Rugby team mates kicking on with expansion of mortgage consultancy

A former Super League player who made the switch from prop to property has marked five years of running his own mortgage consultancy by moving into a new office to house his expanding squad.

James Green spent 10 years with Hull Kingston Rovers including six in the first team and then played for various clubs across the north while also investing in property as the first steps into his future career.

Now Green & Green is a five-strong team which includes James’s former Bradford Bulls team-mate Rhys Evans as a consultant and is providing mortgage advice to clients across the country, with a speciality in finding solutions for athletes and others on short-term contracts.

James, who comes from Beverley, launched the business in 2020 from a box room in his home near Hull. At the time he was playing for York City Knights and used the spare time arising from the pandemic to develop his business skills and experience.

He said: “The rugby league season was cancelled but I was being paid during lockdown and that gave me 12 months to work on the business full-time.”

James bought his first rental house during his last year with Rovers in 2016 and that taught him some important lessons as he combined property management with playing rugby. Clubs included Leigh Centurions, Castleford Tigers and the Bradford Bulls, and times were hard

He said: “It gave me experience of finding a property, refurbishing it and renting it and we sold it last year. I used to finish training early in the afternoon and then do four hours painting at the house! The key skill I developed was project management, with various trades coming in and out and doing different types of work.

“I just wanted to carve out a half decent living after my rugby league experience of back-to-back relegations and a near administration. I wanted something simple that would sink or swim purely because of me. The intention was to never employ anybody because I didn’t want the responsibility, but the business grew so quickly that I brought someone in to do the admin.”

Green & Green initially took a small office at ergo Business Centre, the office complex at Bridgehead, Hessle, operated by Invest East Yorkshire. As more staff joined James began to look at the next steps, and now the business has moved into a bigger space.

He said: “I had to move the business out of my house because the box room was the first thing I saw I the morning and the last thing in the evening. I brought in someone to do the admin and we soon outgrew our initial office at ergo as we recruited another advisor and another administrator.

“I’m, conscious that so far we have always grown out of necessity. We have never pre-empted anything, yet a big part of our approach is to encourage clients to get ahead of things so we need to heed our own advice.”

The business has three core pillars – lead generation to find new clients, advising clients as they come on board, and providing effective and efficient admin to keep on top of complex regulations.

Confidence is high because of the company’s general business levels, the links which James and Rhys maintain with their sporting connections, and the awareness of the need to plan ahead.

James said: “In property generally we see that the climate is improving and there are positive things to shout about. We also see potential in helping professional athletes find mortgage options which work in the uncertain environment of short-term contracts, which is something we’ve grown up with.

“We have never taken on any debt and we have a gradual growth plan around expanding to a maximum team of eight. As part of that it may be that I’ll move into a business development role looking at different markets and areas that we haven’t tapped into yet.”