Stop Blaming the Solicitor with Kirsty Baxter

Solicitors get blamed for everything. The delays, the silence, the deal that collapses two days before exchange. The truth is usually far less dramatic and far more fixable.

In this episode of Girls in Property I'm joined by Kirsty Baxter, a conveyancing solicitor with fifteen years of experience and a mum of four who is very open about the fact that none of it looks perfect from the inside.

We get into the practical side first. How to choose the right solicitor, what you actually need in place before you instruct, and why communication is the thing that quietly makes or breaks a transaction. Kirsty explains why conveyancing only ever feels simple when everyone in the chain responds quickly and says what they mean.

Then we go somewhere else. Kirsty shares how she got into law through A level law, work experience and the old ILEX route rather than a traditional path, and what it has taken to build a career while raising four children. She is refreshingly open about the juggle, the guilt and the identity shifts that come with it.

If the legal side of property has ever felt intimidating, or you're quietly wondering whether you can build something serious while your life is already full, this episode is for you.

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Transcript

0:01

Good morning everyone and welcome to today's episode of the Girls in Property podcast. Oh, ladies and gentlemen, why don't we talk about the hot subject of conveyancing today? I know you're all there going, Athena. Let's talk about this really, really sexy subject. And in all seriousness, I actually have never actually had anyone on this podcast ever talking about um conveyancing before and sort of the solicitors and all of that. And there's a reason for it, actually. There is a reason for it. I thought How the hell am I gonna make this conversation fun and sexy? Because let's face it, when you're listening to your podcast, you know, you want it to be fun, you want it to be entertaining, you want it to have value, you want it to have all those things. And to be honest with you, but I never quite found the solicitor that kind of, and I mean this politely when I say it to any solicitors that are listening to this, who kind of had the personality to match for podcasting. Because people ask me to come on the podcast all the time, and I'm like, yeah, but you kind of gotta have a little bit of a personality to match. Um, you know, because we want to we wanna make it fun and upbeat. And then along came Kirsty. And Kirsty has actually been my convincing solicitor personally for the um for the completion of when I sold my residential house. And she was just and is a breath of fresh air. She really is. She is fun, she is vibrant, she's hilarious. Um, and also a a real human being, which sounds ridiculous, but you'll get you'll you'll see what I mean when I when I introduce you to her. You know, she's raising four kids, she's got her own business, she's trying to juggle a million things at once, and I just think she's an absolute superhuman of a woman. And I said to Kirsty, You're gonna have to come on the podcast. Um, and Kirsty said to 'I'd love to' But I've never been on a podcast before. And I went, well, you're gonna start now is a better time than ever. So it is her debut podcast. Be kind to her, but she is gonna absolutely rock it today. So without further ado, I'd love to introduce Kirsty Baxter. Hey Kirsty. Athena, thank you so much for having me today. Yeah, let's do it. And do you know what really made me chuckle? And this is this is the humour that you have. Just before I pressed record, I said to you, uh, so this is your debut podcast? And you went, Yeah, I'm a I'm a virgin. And then I laughed because you got four kids. say there's always a first time for everything, so I like to tick off all of the virgin boxes that I've got going on. So Absolutely, absolutely. So of course today is all gonna be about about you know giving loads of value about conveyance and everything because we've got lots of different types of listeners cursed. We've got people who are just starting out in property and then we've got people who have been through, you know, are our property investors as it were. And I don't know about you being the actual solicitor yourself, but on on the other end of it, on my side of things, it's always Oh God, when you think about your power team, you're like, please give me a good solicitor, please give me one that responds to me, please give me one that actually does what they're supposed to do and doesn't take a hundred years and charge an arm and a leg in order to do it. And I thought, right, how could we really help people today? And I thought to myself, you know, when I spoke to you before we press record, I said, why don't we talk about the five things that, you know, is really important to know when going through any form of kind of solicitors, conveyancing, you know, all of that. And let's stick stick with residential for now. We can do, you know, different things another day. Um and I just thought that'd be really good. And also talking about what it's like to actually run your own business, be a mum to four very young