday about property in the Isle of Aaron.  

We've got three in Yorkshire we're looking at at the moment.

So yeah, Devises are beautiful and you know, you've got the, as I say, we've got the boats going up and down the canal, which just reminds me that people basically go on holiday and need someone to go on holiday. So, from that point of view, we've moved from one lovey area to another but I think the challenge is, you know, in the industry will have to watch carefully what the government do about trying to stem the number of new holiday lets in an area.

I understand that but you know, we keep saying you mustn't kill that area because if you, if you stop them, if you stop it, dead people will stop investing. If people stop investing, then. The, the cleaner, the, the person who does the handover, the butcher, the baker, the guy that runs the pub or the people that run the pub, is suddenly they're gonna be without employee.

And you know, whilst we want to see first time buyers in Cornwall and Devon, everywhere, of course we do and I get that entirely, but these are five, 600,000 pound houses, so let's not, you know, let's not shut the baby out with a bath water. I think that would be my message.  

Agreed. Agreed, yes. I've recently come to an area where a lot of people are employed in the business surrounding tourism.

It's called tourism. Absolutely, isn't it? It's simple. It's the T word. Yeah. Yeah. Let's not, let's not.  

I grew up Exactly. I grew up in a seaside town and my first ever job was serving ice creams. Yes it gives wonderful Sort of breath of fresh air and it does help the local economy, commerce especially quite, yeah, especially in quite remote areas.

Yes. And we've seen, seen them where we've seen much work. That's right Jill. We've seen the you know, the pressure on buy to let landlords. And a lot, a lot of small landlords are giving up. They can't cope with the regulations, the legislation, the tax changes, and they just say it's not worth it. Well, people need somewhere to rent.

This is the problem. So they won't automatically become a large landlord. The house will get sold. You could argue it's good that it's sold privately. I understand that it's someone else buying a house, but at the end of the day, there are still. A lot of people for a lot of reasons who need to rent.

Absolutely.  

And it's another rant over,  

Hey look, I love your rants. And it's getting the balance. It's just getting the balance, isn't it?  

The balance, yes. So hopefully the government regulations and rules will, will take that into account and listen to brokers and everybody involved in the industry.

Yep. Um, so we're coming to the end of this podcast. Mark, it's been absolutely lovely talking to you, and I just wanted to ask you one last question have you got anyone in mind that you could interview who's in the industry, who your listeners  would like to from? Yeah,  

Jill, that's interesting actually as you know, I like doing a podcast and you know, the more we do, the better they become, I think I enjoy listening to them and I like doing them. So I've got two ideas there. There's my sort of professional podcast, which is talking to solicitors, accountants, estate agents. Anybody holiday letting agents, anybody in the holiday industry who wants to come on board and have a chat about what's going on in that industry, I am.

Really happy to have half an hour with, have some fun as well and ask them their favorite football team and all that kind of stuff, but also get some serious stuff, um, about the holiday let world I did three, two or three years ago and they're still being listened to now, so I know it works. And then I've got my own little light here, Jill, which I'll share with you.

Don't tell anybody else, but I want to talk to people about their homes. Why did you buy that home? What is special to you about the home? So, you know, we'll talk about the area, we'll talk about why you bought it. We'll talk about the buying experience. Uh, these people have got a story too. And, uh, but I also wanna see anybody who wants to come on and talk about their home, what's special to them about their home, then, Dial in and uh, email me or whatever, a market, hh mortgages.com.

And I want to make this podcast, um, a real must listen to. That would be one of my aims in the next two or three years. Well, that's great. And, uh, shall I tweet. That little request. Shall I? Yeah, I'll leave it. Yeah, you, you tweak whatever you do. Jill, you are very good at all that stuff. Bless you.

Definitely, definitely. Ah, well thank you so much that it was wonderful you know, to chat to you and I'm sure your listeners will get an awful lot from that and also be very excited about your experiences and your new Yes, your new home and we'll want to hear more about you joining the bowling club.

Ah, anybody, sorry. I mean, anybody in Devizes? Anybody in Wiltshire? Anybody in SN 10? Anybody in SN nine or wherever we are in Wiltshire? Anybody who wants to meet up, have a coffee I know the coffee places. Um, I know the walks. So very happy to meet with professional lead minded people I don't think there's a great networking, um, um, environment here, business networking, so maybe I should start one.

I'm Happy to, happy to, to meet anybody from the area and have a chat lots to share and, good luck everybody and have a great weekend. Lovely. Thank you so much. Thanks, Jill.