Our last month of 2023
It’s Christmas…..
We talk about Christmas a lot in our industry! It’s a time frame many of our clients use to be in a new house by or sort their re-mortgage out by. Well, it is well and truly here and fortunately many of our clients have had their Christmas wish and have completed before Christmas!
As you probably know I am fan of polls on my social posts! Some of the girls were disappointed on my latest poll results with Band Aid not winning the favorite Christmas song. I wonder if my favorite Christmas film ‘Home Alone’ would have been top if we had done a film poll instead?
We joined the ladies at Samantha Cerrone Bespoke Estate Agents for our Christmas party at the start of December at The Dry Spy in Bromsgrove and can confirm that many of the lovely cocktails (alcoholic and mocktail) on the menu were tried and tested.
We then closed our Birmingham office this week to have the whole team together for one last time this year in Redditch for a Prosecco and Pizza lunch (thank you to Movin Legal for treating us).
Kate had a day out in London on the 7th December, at the prestigious Lloyds Banking Group Top Writers Lunch for the 2nd consecutive year – and for the second year this has been her favourite event.
Kate also attended The Mortgage Introducer Awards, hosted by Barclays.
And finally, Kelly attended the Primis Leading Ladies event at The Belfry which she thoroughly enjoyed.
I wanted to say a thank you to all of our providers, lenders and legal professionals this year who have provided us with training.
We couldn’t be successful without the knowledge we gain from the valuable training sessions we regularly have. A final thank you this month to Saffron, Accord, The Mortgage Lender, Royal London and Movin Legal.
A really good mixture and range of training to end the year!
We Did It!
Thank you to all of our clients who have taken time to write a google review for us this year. It means the world to us, and we can’t stress how important our presence on google is.
We were aiming for 600 5-star reviews and you didn’t disappoint and we hit this number earlier this month. Just to decide now on our target for next year!
In The News
The base rate held again in December for the third consecutive month, and this week it has been reported that Inflation has continued to reduce since October which is all good news for the mortgage world.
We still can’t predict exactly what is going to happen in 2024, but this is likely to bring some much-needed steadiness to the markets.
- Yasmin passing her protection exams. My very first employee stepping out of her comfort zone and becoming an authorised Protection Advisor – we couldn’t have been prouder.
- Reaching 600 5-star Google reviews (Anyone who has asked customers for a review will know how much time and effort has gone into getting these, we ask for them regularly and consistently – it’s now become part our process!)
- Winning an award in March for ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance)
- Attending the overseas ‘Recognising Elite’ event held in Valencia in September for the 2nd consecutive year.
- Surviving 2023!!
All is well that ends well
Our 2024 diary is starting to fill- we have a Saturday in January which is already fully booked.
Do not leave it until the last minute. We are inviting anyone with a mortgage product due to expire before 30 June 2024 to book in and we can review the best new products for you and continue to monitor them until completion so you don’t have to.
You don’t need to be an existing client to book in and benefit from our review service! Clients book appointments with us for all sorts of reasons. Maybe you are fact finding and want to see how much you could borrow and how much monthly payments would be on a new property.
Many of our re-mortgage clients express a wish to borrow extra for a range of reasons such as debt consolidation, or home improvements. Protection is an important part of our process and it’s just as important to us that you and your family can afford to pay your mortgage and essential bills during the worst times, which is why we will always recommend a protection review for new and returning customers. Sometimes (actually most of the time these days!) one or two appointments is not enough, and by the time you complete you will recognise our number calling!
I wanted to end this year’s blog by saying thank you to our loyal clients who come back to us time and time again. This year has been the toughest yet, for many reasons but our customer’s understanding and empathy towards us when giving them bad news has got us all through it.
It’s a time of year that I am able to relax and reset so I will be taking a well-deserved break over the Christmas period. I have a fantastic group of ladies here who work tirelessly for our clients, and it’s comforting to know I can have a holiday and leave the business in very capable and trustworthy hands for a week or so!
2023 is ending with a lot more stability I feel. The rates may not be as low as people had hoped they would reach, but the steadiness and calmness that has been around over the last couple of months is a complete contrast to the chaos from earlier in the year.
I have moved house myself this year and have so much empathy for our clients who have done so during such turbulent times financially. A normally stressful time multiplied even more by the news headlines. I hope we provided comfort to people during these times, and even if we didn’t always have the answers immediately, I pride myself on a business where customer service is at the centre of everything, and our clients knowing that we are just at the end of the phone (email or WhatsApp!) if they need us.
I am regularly asked my predictions for 2024. I really don’t know if the rates will increase again, or how low they will go. What 2023 has taught me is that things in the financial world can be extremely unpredictable, and that we need to keep on our toes and adapt quickly in response to what is going on around us, which we will continue to do next year!
Thank you to our followers who take the time to read or blogs and other social posts.
🎄 Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year 🎄
Call Us
Email Us
Our Location
301 Pershore Road South, Kings Norton, Birmingham, B30 3EX
Birmingham Mortgage Advice is a trading name of McTernan Financial Ltd who are an Appointed Representative of PRIMIS Mortgage Network, a trading name of Advance Mortgage Funding Ltd. Advance Mortgage Funding Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Registered Office: 8 Church Green East, Redditch, B98 8BP. Registered in England and Wales. Company number: 09168296.
YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE
Most Buy-to-Let Mortgages are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
The guidance and/or advice contained within this website is subject to the UK regulatory regime and is therefore primarily targeted at consumers based in the UK.