‘We play an important role in changing people’s lives’

By Tony Sanchez 27th September 2023

In our latest Five Minute Interview, Tony Sanchez speaks to Cameron Linnell, Relationship Manager at Avamore Capital.

He joined Avamore at the start of 2023 to help in expanding Avamore’s continued growth in the Midlands and Northern regions, supporting brokers and schemes in these areas

Avamore Capital is a principal development and bridging lender with a forward-thinking approach.

They are dedicated to providing outstanding service and understand that developer needs are consistently evolving.

What is the best thing about being in the bridging and development finance business?

It’s fast paced and tangible. We play an important role in changing people’s lives and get to see first-hand our borrowers turning their visions into reality.

Seeing a site go from a muddy field to house(s), flats, etc. will never get old.

What keeps you focused?

A steady supply of strong coffee and knowing that there’s a human at the end of every deal we look at, sometimes it’s easy to get lost in the numbers.

What qualities do you look for in your employees or colleagues?

Honesty and hard work. If you can trust someone and know they’ll always work hard, you’ll never go wrong.

Are you an optimist or a pessimist?

If I had to say one or the other, I’d say optimist. Balance is key though.

In this industry there are positives and negatives to everything, the key is understanding both and deciding if one outweighs the other.

Positivity/optimism is important and infectious, but I think naïve optimism does more harm than good.

What did you want to be as a child?

A professional wrestler, I thought I’d cracked the code – just start the match with your finishing move, it aways confused me why they waited to use it until the end.

I was probably about 10 when I found out wrestling was ‘fake’ and my world crumbled. I’ve not watched it since.

What will be the greatest challenge facing the bridging and development finance industry in the coming months?

It’s well documented already but I think it continues to be a changing economic climate.

Margins for borrowers have been cut, exits have become trickier.

It’s important for lenders to stick to basic underwriting principles and provide a level of certainty in uncertain times.

Who or what makes you laugh?

I’ve always loved the late Sean Lock, though I do tend to laugh at my own jokes, for some reason I’m normally the only one laughing…

Do you dread Monday mornings?

I’ve always loved Mondays, I’ve got the best job in the world and I’ve been lucky enough to work for some great companies with great people.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

One of my eyes is a bit lower than the other, I’d like to have perfectly aligned eyes please.

With whom would you most like to have dinner?

I have two children, the youngest is nearly two and she steals my food. So I’d like to just eat alone, in a locked room away from her.

If I had to pick someone famous, I’d go for Sir Alex Ferguson and ask him to dish all the gossip and scandals he kept behind closed doors for going on 30 years.