Northamptonshire mortgage advisor bucks the trend

A COUNTY businessman is bucking the trend by digging in and finding new ways of surviving the recession.
Paul Anstee, who runs Money Tree Mortgages in Raunds, told how he weathered the stormy waters of the recession and survived the financial meltdown which saw many of his like fold and go under.
Mr Anstee, 45, who lives in Thrapston, set up Money Tree Mortgages in 1997 after years in the corporate world of estate agency and mortgage arranging.
He said: "I think I became fed up with the corporate world. Estate agents were tied up with particular banks and I felt they were not truly unbiased.
"I wanted to do something which gave customers ‘whole of market options’."
Mr Anstee, whose wife is a partner at Daventry-based opticians Anstee and Proctor, saw his business grow and grow, peaking in 2007 during the property boom.
He said: "From that peak, we saw business then fall off the side of a cliff fairly rapidly.
"By late 2007/2008 the recession hit home. It felt as if someone had slammed the brakes on."
His situation was worsened by the controversial closure of the Nationwide building society franchise he owned at his base in Brook Street, as the banking fiasco and crisis hit home.
Mr Anstee said: "I had to dig deep. I kept overheads low and costs down."
But one of the keys which unlocked his recovery was his decision to diversify and offer customers more than just mortgage advice.
Having been around in the area for some years his larger customer base helped keep him afloat, despite a 50 per cent drop in business.
He said: "Customers were coming to me, saying, ‘Paul, I can’t do anything with my mortgage but what about life cover or income protection. They could see the need to protect themselves and hopefully as the economy picks up, those leads will turn to people wanting to save again, bringing in another strand of business.
"Diversification was the key. It has been a tough learning curve but some of us have survived this recession and fight on."
Money Tree Mortgages now boasts an impressive list of products, including, mortgages, building and contents insurance, life cover and income protection.
For more information call in at 30-32 Brook Street, Raunds, call 01933 623722, fax 01933 460265, or e-mail psa@moneytreemortgages.co.uk. You can also visit www.moneytreemortgages.co.uk