Mortgages for sports professionals

We work with sportsmen and women throughout the entirety of their careers. Whatever sport you play professionally, whether you are a footballer, athlete, Rugby player or professional coach, getting a mortgage can be a little more complicated than you might expect. 

Our mortgage team can help you find the best mortgages for sport professionals and get you the property loan you require. Specialising in sports professionals’ mortgages means knowing how sports players income is made up, from short term contracts to appearance bonuses and win bonuses as well as subsidiary income from advertising and TV work. 

We work with players receiving theorist professional contract through to clients nearing sports retirement age that may be moving into other sports related occupations such as paid TV or coaching work. 

Mortgages for sports professionals include homes for you and your family to live in, second homes you will stay in occasionally or property investment mortgages (Buy to Let) for property you will rent out. As your career develops there may be additional sources of income that can be used when applying for a loan as well as future plans that you may wish to consider. 

Professional athletes, despite their potential high net worth, are often viewed as a lending risk. This is often because of the short-term fixed contracts most clubs will offer. Depending on the nature of their sport, some professionals can be highly susceptible to injury that may cut their sporting career short or impact the amount or nature of remuneration they receive.

Sporting careers tend to have a shorter shelf life than others. Many sport professionals retire in their 30’s or 40’s, or even earlier in some cases. Some mortgage lenders may be willing to lend to sport professionals based on their age at the time of applying for the mortgage and their predicted retirement age. 
Many sportspeople also receive additional sporadic income from factors such as bonuses, sponsorship and appearance fees. This can also prove difficult for a standard mortgage lender to assess.

When you are looking for a mortgage as a sports professional, lenders are likely to consider the following points:

How long you have been playing professionally? 
Many lenders will want to see that you have been a sport professional in your chosen field for at least two years. This allows them to assess income over time. However, some lenders many offer you a mortgage deal based on anticipated income if you have just been signed by a new club or sponsor.
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Portability 
Many sportspeople travel regularly as part of their role, moving around nationally or internationally. Therefore, the portability of a potential mortgage deal is something that could be important, flexibility is key if you may need to relocate.

Residential Status
If you are an overseas citizen and have moved to the UK to play professional sport, you could initially face difficulty getting as UK mortgage deal as you may not have any UK credit history. 

If you or a family member is a professional sports person, it really is imperative you take advice from an experienced Mortgage Broker. We have built up a wealth of experience across the UK within a wide variety of Sports and stages of career. Whatever Sport you are involved with please do not hesitate to get in touch to see how we can help you. ​