Now That’s What I Call a Property Podcast

I feel lucky that I had the idea of starting a UK property podcast specifically for expats investing in UK property before anyone else.

These days, it seems like everyone’s got a property podcast, so I feel lucky to have started 18 months ago. Lots of listeners have told me that they’d been looking for a property podcast targeting expats and remote investors but hadn’t found one.

When I started Expat Property Story, if you’d have told me I’d reach 100 episodes, I’d have been as happy as I am today, looking back on the first 99 episodes.

The most Widely Listened to Property Podcast in the World???

And if you’d have told me that we’d have listeners in 134 countries, I wouldn’t have believed you.

To be fair, this is more of a reflection of the level of interest in UK property in all four corners of the globe than the quality of the show. It may also be to do with the fact that British expats are perhaps statistically more likely to invest in UK property given our frequently higher salaries and lower taxes.

Another piece of luck was Rob Dix accepting my request for him to be my first guest in Episode 1, back in February 2022. He kindly gave the show a plug in his weekly newsletter leading to a spike in downloads and a great base from which to grow the show.

Be Careful with Joint Ventures…

My third slice of good fortune came in the shape of Episode 17 when Rehman Akhtar chose Expat Property Story to tell the tragic tale of how he lost £300K in a joint venture deal with infamous property guru Paul Smith of Touchstone Education, after repeatedly declining previous property podcast requests.

Rehman’s story provided another spike in downloads expanding our audience in the process. But even better was that Rehman himself felt unburdened, having got his feelings off his chest. The last time I spoke to him, he was even considering dipping his toes back into property.

Why I Started a UK Property Podcast

From time to time, people ask me why I started a property podcast and there were four main reasons. Firstly, I’ve always been interested in audio and radio and often thought that one day I’d like to start a podcast.

The second reason was to grow my network.

The third reason so that we could scale our UK property business by working with private investors.

And the final reason was to learn from my guests, be they expats like me, or experts not like me!

When I started the property podcast, I made it very clear that I was a curator of content rather than a self-proclaimed expert. In fact, I was actually suffering a little bit from Impostor Syndrome in the early days.

This was despite the fact that Season One was a retrospective account of how we’d managed to build a portfolio of 5 student HMOs from our home in Hong Kong without seeing any of the properties ahead of purchase, and without having any friends or family in our investment areas and, without paying for any property education or mentorship.

Other UK Property Podcasts

And because I felt like a novice compared to the hosts of all the other bigger and better property podcasts out there, such as the ones that had given me my property education (Property Geek, The Property Podcast, The Property Voice, Inside Property Investing), I knew I had to make my property podcast different.

To be honest, I still do suffer from Impostor Syndrome from time to time, which is probably not so bad, as it’s a sign I’m surrounding myself with people with more knowledge and experience than myself. People I can learn from. People who will help us grow our business.

Buying UK Property at Auction

But as the podcast took off in 2022, our expansion stalled. We had decided to add some diversity to our portfolio as we were worried that all our eggs were in the student HMO basket. So, we started looking for properties that could be run as serviced accommodation but re-purposed as single lets if necessary.

By this time the market was arguably overheated and favoured buyers rather than sellers. John Howard, my guest from Episode 19 suggested the auctions. Season Two was born!

We set ourselves a challenge to buy a UK property at auction without leaving our home in Hong Kong and within four months.

The podcast documented our progress and our lack of progress as we enlisted the services of experts along the way. With two weeks to spare, we got our hands on a block of flats in a market town in Derbyshire.

In the meantime, we had been addressing what, for us, was the most challenging piece of the Power Team jigsaw:  finding a UK property solicitor to build a long-term relationship with.

In the end, I opted to pay UK property consultant and friend of the podcast, Helen Godbold-Eade from Episode 7 to headhunt a solicitor for us. This was no easy task in 2022 as conveyancers were able to cherry pick their clients due to the overheated post-Covid market.

In the end, we found one and we built the foundations of a working relationship through our first auction purchase.

The true benefits of all this were realised when we were presented with an amazing deal which required a speedy and reliable solicitor so that we could proceed to exchange just six hours after hearing of the opportunity.

Having secured the deal, we did it all again the next day with another not to be missed deal. Both deals are documented in Episodes 77 and Episode 78, and details of how we used private finance to fund the purchases are outlined in Episode 79.

Expat Mortgage Disaster

After refurbing the block of flats we had bought at auction, we set about refinancing them to release equity.

We were midway through the mortgage application when our UK mortgage broker told us that the lender had flagged up a couple of missing months on my credit file.

It turned out that, because I had not used my UK credit card for 13 consecutive months, they had cancelled the direct debit set up to clear the balance at the end of each month and I had forgotten to set it up again when a family bereavement took me back to the UK.

Expat Mortgage Disaster serves as a warning for expats and UK-based investors alike to keep on top of their credit files.

Now That’s What I Call a Property Podcast!

 So, these are some of the topics and events that have shaped the first 99 episodes of Expat Property Story.

To celebrate our 100th episode, I reflect on the story so far and offer a compilation of ten of my favourite clips from the first 99 episodes that collectively sum up the story so far.

If you want to learn about investing in UK property, this episode condenses the lessons learned from all my amazing guests so far.

And there’s a nostalgic nod to past features such as Monopoly Challenge, Postcode Challenge and my amazing guests’ favourite jokes.

If you’re an expat or not, this is a property podcast episode not to be missed!

And because it’s a compilation, I thought I’d name it after the most famous compilation series ever… so Episode 100 is called: ‘Now That’s What I Call a Property Podcast’

I hope my luck continues and that we can help more UK property investors in the next 100 episodes.

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