Episode Transcript
[00:00:11] Speaker A: Let's Talk Lets, an original podcast from the Lettings Hub. Hello and welcome to the latest episode of our podcast, lets Talk Lets. I'm Heidi, the CEO of the Lettings Hub, the tenant referencing business that got good at tech. Lets Talk Lets is our regular roundup of news and views on a whole range of subjects spanning the private rental sector. Today's podcast is the latest episode in our regular feature where we explore more about people's personal career, stories across the home lettings arena, the journey, the moments in their lives and careers that have been the most impactful and taught them some really important life lessons.
From our next my life inlettings themed episode, I'm absolutely delighted to be joined by Toby Martin, who is not only a property Mark regional executive, a trustee of the property Mark Trust, he is also day to day the general manager of reside in Bath. Toby has had a really interesting career prior to coming into the letting sector, having started out his career in teaching.
So going to get started. Toby, thank you so much for joining us today. Please introduce yourself and tell our listeners a little bit more about you.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: Hello, Heidi. It's a great honor to be here. I'm an industry podcast aficionado, so great privilege to be on yours. I think right the outset, I want to say your listeners have just heard what I think is the best intro music in the business. It's like an Ibiza anthem. It makes me want to put on my glow sticks. Fantastic.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: It was chosen for that reason, Toby, actually, to actually be a little bit more awakening.
[00:01:50] Speaker B: Yeah. When I'm driving on my commute and listening to your podcast, it really peps me up and gets me going. So, yeah, thank you for that.
So you're absolutely right. I had an interesting route into lettings, as does everybody, don't we?
When do you meet somebody who went into their career with the intention of a career in lettings? It simply never seems to happen, which is a wider conversation about the reasons for that. But my own personal route into the industry. You're I began in the world of teaching, where I trained for many, many years to be a secondary english teacher. And people who know me say that it's extremely obvious that I trained to be a secondary english teacher, and I'm still regularly referred to as the supply teacher in my social circles.
But yeah, unfortunately, I actually taught for a very, very short time before falling out. And do you know what? That was really interesting because teaching is a profession with a massive fallout rate. And it's quite interesting to look at the reasons for that. But for me, personally, it was. Although it was brief, it was a hugely informative experience. I learned a lot about myself and I learned a lot about the nature of being in a positive or a negative working environment. So I learned a lot from it. But it was not for me.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: I'm not going to put an age on you, Toby. But surely. No, no. You must have been quite a cool secondary school teacher for that class. Surely quite a lot of fun.
[00:03:32] Speaker B: That's certainly what I thought.
And you know what? It's an interesting point because I think that people who go into teaching, and for that matter, probably any line of work, thinking, okay, I'm gonna survive or I'm gonna thrive by virtue of being cool or by virtue of having a certain personality or demeanor, that's like building your house on sand. It's not a strong foundation. So, yeah, you're right. Because I was quite young when I went into teaching. Probably too young, but I was also in a school with a really, really poor culture, a really unsupportive environment. So it taught me also about what it's like to be an employee in an unsupportive setting, which was hugely informative later in life when I became a manager.
But you're right. It turned out that being quite a young, cool teacher was not enough to actually get by. In fact, it probably turned it on its head and made the kids think that actually you're someone who can probably be taken for a bit of a ride, which is probably what happened to me.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: So how short lived was it?
[00:04:41] Speaker B: It was as short lived as can be one academic year. And, you know, it was the ultimate cliche of the struggling young teacher, like, you know, crying in the stationery cupboard, you know, not able to get out of bed in the mornings. I had classes where there were things being lobbed across the classrooms by the students.
You know, it quickly became quite apparent that it was not for me. I was, to put no finer point on it, a catastrophic failure.
[00:05:15] Speaker A: So deciding that then wasn't for you. And after you'd exited the cupboard, what did you do next.
[00:05:26] Speaker B: Really? I still remember it so clearly, even though this was about 15 years ago now, possibly even a bit more. And that moment when you realize that a career that you've trained for years for actually isn't for you is such a hollow and kind of lonely moment.
