Adviser on the risk of switching to mortgages after 20 years of working in a very different profession
For nearly 20 years, Eric Miller (pictured) was a croupier within the casino industry. He saw risk up close and he saw large sums of money changing hands – switching careers to become a broker wasn’t as big a gear change as you might first think.
The casino job Miller took on to make a bit of extra money before university became a career after his studying ended, more by accident than design. But a fascination with property and his own growing buy-to-let portfolio eventually led him to the mortgage profession, and away from the West End casino where he was based.
“When COVID came up, everyone was on furlough and the company was offering redundancies,” Miller told Mortgage Introducer. “I never felt like I would ever struggle to find a job, but obviously COVID was a big leveller for that - some casinos completely shut down. My wife said to me, ‘what are you going to do?’ I said, ‘I'm going to go and be a mortgage broker.’ The casino was all about numbers and people. Essentially, working in a casino is about customer relations and building a rapport. There was a lot more social responsibility towards the end of my time in the industry, where we were having to talk to people about their incomes, their outgoings and their affordability. There were similarities.”
He continued: “I have worked in Mayfair where people are gambling millions of pounds a day. I have worked in the provinces, in Southend, where I started, where someone might spend £5, £10 over an evening. You don't judge people based on that - everyone's a VIP, as I like to say, and the same goes for mortgages. Just because someone wants something that's maybe a smaller, shared ownership mortgage, it doesn't mean they deserve any less respect than someone who's got a large portfolio, and wants to build a development.”
Read more: How good do you have to be at mathematics as a mortgage broker?
How valuable is a broker’s expertise?
Miller had seen for himself the value of a good broker when the complexity of his income as a croupier – including tips – required mortgage expertise to secure him the finance he needed. Emboldened by his own CeMAP training, he began a new career. Miller is a self-employed mortgage broker working within Affinity Group, based in Southend-on-Sea, advising on everything from vanilla, residential mortgages to more complex specialist and development finance, including commercial bridging. The customer service skills which he learned in casinos, inform the way he approaches his work now. He may have come to mortgages later in life – having started only four years ago - but he believes he brings a rich source of life skills to the role.
“I'm old enough that people understand I have the life experience to be able to help them with a life-changing decision,” said Miller, 41. “I think it's key, I think it helps you. If I'd have come straight out of school and become a broker, I don't think there'd been a very good transition. I would have been put into a role where I would maybe be churning out mortgages and then I'd have to learn about things the hard way, without understanding property or life.”
He acknowledges that his new profession is more financially rewarding than his previous one. “I have a lifestyle that I want to maintain, but I think the beauty of where I work now is the freedom and the flexibility I have,” he explained. “I chose to go self-employed because I was confident I would be able to do enough business. I had some properties in the background to tie me over and felt I could take that risk.”
What business lessons has Miller learned in this second incarnation of his working life?
“One of the things I would say is don’t count your chickens before they hatch,” he shared. “From a broker point of view, you can't rely on the money that's coming from a deal until after it's completed. Vendors pull out of chains, buyers pull out of chains. Nothing's guaranteed until it's done - don't get over excited, financially. You can’t spend it until it cashes in.
“I have found that if you treat people with respect, they treat you with respect. You've got to be able to connect with your clients. You will see people who understand finances, they understand business, and they just want someone who's got access to better rates. Then, you see people who might need their hand held a little bit. I have people apologising to me because they don't understand the difference between products and I say, ‘there's no reason to apologise, why would you know all of that?’ You can go and do as much research as you like, but you're not going to have the access that we have, to find solutions for those quirky deals.” He concluded: “I like being able to help – it really makes a difference to people.”
