This Week In Property Podcast

Everyone in property today knows about the buzz and the hype of the Furnished Holiday Let / Serviced Accommodation sector.

But what if you were someone who operates ahead of the curves in the market?

What if you were a traditional buy-to-let landlord, who bought a coastal property just to improve its condition, and then decided through the process to give this holiday market stuff a go?

And what if that 1 accidental property then led you to buildling an empire with over 300 employees, with over 750 properties under management, and a projected revenue of £30m in 2023?!

Well, that just happens to be the remarkable and inspiring story of today's guest, Dale Smith, the CEO of the SDDE Smith Group...

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> Listen to Dale speak about his early family roots in the motor trade industry and a dad he watched buy his first buy-to-let property as an early step into investing...

> Hear Dale speak about the remarkable group of companies and services that he and his team have built up around them in a remarkably short period...

> Listen to Dale's opinion on the short-term-let market, the changes in legislation, the problems in planning, and the way he believes that guests should be protected and served...

> Dale shares some of his key insights in maximising Return On Investment, and the key factors he's guided by when assessing a holiday property to purchase...

> Hear Dale speak of finding balance. Balance in his business, in his portfolio, and in his precious family life...

Sadly, the majority of business people and investors set off excitedly on their path to generate income and build wealth, without a proper thought on their end goal.

What is it they want to achieve? How do they want to pass on their wealth and legacy? What will be best for their survivors? And how will it all be planned and protected?

That's where today's guest, Adrian Benjamin from AdrianBFinance steps in to help out. With the mission of: Financially Protecting You, Your Family and Business...

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Adrian has over 10 years' experience working internationally for the largest Investment and Corporate banks in the world such as Natwest, Barclays, RBS, UBS, and HSBC. Adrian has also been a Financial Consultant for Bloomberg, Visa, Accenture and Deloitte.

Adrian now specialises in Financial Protection where he helps property investors protect themselves, their families and their businesses. He helps people pass on generational wealth in a tax efficient manner.

In today's show, we have a fascinating chat with Jessica Edgerton, Executive Vice President, and Chief Legal Counsel at Leading RE (Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®)...

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With offices in London, Chicago and Singapore, Leading RE is a global network of top independent real estate firms, with 550 companies and 136,000 sales associates in over 70 countries. Network members participated in over 1.2 million global transactions last year. LeadingRE supports its members with powerful connections to other market leaders and access to innovative, performance-driven programs. Its online learning platform, LeadingRE Institute, was named to Training magazine's Top 10 Hall of Fame.

As the driving force behind Leading RE's learning initiatives, Jessica is also one of the property industry's most influential women professionals.

Jessica is passionate about real estate education and training. She recently spearheaded LeadingRE's Institute programme, offering hundreds of on-demand classes for young professionals around the globe. She is an expert in risk management, DEI, and industry litigation and hosts a regular Risky Minute video series showcasing her expertise. Her industry leadership extends to her positions on the RESO and Moderne Ventures boards of directors.

Jessica oversees key operational areas of the company, including technology, learning and development, and preferred vendor relationships. She previously served as Associate Counsel for the National Association of REALTORS®, where she interfaced with NAR's communications, conventions and technology teams, as well as its membership. Her responsibilities included contract negotiations for NAR's various divisions, helping ensure regulatory compliance, speaking on risk management topics at industry events and authoring content on various legal issues relating to the industry. She was named RISMedia's no.1 Newsmaker in a ranking of industry leaders and serves on the Board of Directors for Moderne Ventures and on the Upstream Board of Managers.

The Commercial Real Estate market is a huge, complex, and at times utterly baffling area.

That can make life very difficult for landlords, portfolio builders, and fund and asset managers alike.

And that's where the likes of NavigatorCRE can help. Not just quality data, but quality connected data, which can lead to the clarity required to be able to make the best decisions.

And today's guest, Will Young, VP EMEA & Corporate Development at NavigatorCRE, is here to explain it all for us...

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> Hear how Will's extenstive background in the financial and investment sectors have given him the skills and knowledge required to drive Navigator's team to providing excellence for clients...

> Listen to Will explain how success with Navigator in the United States, then took his team to deliver it into the UK and pan-European sectors...

> Data, connections, integration, and Artificial Intelligence. Will's team take all the power of PropTech to solve the problems and pain points of individual clients in an individual and bespoke manner that fits their needs perfectly...

> Listen to Will review the surprises, challenges and satisfactions already found through Navigator's journey into the UK and Europe...

> And hear Will's opinions and experiences on the sector, the economy, and the outlook for Commercial Real Estate...

In today's show we speak with Marcus Moufarrige, the CEO and Founder of ility.

To take a phrase from ility's website: "Unify your portfolio data and deploy solutions that truly impact profitability, sustainability, and customer satisfaction," that's a plea and a promise that would be hard for any landlord to resist.

