We can all forgive ourselves for being a little dazed and confused as we continue to adapt our working and personal lives to a Covid-19 world. The coronavirus is exacting a heavy cost on our societies, our healthcare system and, in too many cases, our loved ones, friends and family.

The economic impact of the crisis has been swift and beyond anything we’ve seen in recent times – even in the depths of the 2008 financial crisis. When faced with a near-constant slew of gloomy headlines, it’s important to still find time to try to take comfort from some of the positives of the situation we all find ourselves in. Both at home and at work there are always some to focus on in order to ensure we remain resilient and can cope with what the weeks and months ahead may hold for us.

Lockdown life

Lockdown life obviously means we are now all very limited in what we do on a daily basis! Nonetheless, my ambition has been to make the best of the current situation. That has meant getting more exercise, enjoying walks around our village and seeing my neighbour’s gardens looking like they have not done for some time. It also means spending more time with my family. I have also ticked more than a few longstanding DIY jobs that I’ve been procrastinating over for some months (years?) off of my personal to do list!

Focusing on the positives means we can start to enjoy really ‘living’ in our own home. Using the lockdown to spend significant chunks of quality time with my family has been genuinely rewarding. Perhaps there is a lesson here in how we should all be striving to lead our lives once the coronavirus is behind us.

Mortgage market matters

There is more positive news to share from the mortgage market as well. We are seeing more large lenders bringing more mortgage products back to the market, which provides choice and certainty to borrowers and advisers alike. Lender operations teams are breathing a sigh of relief and returning to some type of ‘new normal’ as the main surge of customer enquiries from the early weeks of the crisis subsides. Many lenders are also embracing automated valuation tools to continue to support new enquiries.

I am spending more time with lender and key partner contacts as well. The formal London meetings, with travel and difficulties finding diary space, have been replaced with more informal video catchups. Conversations with colleagues and partners have in some ways become far more ‘human’ as we share our isolation stories and lockdown experiences. Bringing more of ourselves to work and letting those we work with into our personal lives a bit more can only be a good thing.

I am also finding comfort in the fact that this human approach is having business benefits. I have particularly enjoyed hearing stories about brokers ringing up customers just to chat and check in – no hard sell. This is the kind of positive, ‘all in this together’ attitude we all need and it’s leading to better conversations as well as business leads.

In our locked–down digital world, we need the people side of business even more. That human element, and the trust and reassurance that great advisers can provide to borrowers, remains vital to our customers. That is the true value of advice.

What’s ahead

So, what else can we do to prepare for life after lockdown, and ensure a healthy mortgage market for the months and years to come?

Even with the purchase market on hold, there are ways that advisers can continue to deliver valued reassurance and support to our customers. This includes helping existing clients to remortgage, building new contacts in their network and helping clients who’ve had to put their housing plans on hold to get in the best position for when the market reopens. The plethora of videoconference technology platforms means advisers have a wide range of options for ways to connect with customers face-to-face (if not in person!).

There is some way to go, of course. Lending levels are just 50 per cent of what we saw before the crisis – much of this being remortgage business and product transfers. It’s a hard market for advisers to be operating in. Lender support is vital to the intermediary world and I would therefore like to call on lenders whose procuration fees on PTs are not at acquisition levels to think about whether there is scope to increase their fees, at least temporarily.

We are all in this together and emerging from this crisis in the strongest possible position means ensuring a vibrant, healthy mortgage advice market. If we all work together through the challenges to come, I am certain we can achieve that.

Kevin Roberts, director, Legal & General Mortgage Club