SoMo reveals London office as business sees record first half of 2021
SoMo, one of the UK’s leading specialist lenders, has seen a series of record-breaking months across completions, offers and funding since the beginning of 2021.
Based in Greater Manchester SoMo provides ultra-competitive rates for residential and commercial bridging loans secured over UK property. The company has lent over £184m under its ethos to lend money safely and secured, which has continuously remained at the heart of its purpose.
Newly announced premises in London will act as a central hub for future expansion and to further cement SoMo’s presence across the UK. The new office will have a dedicated London underwriting team that have experience in the highly competitive London bridging space. This experience will be vital to help SoMo’s brokers secure fast completions.
Following a significant rebrand from The BridgeCrowd at the end of last year, SoMo has since gone from strength to strength, redeeming £117m in loans and paying £13.9m in interest to date in 2021 with zero capital losses. Additionally, it can be revealed that across seven years SoMo has maintained an ROI of 11.8% for its investors.
SoMo also continues to exceed previous lending records with over 350 offers in May totalling £75m, comprised of bridging loans for business and property investment purchases. Alongside this, the business signed 11 completions in a single day and further 28 in June alone.
Louis Alexander, CEO of SoMo, commented: “It’s been a hugely encouraging first half of 2021 and we’re proud of our growth and achievements to date. Following the rebrand, the business has continued to evolve and build on our reputation as experienced lenders who truly understand our clients.
“But it’s true what they say, slow and steady wins the race. Our number one priority is providing safe and secure loans for our customers and investors, and as a business we’re aiming for incremental growth, rather than scaling up quickly at the expense of the safety of funds.
“We’d rather be in business for 50 years and prioritise safety and compassion for both investors and borrowers, than take unnecessary risk.”
The launch of its SoMo Broker Family in April this year has been pivotal to much of the ongoing success of the business. Providing an exclusive experience to those with proficiency in bridging, the initiative offers a host of benefits including access to new and exclusive funding lines and enhanced procuration fees. Currently, 38 brokers from the lender’s network have been selected to join and SoMo has seen repeat business making up around 85% of deals done since the launch of Family.
In May, SoMo also launched its Investor Family, an initiative which came as part of the businesses ongoing commitment to giving back to existing and loyal investors. The initiative comes with exclusive perks including current rate protection, amongst many other benefits.
This month, to further strengthen its product offering, the business has launched SoMo 300k+, specifically for loans between £300k and £3m, which sits neatly beside its hugely popular Low Rate product and Valuation Only offerings. More products are in development and planned to launch before 2022.
The business is looking to grow its current active loan book of £60m to £80m by year end. Last year, SoMo secured a significant, institutional funding arrangement to continue its sustainable growth trajectory.
Last year the lender focused on expanding its team, appointing Jamie Jolly into the role of managing director and growing its headcount to over 50 people. Since January, there have been further hires in the business development team, now at a headcount of nine from five at the beginning of 2021. The marketing team has also recently expanded from being two to five-strong, as SoMo prepares for rapid future growth.