You're cut free by your employer. They were not fussed to see me go because it hadn't worked out.
You have to tell your family, which was something that I was. I had that typical, probably male trait of bottling all of this up. And my own parents didn't even know that I was struggling until the day that I quit my job. And so I had absolutely no idea what to do with my life, where to go next. I'd only really planned for one thing. Teaching is a vocation, and you're expected to do it for life.
So I temped. I took any work going. I did admin roles and spoke to the recruitment agency I was temping for and just told them that I was looking for a permanent job and that I'd really consider anything. And after a year or so, I had a couple of interviews which I wasn't offered. And basically the first job I was offered happened to be at a lettings agency. So there was absolutely no thought or design behind my move into property. It was completely accidental and mainly fueled out of desperation.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: But you've stayed ever since?
[00:07:06] Speaker B: I stayed ever since, and I've stayed at the same company ever since too. So I've been where I am now for 13 years. And, you know, I arrived as the admin boy, you know, really doing odd jobs and, you know, filing the paperwork and occasionally being sent out to do floor plans at properties and, you know, menial tasks around the office. But I've always had that approach to my work where regardless of whether you're on day one of your job or year twelve, you devote yourself to the job as though you're the guy who runs the company. Which probably came as a bit of a shock to my new employers because quite quickly I was sort of pushing for more responsibility and a bigger role within the company.
So it's not a big company, even to this day.
We've grown considerably since then, but we have. I'm one of a team of ten, so it wasn't always easy to see a route for growth through the company. But when you're good at what you do and when you do keep applying that really committed work ethic, there comes a point where your employers have to either do something to retain you or face the fact that you're likely to move on. So, fortunately, I was working in an environment where they were able to promote me, and I was lucky at times people would leave the company. That would leave a void for me to move into.
But I think that it certainly taught me a lesson, which I always when younger professionals or less experienced professionals ask me for advice, I always say, make yourself indispensable, because when the opportunity arises, you need to be the obvious choice. And that's what happened to me?
[00:09:00] Speaker A: And I think you make a really good point there about work ethic, because I think it's not always about the skill, is it? It's actually about the two things that you've said that totally resonate with me of what would stand out to me as an employee. Like when you look at your employees, which is I'm going to treat this company as if it's my own and as if I run it and I see the big picture all the time and I want to be better than, bigger than my role. And secondly, I'm going to apply a really brilliant work ethic to that to make sure that actually the company likes me as well as the fact that I then become indispensable.
[00:09:37] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah. And that was very much my mantra was I'm going to treat the company as though it was my own. And I think it's sad that today I speak to a great many business owners who often say that things have changed and that the newer generations of professionals coming through. People say to me, you don't see that so much anymore.
You get people coming through who are more entitled and just want to do less work but for more money.
And actually, I'm sure that's not fair and I'm sure it's not true because I think there are some brilliant young professionals who have an absolutely fantastic work ethic. But I think that there is a slight stigmatism now to the younger generation, which creates opportunity for those who are really devoted to their work. You've got a real opportunity to stand out amongst a generation that seems to have become associated with being slightly lazy. And I'm not saying that's true, but that seems to be the wider perception. So I think that as a younger professional now, it does almost create that opportunity. You have that ability to stand out from your peers by having that same attitude, by treating the company as though it were your own, by being indispensable.
[00:10:53] Speaker A: Absolutely. You come across as a guy with a really, really positive attitude and a can do attitude. And actually, even though there might have been knocks along the way, even the one that you described at the end of teaching, it's kind of like, well, actually I can still see the right way forward, do the right things. Where's that come from?
[00:11:13] Speaker B: I have got so much wrong in my career. There have been so many failures along the way. My entire education was a colossal catastrophe.
My university education. I made so many bad decisions and then being in employment again, so many mistakes. But every single thing that happens to you in life has the ability to make you stronger or weaker. And so when I fell out of teaching at the time, it didn't feel like it was going to make me stronger, but it did.
