Utterly Indispensable Podcast for Estate Agents

Most successful estate agency stories get rewritten after the event. Not this one. In this episode, Andrew and Kenny Goad from The Stow Brothers share the real story behind building one of East London's best-known estate agencies. They openly admit they started without a business plan, expanded faster than they could comfortably afford, and made plenty of mistakes along the way. We talk about why...

Most people think luxury estate agency is about selling expensive homes. Melanie Attwater believes it's about something completely different. As founder of eXp Luxury UK, Melanie has built her reputation by delivering a premium experience from the very first conversation through to completion. Better marketing. Better communication. Better negotiation. The result? Clients who are happy to pay prem...

Most estate agents think property photography is about taking pictures of houses. Balazs Kovacs thinks differently. In this episode, founder of Prime Perspectives, Balazs shares why great property marketing isn't about showing every room. It's about creating a trailer for the film. The film being what it's actually like to live in the property. We explore how professional photography, floorplans,...

This week's episode is a little different. It's the 100th episode of The Utterly Indispensable Podcast for Estate Agents and instead of me interviewing someone else, one of my clients, Peter Kennedy, turns the tables and interviews me. We talk about the journey from getting fired from my first estate agency job, moving to London at 18, working my way through the corporate world, building a busines...

Most people think Adam Day spotted eXp, jumped straight in and never looked back. The truth is very different. In this episode, Adam reveals how he nearly walked away from eXp before it ever launched in the UK. The Americans wanted one thing. Adam wanted another. At one point the whole deal was on the verge of collapsing. It's a fascinating insight into one of the biggest success stories in modern...

Jonathan Rolande has bought, sold, flipped and rescued more than 1,000 properties. He’s seen the market at its best, its worst, and at times, completely lose its mind. In this episode, we go deep into what really happens behind the headlines. From nightmare cottages in Norfolk with wells in the kitchen, to problem tenants, structural disasters, property investment, AI, institutional landlords, and...

This week I’m joined by Sam Ashdown, and this is a fascinating conversation about reputation, risk, marketing, and what happens when you finally decide to put your own advice to the test. Long before AshdownJones  became one of the most recognisable premium estate agency brands in the Lake District, Sam built HomeTruths . Originally created to help homeowners market “unsellable” properties wi...

Most people see the success. They don’t see the failed businesses, the pink party bus with a stripper pole, the years of job hopping, or the nearly 12 months without earning a penny. In this episode, I sit down with Scott Gunn for one of the most honest conversations I’ve had on the podcast. We get into: Why he never stayed in a job longer than a year The reality of starting out self-employed Remo...

Most agents don’t leave the industry. They just stay stuck in it. In this episode, I sit down with Samantha Cerrone, Director of Cerrone Estates, 5x ICON Agent at eXp and voted Agents’ Agent 2025. Sam’s journey is anything but typical. From starting at 19 with no idea what estate agency even was, to running branches, stepping into business ownership, getting burned, and then completely changing th...

In this episode, I sit down with Rob Brady , and this one goes well beyond the usual agency playbook. We get into what’s really changing in estate agency right now, and why so many agents are busy, but not actually moving forward. Rob shares his journey from corporate banking into estate agency, scaling a business, and then stepping into coaching and tech with Iceberg Digital and Estate Agency X ....

What happens when you stop building a job… and start building a life? In this episode, I sit down with Ian Macbeth, founder of Avocado Property, entrepreneur, ultra-endurance athlete, and now someone who’s just done what most agents talk about… and actually sold the business. This isn’t a “look how clever I am” conversation. It’s honest, raw, and full of the stuff most people avoid. We get into: T...

Hiring in estate agency looks simple. It isn’t. The talent pool is tight, the wrong hire is expensive, and yet most businesses are still relying on rushed decisions, gut feel, and a stack of CVs that all look the same. In this episode, I sit down with Sally Asling, founder of ProFind Property Recruitment, who brings 30 years of experience in the property sector and a very different approach to hir...

Everyone’s talking about AI. Most of it is noise. In this episode, I sit down with Diana Simpson-Hernandez, founder of Aletheai, to cut through it and get to what actually matters, what AI really means for estate agents on the ground. Not theory. Not hype. Real application. Diana’s building a decision intelligence engine designed to sit alongside your CRM and answer three brutally important questi...

