Series 4 PropTech: Systems & Apps Part 2 – James Davis from Upad

I am joined on the show today by James Davis, who is the Founder and CEO of Upad, ‘the UK’s leading online agent’. James really did develop Upad out of frustration based on his personal experience of the lettings industry as a landlord of many years. He has a philosophy that also serves the majority of UK landlords, who either self-manage or use agents for tenant find only services. A literal databank of statistics and information is shared through our discussion, which illuminates why we should take notice changing patterns in our environment but can use technology as a response to these changes too. Some great nuggets of how to use alerts to gain insights, how we can cut costs with tenant finding and some tips on how to create ‘standout’ with our property listings are just some of the highlights.

Resources mentioned:

Find out more about Upad, including their online calculators here: www.Upad.co.uk or call 0330 021 8110.

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Transcription of the show

Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Property Voice podcast. My name is Richard Brown and it’s a pleasure to have you join me on the show again today.

I am joined on the show today by James Davis, who is the Founder and CEO of Upad, ‘the UK’s leading online agent’. James really did develop Upad out of frustration based on his personal experience of the lettings industry as a landlord of many years. He has a philosophy that also serves the majority of UK landlords, who either self-manage or use agents for tenant find only services. A literal databank of statistics and information is shared through our discussion, which illuminates why we should take notice changing patterns in our environment but can use technology as a response to these changes too. Some great nuggets of how to use alerts to gain insights, how we can cut costs with tenant finding and some tips on how to create ‘standout’ with our property listings are just some of the highlights.

Let’s have a listen to my conversation with James right now…

Property Chatter

Interview with James Davis from Upad

I don’t know about you, but I always find it fascinating when people can support their opinion with facts and data and James was a real goldmine of stats throughout our conversation.

Of course, James represents a business that operates in the PropTech space, so it was natural that we discussed some of Upad’s approach to the market, and the benefits it or others like them have to offer. However, we also picked up some really useful insights more generally, and perhaps even subtly at times.

Here are some of the points that I noted down after our conversation in summary:

1. The world is dynamic, and we need to adapt to change – this point came through loud and clear as we chatted. For example, James operated bank-financed BTLs even before the BTL mortgage, mentioned Loot as one of the previous sources of tenant inquiries and flagged some changing social-political patterns among other examples. We need to be adaptable.
2. Incorporation or rent increases may not be the answer to our problems – Section 24 should be well understood by this audience by now, however, the most spoken about solutions just might not work for us. I wrote about the ‘it depends’ alternatives for YPN magazine in the past (just email me if you want a copy of that article by the way). Incorporation won’t suit everyone and simply trying putting up the rent might not be possible either, as James outlined, with over 50% of our competition NOT being affected by S24 at all and 30% of landlords being affected by rent arrears suggesting clear affordability issues too.
3. Use technology as a research too – I like the way James explained how he signs up for rental alerts in the areas where he has properties as an aid to knowing what is happening with his competition. Equally, technology, including this podcast and James’s own webinars and articles, help us to stay abreast, or even ahead of many of the dinosaur landlords out there.
4. Mobile, responsive and reachable is what is required now –92% of tenants look for properties online, with 56% on mobile, with 41% of inquiries being placed at evenings and weekends too! We need to be reachable and responsive to survive in this technological age.
5. We have some of what we need, but not yet all! – New apps are available to help us, but many of these are simply communication tools in disguise. What would REALLY help us is a larger degree of process automation for some of the work created by the increased communication flow. Hold that thought though, as I MIGHT just have some news on that in the very near future. Technology is emerging and developing, and whilst it is not necessarily 100% yet, there are some solutions with us today, such as with Upad, or hopefully coming soon, such as with automated payment histories with the credit reference agencies.
6. Create ‘standout’ with our listings – good tenants ALWAYS have a choice! Our job is to catch their attention, showcase our properties (and perhaps also ourselves) and then respond in ways and at times that suit our customer more than us. Out of hours and rapid response is the new normal!

In addition to these key points there were plenty of others shared throughout our discussion. Equally, James kindly offered to share a range of resources, including an 11-page document in how to standout from the competition with your rental listings. Just drop me an email and we will share these for you.

Equally, If you would like to know more about Upad and their cost-saving online lettings service, go to their website, which is www.Upad.co.uk or call them on 0330 021 8110. James could pick up the phone himself if you call him on a Saturday, you never know given his love for immediate response!

I have another very interesting discussion to share with you next week in this space, as I have a chat with one of the products of the Pi Labs PropTech stable, but more on that later.

For now, I will close by reminding you that the show notes can be found over at www.thepropertyvoice.net or if you want to talk about anything from today’s show, receive an intro into one of my guests or just talk property investing, email me at podcast@thepropertyvoice.net, I would be happy to hear from you!

Once again, all I want to say is thank you very much for listening once again this week and until next time on The Property Voice Podcast…it’s ciao-ciao.

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