children. You know, we actually I will I will tell the listeners this because this is an important piece of information. Kirsty actually was meant to come on this podcast a couple of like six months ago, seven months, or was it longer than that? ten. Ten months ago. Yeah. Yeah. I know. was meant to come on this podcast ten months ago and we pressed record, everything was going well, but at the time Kirsty was breastfeeding. And obviously she had she had her youngest breastfeeding whilst we were recording. And as you know, for podcasting, it is tricky because audio is kind of a really big thing for podcasting, so we're in your ears. And obviously a little one woke up and there was some screaming and some bits and I was like, Kirsty, we I was like, we we can't do this. I was like, this isn't gonna work for a podcast and you're like, I tell you what, let's record it another time when the time is right. And ten months have now gone by and now is the right time to get you on where no one is attached to your boob and you can actually, you know, answer questions in peace. I know. I say, yeah, she was just under three months old at the time. So she's now just turned a year, she's almost thirteen months old now. So she's off s downstairs with my sister, waddling around with her her sisters and her and her cousins and stuff. So yeah, piled with snacks, so that's absolutely fine. So I'm literally it's very rare that I get like five minutes to myself. So yeah, now got an hour. Which is amazing. I know, but but but again, like the fact that you even the fact that you even thought to yourself in the most gorgeous way, you were like, Do you know what? Screw up, I'm not gonna let anything hold me back. Yes, I'm breastfeeding. Athena's asked me to come on the podcast, I'm gonna say yes, and I'm gonna turn up to this podcast breastfeed feeding my child. And you know what? I looked at you and it was happening and I went, We've never had this on the podcast before. All right, let's let's do it, let's give it a go. But of course it is tricky when they start to cry and you're like, I don't think we can now do this one. No, no. Um but it was kind of I've always for my first two, I couldn't breastfeed my first two. What the first one she just didn't want to do it, second one because I had them so close together. Um I just couldn't have the time to establish it. But with my third and fourth, um, I decided, you know, I'm gonna give it a go. I've got a you know, the older two, I've got a bit of a gap. I'll see if I can do it and it I did. For the for Chloe, who's the third one, um, she was almost two. when she finally like weed weaned herself off and I tried to do it with Rosie too and she just she just got it. So and I absolutely love it. I know and there's nothing against people who um formula feed, bottle feed, pump, put it in a bottle, anything.'Cause I've done I've done everything. I've done all I've done all three. And but it's just amazing when you think I've got that kind of like I can do this and I've, you know, fed my baby from me and it's just a real triumph. Um so I was really proud of that. Amazing, I love that. So, Kirsty, right, let's let everyone know how fabulous you are. So, first of all, you know, do introduce yourself. Now, when I say introduce yourself, what I mean by that is, you know, tell everyone who you are. Who is the person behind, you know, the person who works for Taylor Rose and the person who is a solicitor and the person who who exists as Kirsty Baxter, how you actually became a solicitor? Because I always think that's a really fascinating sort of story for anyone to go into that, and kind of you know what you really enjoy as a conveyance or what you really enjoy in terms of the process and seeing others and and what you what you love about it most as it were and then what we can do is really take the conversation from there and give loads of value jam packed for today's episode. Yeah, so I never wanted to be um a l any color lawyer. I first of all wanted to go into politics. Um, then I wanted to be um a forensic science, um, into forensic science, but they moved my course to a different um college. So I just went straight into A levels and didn't know what to do. Um my friend said, I've got a spare like half an hour slot. They had like mixer sessions and taster sessions, and I I'll come along with you. I've got nothing for that slot. And it was law. So I did A-level law. I in my first and second year I met my now husband and I just basically rebelled. I didn't go to I didn't go to college. I didn't do any of that. Um so I took a year out after all my c all my friends were going to to university and I thought, well, what can I do? I only have like two A levels now and they're pretty pants. So I thought, right, I'll take a year out, see what I want to do. So I did it work experience, did a lot of work. Um and then I remember my friend's mum who worked at a local law firm and she'd gone down the route of ILEX. Um, it's now Silex, but it was ILEX at the time. And I thought, you know, I'll give it a go. So I went in and I did my level three, which is equivalent to A levels, for a whole year. This is the old route, they do a new route now. But um did it full time for