When I had opportunities at my current company at reside that didn't work out the way I wanted to, it could have made me weaker, but it didn't. So I'm a big believer in failure, and I do think it would be lovely to breeze through life without ever getting anything wrong. But actually, I realized, I look back now and I realized that for all of the things that went wrong along the way, where I am now, I'm far better off for it. And so I don't think we should be scared of getting things wrong. And this all comes back to one thing that I've become so passionate about, which is saying yes to opportunity and throwing yourself outside of your comfort zone. Because I think if you went back, say, ten years, I was a person who was very comfortable where I was and through the opportunities that have arisen, and we haven't gone to talking about property mark yet, but becoming involved with property mark, for me, was life changing. And so that was something that I could have very easily said no to when the opportunity arose, I could have said, I'm too busy, I don't have time.
But that and things like it that have come up, I try to say yes to, even if I can't see where I'm going to fit it in. We're all busy professionals, but there's always the option to say yes.
[00:13:12] Speaker A: Well, I guess, like all of us, that as we move through life, the things that we feared, maybe really you realize that you didn't need to fear them at all, that even if they happen, it's not a disaster. And, you know, that just comes with life lessons, doesn't it? Like, I can totally resonate with you. Where I was made redundant many, many, many years ago, I was made redundant, and I literally thought my world had ended at that time and it felt like the biggest thing in the world. In reality, it was the best thing that happened. I know that's often said about redundancy situations, but I wish we all knew what we know now in years to come. And I always think that about the future in ten years, what am I going to know then that I wish I could say to myself now?
[00:13:55] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: The main things we're going to take from that then are always say yes and grasp the opportunity. Failure is absolutely fine.
Positive pants on always, I think. Positive pants on always. So let's kind of talk about some of the best people, some of the greatest people that there have influenced you and, you know, helped you along that journey, especially in your current career with 13 years, you know, that is unusual for lettings. You know, you typically find people move around. Most of the guests that we've had on here have definitely changed agency or, you know, jumped across different companies. What's made you stay and who are the key people that have helped you?
[00:14:36] Speaker B: So the key to staying where I have been has been the opportunity for growth, and that can be really hard within a smaller business. So I think we had to be perfectly realistic.
My nature is that I am a bit of a lifer. I like the idea of finding what works for me and staying there, but that's not going to work if one day you wake up and you no longer find what you do fulfilling. So you always have to find ways to progress. It doesn't necessarily have to be new job titles, promotions. It can be a way of learning training.
I absolutely love attending courses, conferences, training days.
When you're learning something new, you will never become bored. And the same goes for reading. I'm an avid. I'm a book maniac. And whether that is business books or fiction, again, if you've got something new in your life all of the time, then you'll never become bored.
It comes back to what we were saying earlier about saying yes to opportunities, that constant progression is the key to remaining satisfied. I think that doesn't necessarily have to be your job, but I think the day that you stop putting yourself out there saying yes, the day you stop learning or training, that's probably when you will become dissatisfied with your day to day job, because everything becomes stale and remains the same. So in terms of key people along the way, I think, to be very honest with you, it was around 2016, and I was becoming quite stale and bored in my job.
And that was the point where I decided to do my qualifications and join property Mark. And little did I know what impact that would have on my life. And that's not simply just property mark membership, which on its own is a wonderful thing. It's a badge of honor, and it's a sign of quality and knowing your stuff, but also the people who I met through that. So our business is based in Bath, which, Bath is a very small city. It's quite insular. You know, we're buried away in the west country, and the majority of people never leave the shire. What property mark gave me was a reason to branch out myself personally. And I. I met so many people who have been so influential on me over the years and extending my network beyond my immediate environment has made such a difference because you get different perspectives and you get people outside of your organization to bounce things off.
And so just broadening my horizon socially in terms of growing a professional network in 2016. Old me never thought that that would be important because our business was fine and, you know, we know what we're doing. It's always worked for us. But honestly, using something like your property mark membership to get to meet more people has made such a difference to me.
[00:18:03] Speaker A: And how did that then that journey start to then you becoming a regional executive?
