EP110 Own Your Audience with James Varley, Founder & CEO, Host Planet

EP111 Trust Builds Wealth with Ashley Hammond

What happens when your client spends the development capital on a Hawaiian holiday, a James Bond castle rental and a lift full of fine Tuscan wine? Ashley Hammond has the story - and the lessons that came with it. A near two-decade veteran of ultra-high-net-worth real estate, Ashley joins Michael for a wide-ranging conversation covering the realities of managing high-value assets for private clients and family offices, the rise of industrial real estate and data centres, and why wealthy families are picking up the phone about coming back to London right now. There’s plenty of specialist finance insight here too - from structuring drawdowns to protect clients from themselves, to navigating lenders who bid high and let the valuation do the damage. One of the most candid conversations you’ll hear in this space. Guest: Ashley Hammond, Director, Academy Consulting Guest Socials: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-hammond-39188853/ Sponsored by: Avamore Capital https://avamorecapital.com #SpecialistFinance #PropertyFinance #BridgingFinance #DevelopmentFinance #SpecialistLending #Bridging #Development #Business #Leadership #Fintech #PropertyDevelopment #RealEstateFinance #BusinessStrategy #TeamBuilding #SalesLeadership #BrokerRelationships #PropertyFunding #LendingTechnology #AvaMoreCapital #CertaintyOfFunding

EP110 Own Your Audience with James Varley, Founder & CEO, Host Planet

James Varley spent a decade managing corporate communications for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Then he quit, bought a couple of holiday lets in Yorkshire, and built one of the fastest-growing media platforms in the short-term rentals space. In this episode, he walks us through how the STR market actually works: the platforms quietly controlling it, the regulations threatening to break it, and the branding playbooks of the operators quietly dominating it. He also talks honestly about what it takes to build a media business from scratch in a niche sector, why AI is about to reshape property management entirely, and what a decade in corporate comms taught him about cutting through the noise. Guest: James Varley, Founder & CEO, Host Planet Guest Socials: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdsvarley/ Sponsored by: Avamore Capital https://avamorecapital.com #SpecialistFinance #PropertyFinance #BridgingFinance #DevelopmentFinance #SpecialistLending #Bridging #Development #Business #Leadership #Fintech #PropertyDevelopment #RealEstateFinance #BusinessStrategy #TeamBuilding #SalesLeadership #BrokerRelationships #PropertyFunding #LendingTechnology #AvaMoreCapital #CertaintyOfFunding Chapters: 00:00:00 – What Is Host Planet 00:07:10 – From Qatar to Yorkshire: The Origin Story 00:14:00 – Direct Bookings and Platform Dependency 00:20:15 – BTL vs STR: The Real Numbers 00:25:50 – Scaling With Brand: The Beach Retreats Story 00:31:00 – Regulation, Licensing and the Community Tension 00:37:15 – Scotland, Wales and the Licensing Fallout 00:43:15 – AI, Agentic Tech and the Future of Property Management 00:52:15 – Building an Ecosystem: Content, Trust and Community 01:02:00 – What’s Next for Host Planet

EP 109 Beyond The Gains - With Sam Hutchins

Sam Hutchins is a specialist property finance advisor at Blueberry Specialist Lending and the founder of Fitness in Finance, an online coaching platform built specifically for people working in financial services. In this episode, Sam and Michael talk candidly about why the industry’s long-hours culture is quietly burning people out, what drove a 25-year-old broker to launch a fitness coaching business while still working full time, and what a healthier, sharper finance professional actually looks like in practice. From diet, alcohol and sleep to body dysmorphia, wearables and the increasingly divisive topic of weight-loss jabs, this one covers far more ground than your average finance podcast. Honest, practical and genuinely entertaining. Guest: Sam Hutchins, Specialist Property Finance Advisor, Blueberry Specialist Lending Guest Socials: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-hutchins-260917227/ Sponsored by: Avamore Capital https://avamorecapital.com #SpecialistFinance #PropertyFinance #BridgingFinance #DevelopmentFinance #SpecialistLending #Bridging #Development #Business #Leadership #FitnessInFinance #MentalHealth #HealthAndWellbeing #FinanceLife #WorkplaceWellness #BrokerLife #PropertyFunding #AvamoreCapital #FitnessMotivation #SpecialistLending Chapters: 00:00:00 - Intro and Sam’s Finance Career 00:06:00 - Office Life, Covid and Career Development 00:09:39 - The Birth of Fitness in Finance 00:15:00 - Credibility Without Qualifications 00:20:00 - Training, Nutrition and the Social Media Problem 00:26:00 - Alcohol, Motivation and What Actually Sticks 00:32:39 - Client Coaching and Working With Different Abilities 00:42:49 - Weight Loss Jabs, Steroids and Body Dysmorphia 00:49:27 - Mental Health, Sleep and the Social Side of Fitness 00:56:54 - Time Management, Business Crossover and What’s Next