a year while working. I then went into my um level six and I also got some work experience with um a lady down in Los Withiel and I did some audio typing for her built. I was there for four years and they really built my confidence up and really gave me the background. Bone of what I am today to be honest. And I um decided right I need to grow. So I went into a big firm and continued to do my level six exams. I then got to an age where I was like, right, well, you know, we're ready for children now. So I kind of put that on hold, had children, moved around. I then went into consultancy after COVID. So I did post completion um for a while and then I went into being with Taylor Rose. And it's got to the stage now where even though I've got 15 years worth of experience and I've got all these qualifications. I thought, well, I'm not quite qualified, haven't submitted like the portfolio I need to do. So it's on the books at the minute where I am working towards becoming qualified with my practice in rights to basically show that my experience matches that of my qualifications. So I'm still going down the ILEX route. Um, but it still means that I've got all this experience for people. that you know you come across a problem and you got new qualified you know solicitors and lawyers who go, I don't know how to solve it. Whereas they can come to me and I go, I know how we can do that. We know a workaround, we can know how we can do it. It's that it's that experience that you really need when it comes to law. It's knowing what has worked before and what you've learnt from the up you know the previous generation of conveyancers. And I think that is a really big thing to have in conveyancing is that experience. Yes, you need to know the law, but it's the experience of how you can actually physically move that property transaction from one stage to another. So that's exactly where I am at the moment. So it's putting that practice, that experience into practice for my clients. Hmm, I love that. And you know, there's nothing there's nothing better than having a solicitor that says, don't worry, I've seen this before, I know how to handle this. You know, which you said to me so many times. You were like like a problem would come up with with with one of ours and you'd you'd say to me, Don't worry, I've got I've got it, I know what to say to them. And then you go back and you'd sort it, you'd be Yeah, I've sorted it, it's fine. Like there's nothing better than confidence exuding from your solicitor. The worst thing that comes from a solicitor is when they go, Hmm, I've never seen this before. Like those famous words, I've I we've never come across this before. I'm like, oh God, really? I'm like, okay. Like the amount of time someone has said that to me, like, I've never seen this before. I'm like, yeah, of course you haven't, great. That it yes, I mean there's loads of things that I haven't come across. but what I will do, I find that communication is key. Whether you've got some, it's bad news, good news, or you've got none at all. The best thing is to communicate that to your clients and third parties like brokers and estate agents. What I will tend to do is say, look, I haven't come if I haven't come across this, I haven't come across it before. eh But I do know someone who we can go to and discuss it. So I've I'm always very open. There's not a lot I haven't come across, um, but um, you know, if there is something or whatever we are trying to do doesn't work, you know, there are there are loads of lawyers, even in Taylor O's alone, and I've got people that I used to work with, I can go through and you can discuss how you would do it. That's where the real the I don't want to put anyone out, but the older generation comes in very handy because they've seen even more than I have. And for them to for you to go to someone and say, look, I've got this situation. Can I go down this route or is there a different route I need to go to? Or I have no idea what to do. Can you help me? And that's where your colleagues really come in handy because everyone has a different experience of what they do in conveyance and everyone's had different transactions, different problems go wrong and that you have to fix. That's where your strength lies in a lawyer for them to go, I don't know, I will find out, and to have that connection with other lawyers so you can go and find out, so you're not alone, especially in a consultancy, because it is quite I wouldn't say solitary because you can go to other people, but you're not in a room full of other people that you can just bounce things off of. You have to go out and actively go and do that. So that for me, I've always tried to do is connect with other lawyers. So you have that backup and you have that like support as well. Cause sometimes you're having a really bad day. You've got clients who are not happy because of, you know, one thing or the other. You've got estate agents that are always chasing, brokers that are a state agent chasing, and lenders who are just not replying. So to have that support just you know, I know it's really bad day but tomorrow's a new day or this afternoon go and have a good walk around for lunch and you'll be fine. So