[00:18:10] Speaker B: Well, that was all down to Angharad Truman, who is the current ArLa property Mark president, a wonderful person. She actually had my role of regional executive, but she had her eyes on greater things, on the presidential title. So she was hunting around for someone to replace her. And I'd caught her eye through my social media.
And so she emailed me and said, look, I think you'd be great for this role. And I had one of those moments, self doubt, when I was thinking to myself, well, do I need this? You know, I've got a job.
And really, is this for me? Am I deserving of this? Like, surely there's someone else who is, like, louder and more well known than me who could do a really good job. And then that thing came back to me about, look, just. Just do it. Just say yes. Where would it lead you?
What could be the worst that would happen? So I took. I applied for the role, I interviewed for it and got it.
And having that regional executive role is one of the joys of my life now. It's brought me into contact with so many people across the west country, which is my patch, and I'm very possessive over it. And I try to make sure that anyone who is a property mark member in the west country is getting the most out of their property mark membership because there are so many benefits that people are simply unaware of, and making sure that property mark HQ is aware of what people in our region are dealing with on a ground level and what their challenges are and what support they need from the organization. So it's a real honor to have that role. I love it.
[00:19:53] Speaker A: And what do you have to do?
How much of a commitment is it, and what exactly do you have to do?
[00:20:00] Speaker B: Yeah, the regional executive role and property mark membership itself, I'd say the same about both things. They are what you make of them.
With membership itself, a lot of people just pay their subs they put the logo on the website and that's it. Other people really invest into their membership in terms of their time and exploring what's available to them and you'll get such different results out of those two things. It's the same as being a regional executive.
I try to devote as much time to it as I can. We are able to. We have an email database so I can get in contact with every property mark member in my region. So I try and keep them up to date on what property mark is doing. I ask them for their feedback in terms of what are the main challenges you're dealing with at the moment? Are you seeing landlords setting up? Are you seeing any landlords investing? What's happening to rents so that then I can feed that back to propertymark so that when they lobby the government, when they set their policies, they can take into consideration what is actually happening with agents all around the country. But specifically for me in the west country.
[00:21:07] Speaker A: Do you remember having a night out there once with my friends? Some of my friends went to university in Bath.
[00:21:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:13] Speaker A: And it was when vodka Red Bull was a trend. I've never, ever drank it since.
[00:21:20] Speaker B: I mean, we're known as pretty much the hindu capital of the UK, so there's quite a strong scene there, but I don't get invited on many Hindus.
[00:21:29] Speaker A: So a lovely place to live, all the same. It was very picturesque. I remember that much.
[00:21:35] Speaker B: It is beautiful. It is beautiful. A World Heritage site, no less, which, fun fact, means that we can't put up to let boards.
I know, I know. All I want, all I want is one of those fancy to let boards with my face on it, like everyone else has across the country. But I'm not allowed.
[00:21:54] Speaker A: It's not going to happen, is it? No. You need to branch out into other cities for that to be possible. And then, obviously, that's another part of how you spend your time. You are a trustee of the property mark Trust.
So again, same question. What's involved? How did it come about and what does it look like day to day, week to week?
[00:22:15] Speaker B: The property Mark Trust we call the industry's best kept secret, because not a lot of people know about it, and that's something that we're really trying to address right now. The trust has been going for many years, it's the charitable arm of property mark, and at the start of this year, they did a bit of a recruitment drive and they recruited a new set of trustees for the charity, including me. I think they probably deliberately went out of their way to find a bunch of big mouths who could shout about the trust from the rooftops, because we really want to raise awareness. It is a wonderful organization, and what it's here for is it's here to support property mark members, also colleagues and the families of property mark members when their lives are essentially in crisis. And this is a basic member benefit to any property mark member. You have your own dedicated charity, which I think is wonderful. So we have two main strands to the support we offer. One is educational. We want to encourage people to further their careers through qualifications which can have a bit of a cost attached to it. Typically, it costs around 700 pounds for the learning materials and all of the exams to become qualified. So if someone can't afford that, we don't want them to prevent them from furthering their career. So we offer grants to people in those circumstances.
