Ten years ago, aged 31, I was thinking about buying a property and a friend recommended Nigel. She said “You have to talk to this man, he made the impossible happen!”
How could I not?!
At that stage I felt overwhelmed by everything and really needed help. I’m a self-employed photographer and always thought I’d never be able to afford to live in London. I assumed it would be too difficult because as a freelance, my income is fairly unstable.
But even though I really needed help I went into it with a bit of scepticism. I thought that Pelier would probably give me the same advice available on the internet, and that therefore it would be a waste of time and money, but I was so wrong!
He really made sure he understood my situation.
I was a complete novice. I had no idea how mortgages worked, but he actually made it intelligible. He walked me through all the different types available, the different interest rates etc explained the steps I needed to take should I be successful.
He explained that if I could put down a tiny bit more on the deposit, my interest rate would come down and I would end up paying less overall.
He continued to coach me for a good two years before I managed to actually buy a place!
When I did find somewhere I wanted to buy I was gazumped, but I’m glad because the second place I found was The One. Now I’m sitting in a new build property in a good area of London, when I initially thought I wouldn’t even be able to afford an ex-council flat!
After the mortgage, Nigel helped to make sure I had personal protection in to cover the mortgage payments if anything happened to me. It wasn’t just “Here’s the mortgage and off you go” he made sure I wasn’t left financially vulnerable.
He also introduced me to great accountant.
I was also struggling to understand pensions so Nigel sat down with me and talked me through it all so that we can pick up on it again in the future.
I thought it’s too expensive, and who’s going to want to give me a mortgage? There’s no guarantee next month I’ll be making money! But now I’m actually paying a lot less per month than when I rented. Nigel really did make the impossible happen. I also felt like he cared.
I’ve referred to three or four friends since who were in the same situation as me – self-employed, with no stable income and I couldn’t speak more highly of Pelier Financial and Nigel – I trust them completely.