I once read that the factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog and the dog will be there to stop the man touching the machinery.
Of course, what they are saying is that automation and new technology will deskill manufacturing and certainly that seems to be the case. In the 1980’s manufacturing industries were slimmed down and in some cases abandoned. In the 1990’s the service sector followed and there was a serious downsizing of the financial services sector in general and commercial mortgages in particular. Branches of building societies, banks and finance houses were closed and the staff made redundant. At best, the larger branches were left open but with a much reduced and flatter management structure. Has financial services deskilled with the aid of new technology? This appears to be the case with much expertise lost to the dole and opportunities subsequently missed.
Lenders have become more centralised and distant from their customers and local knowledge is lost. This is why mortgage lenders specialising in Property Investment Finance or Buy to Lets have rules which seem to make no sense but attempts to “protect” the lender against fraud or reckless lending. One such rule is that the lender will not lend where a property has been completed, i.e. signed off by NHBC or similar, less than six months previously. There must be a reason somewhere in their financial model and I am sure they believe it makes sense but I cannot understand why all these centralised lenders stick rigorously to it. Perhaps it is because lenders that are lending are so inundated with applications that this is a way of staunching the flow.
Whatever the reason, because of our connections at commercial Broker All Property Finance, we can source funding for those purchases. Typically at an interest rate of 4% over base with a repayment term of up to 30 years with some interest only if required. It is completely immaterial when a property was built as long as it is signed off by the building warranty company.
So is it is important to understand that one size does not fit all particularly for residential development finance and commercial mortgages.
No matter what your property investment ideas are, please give All Property Finance a try. There are absolutely NO UPFRONT FEES and no obligation to accept any offer of finance. With our expertise we guarantee that any offer will be the very best available.