I live in West London, so my commute into work is just under an hour. I do not enjoy rush hour, so try to arrive at the office at around 8am. I prefer to be in the office on Mondays – it helps me to plan for the week ahead.
Tuesday
I am at my desk for 8am, which gives me an hour and a half to respond to emails and make a few phone calls.
I am part of Foster Denovo’s internal development programme, Quantum Leap, and my mentoring session starts at 9:30am. I sit with other partners from the firm, and we look at ways to improve client service levels and increase our business. Then we receive training on tools such as effective trust planning and cashflow modelling.
Wednesday
I spend the first part of the morning working from home, and then leave for a client meeting at 11.30am.
This client is a property investor with a relatively big portfolio in South East London who is keen to buy more. However, in order to do this, we need to work out the best approach. The majority of the meeting is focused on her goals for the future. I then take some time to collect some hard facts which will affect the products I can recommend, and we agree an action plan before she leaves.
My next meeting is at 2.30pm with a married couple who are keen to look at refinancing their current home on to a buy-to-let mortgage to raise a deposit to purchase their dream home.
Thursday
Before 8am I am at a networking breakfast meeting property professionals.
Following this, I meet with a conveyancer who has some useful experience I am hoping to bring in to support a complex client scenario I am working on.
Returning to the office at around midday, I spend two hours working on a complex case, where the client would like to take a short-term loan against his assets.
In the afternoon, I have a meeting with a business development manager from a lender that would like us to place some business with them.
Friday
After a long and busy week I like to take Fridays a bit easier. I arrive at the office for around 10am.
I spend the next few hours applying for decisions in principle for the married couple who had come to see me on Wednesday. Fortunately these pass, so I request further information and documentation from the clients. Once I receive this information I will be ready to progress to full mortgage application.
I have a weekly accountability meeting with one of the other partners at which we talk through the challenges of the week and how many clients we have communicated with.
I tidy my notes and make a new to-do list for my activities next week.
I have a 5.30pm meeting with the owner of a South London-based estate agent. After the meeting I meet some friends for a Friday night drink nearby. I am home at around 10pm.
Augusta Onyiuke-Eluma is a partner at Foster Denovo
