Southern Enterprise Awards 2021

121 | Southern Enterprise Awards 2021 Albion Forest helps people across the UK achieve their mortgage dreams, whether they are employed, self-employed or contractors. We speak to Company Owner, Mark, about the young firm and how it has found particular success with a niche target audience. Mark Robinson initially set up his mortgage company to help teachers and people working in the education industry to get mortgages. It gained popularity quickly and was simply too much for one company to handle, so Mark diversified and set up Albion Forest which focused on the broader market, providing everyone with a mortgage, with Teacher Mortgages being the brand that handled the more specialist issues. Teacher Mortgages has now gone from strength- to-strength and helps an array of teaching staff from across the UK, whilst Albion Forest focuses on a wider variety of customers. “Specialising in teacher mortgages means that we see the same problems day in and day out,” Mark says. “We are quickly able to establish what clients are looking for and help teachers get the homes they need. We also waive the bulk of our fees for education staff.” Whilst teaching staff have been the firm’s primary focus, it has also branched out into other industries over the past 12 months, including NHS under its new NHS brand, incorporating contractors and key workers too. Mark tells us more about the pandemic and how it affected business. “Whilst it has been a busy year in the housing industry thanks to the Stamp Duty holiday, the market seems to be stable with many people still buying property across the UK. We do a lot of work across the south as well as the rest of the country and everywhere appears to be moving ahead with property purchases.” As the company was founded during the pandemic, Mark and the team were already set up for, and familiar with, home working. He also doesn’t set targets for his employees, believing instead that providing a comfortable working environment for staff will help people achieve their own personal goals and targets, which will reflect positively in their work. Best Nationwide Specialist Mortgage Advisory 2021 Aug21332 Having recently been bestowed with the title of Best Nationwide Specialist Mortgage Advisory 2021 in the Southern Enterprise Awards, Mark is proud of how far the company has come. With regards to the future, he has his sights firmly set on expansion. “We really want to strengthen our support for teachers and education staff as our main focus,” he states. “However, I intend to expand the firm throughout 2022 by bringing on another mortgage advisor, protection advisor, paraplanner and further admin support too.” As Albion Forest grows, there is little doubt that this young and award-winning firm will be one to watch. Contact: Mark Robinson Company: Albion Forest & Teacher Mortgages Web Address: https://albionforest.co.uk & https://teacher-mortgage.com