"Then it's just sort of working through those applications till they're done. Some lenders cut off at 8pm, some lenders cut off at 10pm, some lenders cut off at midnight. So we've had all ends of the spectrum."
He estimates during some busy weeks recently he saved clients as much as £100,000 a week by staying up late.
"Not every broker is physically able to do that. If I had kids and more responsibilities and things, I couldn't be necessarily doing all of this at their bath time. But then if you don't do it, you feel really bad that the client's missed out on this, even though it's not your fault."
Despite this, he does not put his chances of success very high on very fast turnaround times as it is often hard to get hold of all the documentation needed in time.
To alert clients to the potential need to act quickly, his firm has put in place risk warnings saying what is available today might not be available tomorrow.
But, unlike some of his peers, he does not think mortgage lenders are overreacting to the current market volatility. "They're having to react very quickly because their cost of funds are changing very quickly."
Looking back, the past three years have been "very tough for everyone" in the property market, he says.
"It's definitely had ups and downs. Ups obviously when the stamp duty holiday was going on and the race for space and everyone was rushing out to buy.
"We haven't had anywhere near the purchase volume that we have had over the past few years."
He says things were a "a lot simpler" when Sykes started his career in 2016. However, they were not particularly rosy times for the property sector either.
Buy-to-let borrowers were facing cuts to their mortgage interest rate relief and a new 3 per cent stamp duty was introduced on second homes. Plus, the market suffered under the 2016 Brexit referendum, which spooked many buyers.
Sykes entered mortgage advice after university. Having studied business and finance he was asked to go on a work placement after his second year, which he did at a mortgage brokerage run by a family friend.
The work became so endeared to him that he decided to study for his mortgage exams while completing his third year at uni.
"I actually joined Private Finance straight out of university," he says. "It had the finance side that I like, because I like working with numbers. I'm sort of good at that.
"Then it has the people skills because it's great working with clients and having those really long-term relationships.
"So it's really fulfilling in that way, that you get to help people through [buying their dream home]."
