Leadership
About our senior staff
Michael Hird
Owner, Consultant and Problem Solver
From a background of building engineering, project management, development and Certification, Michael then mixed his sector knowledge and engaged with Property Finance. Having been a Senior Development Engineer and Executive Structural Engineer within manufacturing and contracting, he was also able to develop key strength and knowledge of business finance.
His quantitative and qualitative knowledge and experience of financial solutions was built upon and has contributed to, significant insight and support for SME’s, Business Owners, Sole Traders, Landlords, Freelancers…. and their families.
A seasoned specialist in business and property finance, with a twist of Independence, he deals with alternative and less well-known, as well as major player finance providers.
Michael has served as both Regional Chair and member of CIOB Professional Practice Board, been a platform speaker at the London Stock Exchange on Data Security within Financial Services, and has worked with the BBC and Radio 4 on finance and mortgage related topics.
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Doesn’t like wasting money
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Doesn’t like wasting time
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Manages
Time allowance
`Risk comes with not knowing what you’re doing’ – Warren Buffet
Innovative Ideas
`Great things in business are never done by one person. They are done by a team of people’ – Steve Jobs
Performance-driven
` Plan, Strategy, Review’ – Step-Up Finance
Clear Communication
`The question isn’t who is going to let me, it’s who is going to stop me’ – Ayn Rand
Recent Blog Posts
Recent thoughts and opinions from Step-Up Finance’s leadership team
How Many Staples Does It Take?
In the middle of what was a routine week I explained to someone why, no matter how much I empathize with their being very busy - ‘too busy to keep up with paperwork’ - the underwriter will not be as empathetic and the thirty-two pages of contract they’d signed with a dubious lender (found through [...]
Something Is Better Than Nothing
Ideas of Yield sought after in property investment continue to be the one area where folks have a pretty fair idea of what they’re looking to. I’ve mentioned this before and, for key calculations, it's worth mentioning again. 1. Net Yield is taken from the costs to a property and is a ‘fairer’ calculation [...]
A Perfect Scenario For The Well Organised
There’s been a lot of noise in the business entity and BTL marketplace over the last 10-12 months. Lending downturns have been shutting out investors and homebuyers have been having problems getting the mortgages they want. Limiting factors for purchase, BTL’s with bad returns and some first-time buyers precluded from going back into the tenant [...]
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