Ed welcomes social housing expert and consultant, Jonathan Gregory to the podcast.Plenty to learn about the sector in this very open and honest chat between the pair - one experienced in the private rental sector, the other in the social rental sector.Jonathan has a background in social care and managing children’s homes and is well-known as a part of the social housing, maintenance and repair side of the industry. He also provides coaching/advice to organisations and is a consultant at sector expert Campbell Tickell.Ed admires what Jonathan has achieved, not only for himself and building up his businesses but for what he has done for other people.Differences between the Social Housing and Private sectors is an interesting point that comes to the fore.This is exactly why Ed invited Jonathan on the show – we can all gain something and learn!They talk about differences, challenges, life-long relationships between tenants and landlords, what the future holds and more.Before you tune in, we’ll leave this fact with you – there are around 5 million houses in the social housing sector, an enormous number. There are big issues with positive changes happening and MOST IMPORTANTLY we are beginning to talk about it.Enjoy the episode.

The famous App that divides the world into 57 trillion, 3x3 metre squares and each having a unique code of 3 words – what3words. We are delighted to have what3words head of UK partnerships, Luis Galdino-Glaeser on the Ed Talks podcast.“Co-ordinates are not very easy to communicate human to human.”Our new safety app, ViewBuddy, uses what3words and helps anyone in the property industry on property appointments alone. It lets others know where you are and alerts them in emergencies with a simple reverse PIN. The what3words app allows your 'buddies' to pin-point your exact location at anytime, anywhere.We are excited by this collaboration - what3words is an incredible concept and a successful business already used in 85% of emergency services.HUGE thank you to Luis for being on the show.This episode is packed full of interesting stories, light-bulb moments and examples of how what3words is increasingly helping property agents.

Viewber co-founder, Ed, has recorded episode two of what we are calling ‘The Ed Mead Diaries’ – a solo series, revealing more about his property career, personal stories, wins, losses – with a whole lot of honesty thrown in there too. This time, Ed talks about renting. Lately, we’ve been researching this topic in more detail. It can be a touchy subject and there are LOTS of opinions about renting vs buying – take our latest blog post for example, ‘Why are Brits hung up on homeownership?’ - https://viewber.co.uk/news/why-are-brits-hung-up-on-homeownership Everyone’s experience is different, but we want to know more about why Ed went down the road he went down (*hint* he would rather rent than buy) – surprising? 

Thinking about starting a career in the property industry or know someone who is?Would REAL insight into Estate Agency help?Or might you just like to know a bit more, have a refresh, learn some new tips and tricks from a long term, successful player.We've started a new series with Viewber Co-Founder Ed Mead - it could be time to reeeeally find out what Ed's journey has been like.With 40 years in this industry, he has some salient knowledge to pass on (plus a few amusing and rather honest tales!)If you have anything in particular you would like Ed to cover, or maybe you have a specific question - fire them over to Ed at: [email protected] the Viewber website: https://viewber.co.uk/

Usual Ed Talks form is to chat with someone industry based – different this time as Ed talks to Iain, a Viewber based in the Gloucester area. The perfect chance to dive a little deeper into what being a Viewber is really like, the sort of people who are carrying out various property appointments on behalf of our clients and how these appointments happen – what better way than to bring a REAL Viewber onto the show?! Before we begin, this statement in particular means a lot, as Iain says “Viewber helped me with headspace during Covid as everything else dropped off.” Not only has Viewber proved to be helpful for our clients during this tricky period when it comes to keeping businesses running, but it has also helped our Viewbers when it comes to mental health and providing something to focus on – its great to be able to help. So, who is Iain the Viewber? Iain is based in the Gloucester area and covers Cheltenham, Tewkesbury, Stroud, Forest of Dean and Swindon – even as far as North Bristol, Worcester and Hereford.Iain has an impressive background as an actor, working in live TV, website design and management – he’s even been a life-guard! It’s safe to say that Iain is a very self-motivated individual who likes to mix it up. The whole point is that Viewber appointments fit into a busy lifestyle, around the Viewbers’ schedule - a perfect role for Iain. Now he’s completed his 200th appointment since 2019 there is no stopping him! Iain is just one of your local Viewbers – vetted, trained, professional and based anywhere the UK, ready to help with a variety of property needs. A fantastic episode, with lots of ‘behind the scenes’ insight. 

This time, it's Ed's turn to be in the hot seat and we really wanted to share this with you.Viewber co-founder, Ed Mead was invited onto David Sandeman’s new series – ‘Dialogue with David’David is head of the Essential Information Group and has been watching us grow the business at Viewber since 2016 David IS Mr Auctions and is so full of knowledge. This is a relaxed and honest chat between Ed and David, the two share snippets of their personal journeys in property – both very different (ex-estate agent vs auctioneer) and we start by jumping straight it with ‘what gave you the idea to set it (Viewber) up in the first place?’ 

Longevity works?Ed talks to London based Ludlow Thompson MD, Alexander Rawlinson in this Lockdown edition episode.Alex has been part of the company for a long, long time (unusual these days) and is partly why Ed wanted to talk to him.Alex reveals that typically, Ludlow Thompson mainly deal with more lettings properties than sales, but Covid has levelled that up.Ed: “Why are you experiencing more lettings and sales at the same time now?”Alex: “We’ve not experienced this before. Both lettings and sales are seeing inflated numbers because of changed circumstances”Short lets are out the window. Those Landlords have looked for longer, more traditional rents – or are putting them up for sale.An interesting episode, a first-hand perspective from a long-term agent reporting on what changes are REALLY happening on the agency front line – it’s definitely got us thinking!

Instead of pointing out deficiencies, Ed Mead, as an ex estate agent and now Proptech Founder at Viewber, started a discussion recently looking for solutions to speeding up the home buying and selling process.Peter Ambrose, a principle at The Partnership - a team of property solicitors - has joined that discussion so have a look at their video session to see what they think!Watch the chat here: https://vimeo.com/484496228

This week Viewber co-founder, Ed Mead caught up with CEO of Prospect Engine, Ishmael Herrera-Lee.Prospect Engine is a clever lead management outsourcing outfit.As Ishmael describes his company, it’s a white labelled outsourced prospecting firm, working predominately through historic data i.e. previous appraisals, landlords, listings, withdrawn stock, applicants with properties to sell on the market selling privately. They also manage and handle any type of lead source, giving a response within minutes – extremely efficient.Ishmael bought some thought-provoking topics to the table – not just to get Ed thinking, but maybe for you too.Ishmael’s company, Prospect Engine and Viewber work in sync with each other at different points in the customer journey – Proptech, two for the price of one.We will let the podcast do the rest of the talking...

Another positive collaboration that’s come from Viewber co-founder Ed’s lockdown…Rupert Bates has spent his career in journalism with a property background including twenty years at The Telegraph covering property and sport.He's now editorial director and owner of industry bible Show House Magazine and B2C portal Whathouse.com. Anyone familiar with his Social Media feeds will understand his passion for Rugby and Wolves(!). He's also fearless about wandering out of his comfort zone.Show House is the go-to publication in the housebuilding and development arena and Rupert realised that many of his readers might struggle post Covid with understrength staffing and booming demand. Thinking practically, he figured Viewber's last mile services could be a perfect fit for their readers’ businesses and the upshot is a thoroughly modern partnership between his magazine and the flexible Viewber services.If you are connected to the housebuilding industry see if you agree with what they say...