And then there's the really tough side of it, which is property market members, their colleagues, their families, who are working professionals, but whose lives have fallen apart. And that might be through illness, it might be through financial hardship or some other tragedy. And we come across some really, really devastating situations. And ultimately, what we want to try and do is to prevent those circumstances from affecting their professional careers. We want their jobs to be waiting for them once they have resolved whatever issue they're dealing with. So we provide support, whether that's financial or mentoring or just an ear. Just an ear to talk to.
Whatever support is needed, we will provide that so that they can stay on their feet and continue the work that they're doing day to day.
[00:24:35] Speaker A: And like you say, I guess there's lots of members that don't even know it exists. So it's about getting the word out there, isn't it? I suppose that's one of the drivers behind the recent or the very first propex event that happened. Actually, we're recording this just a week, less than a week, actually. After the event our team attended, it seemed to be a resounding positive event. I think you raised more than 40,000 pounds for the charity and therefore to support everybody. But tell us about it, why the event? How was it? Is there going to be a property, a prop x? Two on the cards?
[00:25:12] Speaker B: It was such a proud moment for us, quite honestly.
Six months hard work between about five of us who put this event together.
We're not event organizers, we're property professionals. But we knew that we needed a big event to, first of all, raise awareness for the trust, and also to raise funds for the trust, because we've been doing relatively well on spreading the word, which means that we're getting more requests for help, which means that we need more money to help more people.
So some big event like this was essential. And what we landed on in the end was we based it loosely on TED talks. Short, snappy 20 minutes inspirational talks loosely based around mental wellbeing. We wanted a big differentiator from events like Property Mark one, which are largely industry focused training days. Really helpful CPD experiences. Ours was more holistic than that. It was more inspirational. And I was just so proud of the event on the day. And so, so grateful to everyone who supported. Took a bit of a punt on the first ever propex, such as, you guys, thank you so much for sponsoring the event.
And you're right, we raised over 40,000 pounds on the day. To put that into context, last year, the trust gave out around 33,000 pounds to support property professionals in various circumstances. So to us, to a relatively small but growing charity, it was an astonishing amount of money to raise in one day. And we were all blown away by the speakers. People really opened up and told Heartfelt, raw stories from their lives about how they've overcome adversity. And it just combined to make a truly unforgettable experience. I was running around all day trying to keep things going, and I got back to the hotel after it finished and it suddenly overwhelmed me. Just the goodwill on the day and all of these stories I'd heard from industry colleagues, it was really overwhelming. So it was such a success for the trust that, yes, we will be doing it again.
And we will have to. We have to, because we got such lovely feedback from it. It really seemed to hit the mark in terms of making an impact on people who are there on the day. And obviously it was a great triumph for our charity. So we'll have a little break and then we'll get to work on PropX 2025.
[00:27:56] Speaker A: So, massive congratulations to you and your team for doing that, because, like you said, if the word. You know, if the visibility of the charity becomes more widely known, then obviously we all want to do our bit to help, obviously help people in our industry. I think we are a really nice industry, actually, aren't we? All together in the fact that we are fairly supportive. And you took the stage on Friday with Megan. Megan, 18, I understand. And you ran a session called video killed the Radio star, which I do very much like the title. Now, for all of our listeners, that didn't get to go because, you know, for the first event, it's a fairly small one, I'm sure there's big plans to grow it, and definitely everybody should make sure you have your tickets for next time. But tell us, what's your kind of quick synopsis of what you covered?
[00:28:50] Speaker B: Yeah, well, Megan and I, along with the guys from PBS, were lucky enough to run a session about doing video in your business at property mark one. And we joke that we enjoyed doing it so much that we had to create just an event, especially so that we could do another talk on stage.
But we do love doing that. We're very passionate about, especially on the subject of social media and using video to grow your own profile. And so our talk was basically about building your own personal brand. Personal brand seems to be something that is so Marmite. People either really buy into it or they physically revulse when we say the words personal brand. But we were really homing in not just on the principle of using social media, but using it to promote the individual.