Most estate agents chase deals. Kristjan Byfield built a business. In this episode, Kristjan, Co-Founder of The Depositary and Base Property Specialists, breaks down what really drives long-term success in estate agency, and why most agents are focused on the wrong things. Starting out as a professionally trained actor, Kristjan’s journey into property was anything but planned. But what followed w...

Starting a business is exciting. Running one a year later… that’s where the real lessons are. A year ago, Dan Firth came on the podcast just as Bid was getting started. Now we’re back to find out what’s really happened since. Because starting a business is one thing. Living with it day to day is something else entirely. In this episode, Dan shares the reality of building Bid over the last year, fr...

Most estate agents think going self-employed is the answer. More freedom. More money. More control. The reality? It’s a different game entirely. In this episode, I sit down with James White, MD of Belong Estate Agency, a man with nearly four decades in the industry who’s seen it all… from tea boy on £27.50 a week to running high-volume branches, partnerships, and building his own brand from scratc...

What does it take to lead an estate agency that’s been around for eight decades? In this episode, I sit down with David Powell , CEO of Andrews Property Group , to talk about leadership, legacy, and the challenge of evolving a business with deep roots in the property industry. David shares his journey through the sector, from the early days of his career to taking the helm at Andrews, and what he...

You Can’t Buy Trust. You can buy leads. You can buy clicks. You can buy attention. But when a homeowner Googles your name, none of that matters. In this episode, I sit down with Daniel “Danno” Vivarelli, CEO of Starloop, to explore the one thing that actually decides who gets the call first in today’s market: trust. Not the fluffy kind. The visible, measurable, public kind. We talk about: Why Goog...

For years, estate agents have shouted about sales agreed, new instructions and record prices. Ben Madden says that’s the problem. In this episode, I sit down with the founder of Digital Sparks, Fine & Country operator, and serial business builder to unpack a simple truth: Attention is the currency of modern business. And most agents are broke. Ben shares the unfiltered story of building and ex...

In this episode, I sit down with Chris Scantlebury, founder of ProConvey — and a man on a mission to fix one of the biggest bottlenecks in our industry. Chris spent a decade inside conveyancing. He’s seen the chaos. The delays. The endless back-and-forth. The duplicated AML checks. The paper forms. The “we’re waiting on the other side” syndrome. So he did something about it. ProConvey’s Digital Sa...

Opening your first estate agency is brave. Opening your second is something else entirely. In this episode, I sit down with Pete Courtis, owner of The Mather Partnership in Helston and Hayle, to talk about what really happens when you decide to expand. We cover the part no one talks about. The empty office. The six month wait for income. The recruitment mistakes. The second guessing. The cost of R...

This is not a glossy highlight reel. It’s a proper, boots-on-the-ground conversation with Tony Ruby , one of the most consistently high-performing agents in the UK and one of eXp’s global standouts. Tony didn’t start with a grand plan, a war chest, or a safety net. He started after redundancy, with responsibility on his shoulders, a fear of failing, and a decision that he was done building someone...

This episode is a proper deep dive into the engine room of estate agency software. My guest is Riccardo Dawson , CEO of Alto Software Group , the platform powering over a third of the UK property market. But this isn’t a corporate victory lap. It’s an honest, behind-the-scenes look at what really happens when you take over a complex SaaS business, strip it back to fundamentals, and rebuild it for...

If you think HR is just contracts and common sense, this episode might save you a small fortune. In this episode, I’m joined by Paul Fitzsimmons  – an HR and employment law specialist who’s spent 15+ years helping business owners avoid expensive, stressful, tribunal-shaped disasters. Paul doesn’t do fluffy HR. He’s run his own business. He understands commercial reality. And he’s seen everyth...

What if the way buyers search for property is about to change forever? And what if estate agents finally have a way to loosen the grip of ever-rising portal fees? In this episode, I’m joined by Mal McCallion , a true industry heavyweight. Mal was there at the birth of PrimeLocation, helped launch Zoopla, and has spent over 25 years inside the engine room of property portals and proptech. Now he’s...