For this month’s ‘In Focus‘ campaign across IFA Magazine’s Mortgage & Property Investment Magazine, we’re exploring leadership within the mortgage and property sector – from building stronger teams and supporting adviser development to helping clients navigate an increasingly complex market.
To kick things off, Jorden Abbs, Chief Executive at Commercial Trust, discusses why brokers are increasingly being valued for their guidance, specialist knowledge, and long-term client support, as landlords face more complex borrowing decisions and changing market conditions.
Working closely with brokers and landlords gives us a clear view of how the market is changing. Landlords today need more than access to products and rates. They need advisors who can help them understand their options, structure decisions carefully and move forward with confidence.
For brokers, that shift creates both a challenge and an opportunity. The firms that invest in advisor development, specialist knowledge and a strong advice culture will be best placed to earn long-term client trust.
Good advice is about clarity, not just choice
Securing a competitive rate will always matter, but good advice has never been just about the rate alone. Landlords need advisors who can understand the full picture, filter the market carefully and give a clear recommendation they can trust.
They are asking which structure suits a limited company purchase, whether an HMO conversion stacks up, and how to manage a portfolio under pressure. The broker who can lead that conversation, rather than simply process it, is the one trusted with the next deal and the one after that. The role is moving from transaction to guidance – whilst being careful not to stray into financial advice – and the brokers building that habit now are the ones securing their place in the market for years to come.
Stronger teams are built through shared knowledge
The cases landlords bring are becoming more complex, and no one person can stay up to date across all of them, nor should they be expected to. A landlord may be refinancing a mixed portfolio, considering a limited company structure, and looking at a semi-commercial property or conversion opportunity at the same time. Few advisors will have handled every element of that scenario in isolation, let alone together.
The brokers and advice firms that handle this best are often those with a strong culture of knowledge-sharing. Advisors should feel able to talk difficult cases through with peers, call on specialists when a case moves beyond their usual work, and support newer advisors through mentoring.
In a more complex market, staying up to date will depend less on knowing everything and more on knowing where to find the right answer quickly.
Reading an uncertain market on the client’s behalf
Landlords are operating in a market that has become harder to read, with shifting rates, regulations, and tax considerations all influencing portfolio decisions. The broker of the future is part interpreter, calm when clients are anxious, honest about what is uncertain, and proactive rather than reactive, reaching out before a rate-end date forces the conversation, analysing portfolios proactively, in advance.
Landlords increasingly evaluate brokers not on the deal alone, but on whether they felt looked after, and the brokers who get that right now are the ones who will keep their clients for the long term.
For brokers and advice firms, three skills will become increasingly important: the judgement to advise rather than simply quote; the networks and specialist relationships to handle cases beyond their usual expertise; and the discipline to stay close to clients between transactions, not only when a renewal date is approaching.
These are not abstract leadership ideas. They are practical habits that can be built into a business through training, mentoring, collaboration and a culture that puts long-term client outcomes first. The brokers who invest in those habits now will be the ones landlords continue to rely on in the years ahead.
Lastly, if you don’t have the capacity to service complex enquiries, working with a specialist partner can save a relationship you may risk losing if your response to an enquiry would otherwise be “sorry, I can’t help”.
