Local Office Spotlight : Manchester
Richard King
Head of Sales
Richard King is Head of Sales and is based in our Manchester office
How has the local office in Manchester contributed to Ortus' success?
Strong relationships are the bedrock of any successful business, and you can only build relationships by getting out and seeing people. From my base in Manchester, it’s easy to get out around the patch and for me, there’s no better use of time than spending time with our introducers.
What are the unique needs of Brokers within your area and how is the local office helping?
I look after the North West and Yorkshire for Ortus, and just as there’s a huge range of regional dialects across the region, the different areas have their own characteristics and demands.
There are also a range of broker specialisms. Some deal solely with landlords and BTL, and others trading businesses for example. Whilst they deal with different sectors the one common thing these brokers need is to be able to discuss cases with someone who has local knowledge, who can talk with authority about certain property types, the local economy and sector specific issues..
This is especially beneficial for brokers out of area who may have a deal in the North. This means we can really add value when we are talking to brokers. It can help get a positive credit acceptance or higher LTV, and we can also protect brokers from wasting their time on lost causes.
Can you share some examples of how having a dedicated team on the ground has strengthened our relationships with brokers and borrowers?
We have certainly won business due to having local knowledge. For example, one of my brokers needed a 70% LTV bridge on a residential property in Yorkshire. One of my London-based competitors would only lend 60% as they believed the property to be too remote, but from our contacts, we knew that the area was in high demand from professionals wanting to live in a large village!
We get involved in complex commercial deals, and sometimes the only way to fully understand the transaction is to get out on-site and meet the borrower. Only last week, I did a site visit for a haulage business in Lancaster where valid concerns raised by the valuer were mitigated after just 30 minutes at the property.
Being in central Manchester has also enabled me to build relationships with several valuers. This can help in a number of ways. Getting valuers to get out on site quickly for example. More useful though is sense checking a borrower’s estimate of value, both MV and VP. If a client is being unrealistic we can save them wasting their money on fees, or we can manage expectations. It’s all about adding value, going the extra mile and further than other lenders