EP108 Every Deal Matters

Adam Butler, Director of Sales and Marketing at Avamore Capital, returns to the podcast to talk about the lender’s remarkable growth story – a 90% increase in volumes in H2 2025, driven by bespoke in-house tech, an expanded and increasingly diverse sales team, and a renewed commercial mindset. Adam unpacks Avamore’s £250 million lending target for the new financial year, explains how their new broker portal and DIP calculator are set to transform broker efficiency, and shares his take on certainty of funding, geographic expansion beyond the South-East, and why saying no the right way is sometimes the most powerful sales tool. Packed with insights on what makes deals progress well, how to compete with ‘hot lenders’, and why trust will always beat price in specialist finance. Guest: Adam Butler, Director of Sales and Marketing, Avamore Capital Guest Socials: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-butler1/ Sponsored by: Avamore Capital https://avamorecapital.com #SpecialistFinance #PropertyFinance #BridgingFinance #DevelopmentFinance #SpecialistLending #Bridging #Development #Business #Leadership #Fintech #PropertyDevelopment #RealEstateFinance #BusinessStrategy #TeamBuilding #SalesLeadership #BrokerRelationships #PropertyFunding #LendingTechnology #AvaMoreCapital #CertaintyOfFunding Chapters: 00:00:00 – Intro and Adam’s Career Milestones at Avamore 00:07:40 – Building a Diverse, Knowledgeable Sales Team 00:11:54 – Lending Appetite and Core Products 00:19:07 – Geographic Expansion Beyond the South-East 00:24:26 – Market Dynamics and the Competitor Landscape 00:29:15 – The £250 Million Target 00:33:04 – Tech That Enables, Not Replaces 00:43:39 – What Makes a Deal Progress Well 00:52:52 – Staying Focused Amid Market Noise 01:02:15 – Scaling the Team and Career Advice

EP107 Understanding The Risk

In this episode, Michael sits down with Deepak Ohri, Partner at Merali Beedle and one of the more colourful characters in specialist property law. The conversation is wide-ranging, frank, and refreshingly commercial: from why every lawyer ought to run a business before they can truly understand risk, to the creeping post-COVID decline in legal service quality, the case for and against title insurance and indemnity policies, and a candid dissection of fraud in property transactions — including a shared episode that Deepak and Michael were both involved in. They also dig into the state of the market, why now might be a generational buying opportunity for block purchases, the enduring appeal of HMOs, and why some bridge lenders were never really cut out for development in the first place. Deepak opens up about the commercial instincts he developed long before law — from market stalls to helping his wife build a restaurant business — and why that real-world grounding shapes how he handles risk and client relationships today. He and Michael unpick the hidden cost of using a cheap conveyancer, how lenders’ and borrowers’ lawyers can do more to stop transactions grinding to a halt, and the uncomfortable truth that valuations are far more subjective — and far less reliable as security — than many bridging lenders seem to appreciate. They close with Deepak’s advice to his younger self: get out there, meet different people, and think about things in a wider way. Guest: Deepak Ohri, Partner, Merali Beedle Guest Socials: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deepak-o-44b2b33a/ Sponsored by: Avamore Capital https://avamorecapital.com #SpecialistFinance #PropertyFinance #BridgingFinance #DevelopmentFinance #SpecialistLending #PropertyLaw #Conveyancing #FraudPrevention #HMO #PropertyDevelopment #RealEstateFinance #TitleInsurance #IndemnityPolicy #DevelopmentLending #ValuationRisk #BuyingOpportunity #MarketOutlook #LegalProfession #MeraliBeedle #AvaMoreCapital Chapters: 00:00:00 – Why every lawyer should run a business 00:06:43 – Theoretical lawyers and the cost of opportunistic title disputes 00:13:02 – The restaurant world, food influencers, and running a service business 00:15:41 – Post-COVID legal quality: fees up, service down 00:19:43 – Streamlining transactions and the hidden cost of cheap conveyancers 00:24:44 – Title insurance and indemnity policies: are they fit for purpose? 00:26:39 – Fraud in property transactions and how to mitigate it 00:30:34 – Market themes: equity gaps, refinancing pressure, and a tough environment 00:35:17 – Generational buying opportunity: blocks, discounts, and stamp duty strategy 00:40:52 – HMOs, assisted living, and 2026 market themes 00:46:36 – Development lenders pulling back — and the bridging oversaturation problem 00:51:47 – Valuation risk: why 65% LTGDV dev might be safer than 75% LTV bridging 00:53:43 – Advice to your younger self