And we looked at just how culturally, as a society, we've gone from being about corporations, companies, groups, to being about individuals and personalities. And we had this really great example from the music world where you look back at the 1980s and bands were everywhere. And you had, in the first half of the 1980s, I think there are 144 weeks where bands were number one in the charts. And then you look at this decade and three weeks, there's only been three weeks over the first half of this decade where bands have been at number one in the charts. And one of those bands was the Beatles. And so solo artists are everywhere. As a society, we buy into the cult of the individual so strongly. So we were discussing how you can convey your personality through your social media, a lot of which does come down to video and putting yourself out there, being brave enough to share your identity, being proud of who you are, looking for points of difference between you and, and all of the noise that is on social media. And it's something that we are hugely passionate about. And it seemed to go down well on the day. It was a bit of an anticipation to a lot of the more personal sort of life stories that we had because we also wanted to include some useful, useful business points as well.
[00:31:07] Speaker A: Wow. I can't believe the band analogy. It's not an analogy, it's just a fact.
[00:31:13] Speaker B: We looked at the Taylor Swift effect as well, who is just like the perfect embodiment of the modern day pop star and what she does on social media with her fan base in terms of sort of previewing, giving little Easter eggs and teasers for what's to come and really trying to make things personal to her audience. And that is the way of the charts these days. It is all solo artists, individuals, people who we buy into, not just their music, but their identities as well.
[00:31:41] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And I think your point about Marmite is exactly that, isn't it? About how people feel about video or how people feel about personal brand, how people feel about social media in general? Like, we used to all love it and now it very much is a love hate relationship. And the fact that are we wasting too much about life looking at it? I'm not so sure. I guess if you're looking at the right things, it's pretty good. But I go back to what you said before as well, about books and becoming like such a big part of your life and important. So I'm going to ask you a question, actually. What's the best book, what's the best business book that sticks out in your mind unequivocally?
[00:32:23] Speaker B: It's by Marcus Sheridan and it's called they ask, you answer.
And it truly opened my eyes in terms of how you should position yourself on social media and just in terms of your online marketing and his whole ethos is that basically you should never sell. You should never sell online because people don't like being sold to. As soon as someone tries to sell to you, you clam up, you put up a barrier and you feel threatened. His whole thing is to position yourself as an educator online. So give away helpful information, find out what your audience is interested in and base your content around that. Assert yourself as the go to expert in your subject matter. And then when people want to buy something, they will come to you by default.
[00:33:12] Speaker A: Let's kind of go back again to the, to the early days. So we obviously know about your teaching career, but I've also heard that you do see yourself and you describe yourself as a failed rock star and comedian.
[00:33:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I gave them both a go. I didn't do very well. So the emphasis is strictly on failed. But I use that in my, in my sort of online bio when introducing people to who I am because I think it kind of makes up what I feel is important about me in that. First of all, I'm not afraid of failure. But also I think that everyone in our industry should see themselves as a rock star and a comedian.
Every time I put something on social media, I'm a rock star and I'm a comedian in my own eyes. That's probably not how other people see me, but we don't want to be Blandin, identikit personalities. You've got to channel what it is that makes you different to other people. So, yeah, I'm going back a long way here, but I've always been obsessed with stand up comedy.
I spent most of my student years going to comedy nights instead of actually doing any work.
And I gave it a go very briefly. I didn't do too bad.
[00:34:39] Speaker A: I definitely could imagine you on stage. I definitely think you could captivate an audience.
[00:34:44] Speaker B: I enjoyed it. It terrified me. But I had that little kind of itch that I had to scratch. I'd watched enough people do it to think, yeah, I think I could give this a go. And I think that when you get that feeling, you've got to just give it a go.
