Over the years we have spoken to various sports people and helped them obtain mortgages. This article is about a professional golfer we were able to get a mortgage for despite a few issues.
Mortgage problems for golfers
As mentioned above when it comes to sports people there are a few issues that need to be overcome. This is the same regardless of whether you are a boxer, footballer or any other sports professional.
Variable income – This is more of an issue for individuals who play in competitions. Obviously there is sponsorship income which may be fairly consistent but winnings can vary massively. This can be another issue to overcome. In this case, our client had been relatively consistent and it had been going up. We were also quite fortunate that he had a profile which meant there was plenty on google to evidence he was of a high level – this also helped with another question the underwriters tend to have…
Income after retirement – Most professional sports people tend to finish by the time they are in their mid 30s. That leaves the question, what will you do when you retire from being a professional? Over the years we have looked at mortgages for boxers, tennis players and in this case a golfer. It is one question that needs to be considered to ensure you can still afford the mortgage when you retire or if you are injured and unable to carry on at a high level.
For this client, his future plans were to do youtube videos, and provide lessons for high net worth people and their children.
What happens if there is a drop in income? – When someone is employed, they probably have sick pay. But what happens if you become injured or there is a drop in performance and there is a drop in income? Are you maximising your borrowing? Is there an insurance policy or a savings account?
None of these things are deal breakers. But we need to ensure we have thought about these things prior to making an application as it is likely they will crop up.
This is where an experience broker can add some support and guidance to your application to not only help get the mortgage but also to ensure you have considered what will happen down the line. If you have worked hard for your home, the last thing you want is to lose it down the line.
What we did
As we have done mortgages for professional sports people previously we were able to head of a lot of the problems and discuss all of these things upfront.
We were able to get all of the relevant documents to prove income, experience and plans for the future.
We were then able to discuss the case with our account managers and/or underwriters. That meant we could narrow down the options and present them to the customer and talk it through. In this case it was actually quite simple as we were able to get him the cheapest mortgage on the market at the time for what he was looking for. Usually it is a case of easiest or cheapest.
Outcome
I have spoilt this part as I let the birdie out of the bag earlier (sorry for the poor joke). We were able to get the application straight to offer. In this case it was all discussed with our account manager upfront. We pulled out a piece of paper and wrote more or less a page of A4 giving the underwriter answers to everything we thought they would ask.
Whilst we fill out the application form, there are times we do a little more because an application is standard for everyone, if you are not quite a straightforward applicant we need to go the extra mile.
The application went straight to offer with no addition requirements. I can only take as us getting a hole in one (Last golf pun I promise).
Summary
I think this is just a nice example of where we go the extra mile. This application had the potential to be problematic as it is certainly not for every lender. It also had the potential to drag out with requests for extra information and evidence.
However I think it shows where a broker comes in handy. We can make what could be a big job nice and easy. The customer has been back to us for a couple of remortgages over the years and has also recommended us to others.