This week, Mortgage Solutions is speaking with Steve Johnson, area director at broker-focused conveyancing distributor Broker Conveyancing.
Which locations and how many advisers and broker firms do you cover in your role at Broker Conveyancing?
I cover East Anglia and Essex, from Norwich to Southend, over into Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire too. Presently looking after 600-plus advisers.
What personal talent/skill is most valuable in doing your job?
Relationship-building – both with clients externally and internally in whatever company that I have worked for. Still working on improving this skill, but as a former boss recently told me, “Every team needs a Steve Johnson”, which I took as a huge compliment.
What personal talent/skill would you most like to improve on?
Finishing one task before starting another – one of my clients has one file on his desk at a time, completes what needs to be done and then moves on to the next. That would be the dream.
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What’s the hardest part of your job?
Traffic and roadworks. With the job and industry, while they have their challenges, being surrounded and working with, and for, excellent advisers and colleagues makes the role rewarding. However, I could do without the delays on the A12/A14 and M25. Having said that, I still love this part of the country.
What do you love most about your job?
Helping brokers, many of whom I now consider friends after 20 years of visiting them and assisting them with enquiries and cases. It’s particularly rewarding to see how some have gone from working alone at a kitchen table to employing 20-plus people and running successful businesses.
What’s the best bit of career-related advice you’ve ever been given?
While we sometimes ask for a reference or account number, remember this relates to real people and impacts the dreams and desires they have – they are more than a number. This was mentioned to me back in my Barclays Bank days in the 1980s and has stuck with me since.
How do you keep up to date with developments in the market?
Brokers will fill you in on what is happening in the market, plus I have read Mortgage Solutions for years. Also, colleagues are a great source of information.
What is the most quirky/unique property deal you’ve been involved in?
Assisting a client buying a residential property that had a former windmill attached springs to mind – the only one that I have had to deal with.
Tell us about your trickiest case – what happened and how did you resolve the problem(s)?
Dealing with a former TV personality who shall remain nameless (sadly no longer with us), who was trying to buy not one but two properties at the same time, both for his own use. I think we had about seven properties that fell through due to his inability to stop looking at others coming on the market. He did complete on two eventually, thankfully, but it just needed a touch of patience from all involved.
What was your motivation for choosing this career?
I was working in a bank and a colleague who dealt with mortgages left and no one else wanted to step up, so I volunteered. Fast-forward 18 months and I was then managing a team of six, covering 17 offices. The role and the housing industry felt like a natural fit and has been my bread and butter for over 25 years.
If you could do any other job in the property sector, what would it be and why?
I would love to have been a surveyor – probably an element of being just a little bit nosey, also spending time travelling around the glorious Eastern part of the UK. Not sure I could cope with any role that was desk-bound all day long every day.
What did you want to be growing up?
I wanted to join the Metropolitan Police, but colour blindness prevented that from happening.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
Teleportation. I love seeing the world, but would happily do without trips to airports, checking in, overpriced airport parking, aeroplane food and flight delays.
What is your strategy for tackling challenges?
Tackle them head-on, deal with it first and don’t let it fester.
What is your greatest skill(s), either work- or non-work-related?
I think it is humour. However, my family and friends might say otherwise, as they have heard my limited repertoire before and frequently.
And finally, what’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked?
“Are you Jack Dee?” Apparently, I have some resemblance to him.