So, yeah, I gave it a go. But when I was teaching, and again, now, I always had this line that I thought that everybody should watch stand up comedy, because actually what you can learn from comedians in terms of, like, their poise and their command of a room, and they had to walk onto a stage and instantly engage with an audience, isn't that what we do when we do a viewing or when we meet a prospective client? You've got to instantly make an impression. If you can make them laugh, then you know, you've built a connection. So, yeah, I find it really interesting watching the skills that comedians use when they go on stage and trying to learn something from that. And the same with a rock star, actually. It was really interesting. One of the propeks speakers we had was Daniel Daggers, the star of the Netflix show buying London. And he had a really interesting line. I can't quite remember his exact wording, but his perspective was that as property professionals, we should take enormous pride in what we do because we deal with people at the most important moments of their life. So although it might feel like it to us, there should never be just another viewing or just another appointment. Every single appointment you go to should be a one off. It should be the best performance of your life. And you think about comedians, you think about rock stars, and, you know, they do these Wembley stadium gigs, but to them, it must be just another performance. But every time they go on stage, they had to give it their best performance.
[00:36:31] Speaker A: I totally buy into what you're saying there. Like our referencing team, we don't see them as a referencing team, that they're granting the keys to the tenant on their new home, and that tenant really either needs to move or they want to move, and they've got a whole load of circumstance, you know, or emotion or excitement, good or bad, actually, behind that move, you can never just treat it like another one.
But on your point about, you know, holding the stage and, you know, actually giving off positive energy all the time, me and my friends say, you just never want to be beige. Never be beige. You want to have way more excitement and enthusiasm and positivity than that. So before we draw it to a close, because I think I could talk to you all day, Toby, in all honesty, I haven't even asked about some of the things I want to ask about. However, our regular listeners of let's talk, let's will know that we ask every guest for a funny story or anecdote of a time in your life. Now, I can't help feeling that there must be many. So which one are you going to give us today?
[00:37:42] Speaker B: Yeah, you're right. I think every letting agent must have a back catalog of greatest hits. And certainly I've had a lot of very funny moments. I've dug through rubbish bins for wedding rings. I've had to help tenants who had locked themselves out in the nude.
I've had to deal with bats stuck to flypaper.
But I thought the one I would share with you today, which I think is the most memorable thing that's happened to me in property, isn't so much funny as a little bit spooky.
And I thought, we're getting into autumn. It's only a month or so until Halloween, so I thought I'd tell you this one. And I hadn't been at the company all that long when I went with our then managing director to move a tenant into a new home. And bath being bath. This was a big georgian manor house on the outskirts of the city. And we went sort of at dusk. It was just starting to get dark. And typically, for some reason, this house was. It was partially furnished and a lot of antique furniture. It had these sort of stuffed mannequins sitting in the windows. Like antique rocking horse with the paint peeling. It couldn't have been any creepier.
Anyway, we. We met the tenant.
We gave her the keys.
My colleague gave her her mobile number in case she needed anything. And we came back to the office. And by the time we got back to the office, she tried to call. And we missed the call because we'd been in the car, but she left a voicemail.
And we listened back to the voicemail and she put it on speaker. We all stood there listening to it. And it's without doubt the creepiest thing I've ever heard. So the tenant started talking, saying, hi, thanks for meeting me earlier. I just had a quick question. And then her voice trailed off and there was, like, static on the phone line.
And then a different voice came onto the voicemail and it said one word, and that word was like a hoarse whisper, and it said, motherhood. And then there was more static, and then the tenant came back and said, anyway, if you could get back to me, that would be great. Thanks, bye. And she hung up. And, like, the hairs on my arm stood on end.
I don't believe in ghosts. I don't believe in spirits. But we just all screamed.
We were so freaked out. And to this day, I cannot come up with a rational explanation for it.
[00:40:30] Speaker A: But did the tenant ever say it was weird living there?
[00:40:34] Speaker B: Like, we never mentioned anything to the tenant because we didn't want to freak them out and. No. No, never mentioned anything. So what can I say? Maybe it was a ghost who just wanted to get in on leaving a voicemail. But, yeah, it was so creepy.
It stuck in my mind about ten years later. But, yeah, we've laughed about it since. But in the moment, it was. It was pretty terrifying, actually.
[00:41:01] Speaker A: Okay, so thank you, Toby, so much for today and for all of our listeners.
To ensure you never miss an episode of let's Talk, let's please follow us on Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcast. Please leave us a review if you like what you hear. And thank you so much for listening. Let's talk lets, an original podcast from the lettings hub.