And having taken on the massive LGIM (Legal & General Investment Management) as a star client, ility is showing that it's a promise they can deliver on...

> Listen to Marcus appeal to portfolio owners who want to become more Active Landlord than simply 'concrete box' owners...

> Hear about all of the opportunities, cross-overs, and touch points that landlords can access and benefit from, as they hold assets and deliver value to tenants...

> Listen to Marcus discuss how the power of A.I. is going to bring ever more opportunities to review data and find savings and opportunities for service, profit and growth...

> Remove the friction between tenant and landlord, find savings and value in how services can be delivered, and use the power of tech to simply historic and complex systems of the past. Marcus explains how it can all be done...

> And hear Marcus' fascinating personal journey through property and tech, through different countries and continents, which has brought him to the point of visualising and launching ility...

In today's show we speak with Niki Fuchs & Simon Eastlake of OSiT (Office Space in Town).

The property world is under constant change, and the office and commercial space is no exception.

And when it comes to staying ahead and setting themselves apart, OSiT certainly grab that mantle happily.

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> Hear Niki speak about the revamped direction for the business, which has just completed a £220m acquisition of Brightbay Real Estate Partners' 80% stake in OSiT's UK arm...

> Listen to Simon explain how the end user's needs are at the heart of the service they help supply; going as far as being the "5 Star Hotelification of the commercial space"...

> Listen to Simon and Niki cover their fascinating personal and commercial backgrounds that have brought them both to this time and space with OSiT...

> Hear their opinions on the current change in the market, and indeed their future predictions and plans for the industry in general...

In today's show, we bring a property professional back into the spotlight for the 2nd time, due to the incredible progress and activity he has had since last appearing on the show in January 2022.

That conversation is very deep - covering property, business, health, life and relationships. And that property pro is Taylor McDonald...

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> Listen to Taylor explain how his childhood environment could have led to either prison or death, and how his current life in property was the obvious better choice...

> Hear Taylor talk about rather than valuing objects and using people, we should be valuing people and using objects...

> Hear the remarkable transformation in Taylor's physical, mental, and business life...

> Listen to Taylor discuss the value in assessing your life, defining what success means like to you, and creating a lifestyle personal to you...

> Hear Taylor cover the strategy of Serviced Accommodation, the amazing cashflow and opportunities, and his opinions on licensing and regulations...

> Listen to Taylor's take on the economy, interest rate hikes, and how investors should be assessing their capital, their assets, and their returns...

In today's show, we sit down with a guest who has been on the show before, Paul McFadden.

Well known as a public figure, well known as a successful property investor and business owner.

But today's topic of conversation was all focused in the area of education...

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> Listen to Paul share his own story of how education and self-development was the key to his own success, and how he's sharing that key with many others to help their lives...

> Hear Paul share his opinions on the school education system, teachers' pay, and the curriculum...

> Listen to Paul speak about his ventures with business partners, Jamie McIntyre from More Than Academic, and Richard Dickson from the Young Entrepreneurs Society...

> Hear Paul share his journey as a student with some of the top-level educators and business professionals as his mentors...

> Listen to Paul speak of his experience with Standards, with Work Ethic, and with fulfilling your potential...

In today's show, we hear the inspiring story of a young man in the property investment world, who is on fire right now!

Sourcing and managing properties on both sides of the Scottish/English border, running refurb teams across multiple projects at a time, and bringing value to sellers and investors not only in the UK but across Europe.

And in his mind, this is him only just getting started! Listen in to the remarkable story of the young and fired-up, Kristoffer Dalziel...

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> Hear Kris share the story of his pre-property background through multiple jobs and accountancy training...

> Listen to Kris share the pivotal moments in his life, the key decisions, and how he and his partner have pushed through launching a whole new business...

> Hear Kris share his experiences in owning and managing a portfolio, growing his investment assets, and managing multiple flip projects at once....

> Listen to Kris speak about his remarkable commitment to working with his investors and the lengths that he goes to when communicating and updating them...

> Hear Chris share the remarkable details of some of the properties he has sourced, the investments he has secured, and the returns that he has provided to his investor clients...

In today's show we bring another property professional under the glaring beam of our spotlight to hear about their journey.

And today's guest has a journey that is hilarious, varied, interesting and inspiring all at the same time.

It's the personal story of Colette O'Donnell...

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> Listen to Colette's hilarious story of buying her first buy-to-let when "just going to the shops for a bottle of juice"...

> Hear how Colette's varied careers background has all the clues of her amazing character and skillset that she uses in property today...

> Learn about Colette's projects, her eye for design, and her focus on refurbs and buy-to-flips...

> Hear Colette discuss collaborations, project management, dealing with challenges, and organising trades...

> Listen to Colette share how education & knowledge, taking action, and self confidence have been some of the keys to her success...