it's having that support network that really boosts your confidence, which means you're more confident for your client, whether you know that what you what to do or not. So that's where it really lies is how well you connect with other lawyers and what your support system's like. Hmm, I love that. I love that a hundred percent. So, I see I really want to delve into this today because, like I said, I really want to give value in terms of, you know, people sitting there with a notebook and kind of being like, right, what are the things that we really should know? Because I find that when people go into this, right, it it's it's a bit like when you're in school and they teach you like Pythagoras theory and they teach you like how to play a recorder and they teach you all the important things in life, right? But they don't teach you about the important stuff. And it's a bit like when you're taking on your first property, like even just to go and live in your first First property, or like to go and take on your first investment property. Nobody kind of just goes, right, here's what to expect, here are the things, here's what you need to know, and kind of like the process. Now, some might like yourself, you know, where you're brilliant, and you say, right, this is what's going to happen at each stage, just so that you're aware. Some solicitors just don't go to the bother that. They kind of just say, Right, send me this, send me this, send me this, and then you almost don't even have like the documentation ready to go because you didn't know that you required it, and then you're scrambling around at the bottom of your drawer in your underwear drawer trying to find. So I think for me I just want to kind of give everyone a little bit of an insight into things that would really sort of help them. And let's face it, let's talk a couple, let's talk about, you know, some of the the juicy bits as well. Let's talk about some not naming any names, but just some things that you might have seen with some clients and some craziness, because it's a podcast and it's always a bit of fun. Um but before then, Kirsi, like what would you say, because you with Garden Property we always celebrate and we always celebrate, what would you say that you're celebrating it? moment in time. Oh well, so many things that are on the cusp of going really big. So I think it's kind of so I'm not celebrating well, I suppose the thing I probably will celebrate is the fact I sold my my house um in about two weeks ago, so that's all done. Um but I'm not celebrating anything specifically, but I probably will do. Um there's just so many things though, so I'm you know, building up and finalising my, you know, my qualifications. So I'm just talking in talks with I Alex with regard to how I can do that and moving over from old route to the new route. But there's so many things how it's not just my qualifications that I'm trying to um match my experience. I'm trying to improve my experience by going down different routes. So in the near future I hope to announce all the things that I can additionally be doing as well as what I'm already doing. So I I'm really, really excited about that. So you're celebrating just new beginnings, like new beginnings, evolution, evolving like a Pokemon, like you know, all of that. uh can. As you can. That's it. Exactly that. I love that. You see, you just you just vibe. I love that. But this is the thing, and I I love this for you because you know, it it is important to mention as well, because I think what sometimes happened, Kirsi, I'm taking a little bit of a a a a D route here, as it were, but it's an important D route to do to do. You know, a lot of women drop into my DMs on on a daily basis, as you know, and I feel like there are two camps that that that I get DMs from. There are there is the camp that goes, you know, I'm a mum, I work full time, or I'm I'm a mum, and happens. happens to me, therefore I really struggle to find the time to do this. You know, I'm a mum, so I really struggle to do this. I'm a mum so I can't do this. And I have that camp. And then I have another camp who DM me and they're like, Athena, you know, I'm a mum but this is what I'm doing now. And I'm a mum but this is this is the cool thing that I'm doing. Or they'll send me picture of them with their kid attached to their strap to them on a construction site like whatever it is. And I feel like there's very much two camps. And I feel like what's been brilliant is you proving to yourself and to others that you can do all of these things and upgrade yourself. up level and evolve like a Pokemon, all swells having four children. And just just for reference, w like age range, like how old is your eldest one? You know? So eldest is eight, um, second is seven, third is three, and youngest is one. So they've all just had a birthday within five weeks as well. So they've all they've now like gone into the next ages. So yeah, eight, seven, three and one. See, incredible. And you know, how's how's that been for you from like that? I know I'm digressing, but this is an important conversation, like from an identity perspective, you know, and and wanting to keep up with your practice, wanting to keep up with your work, wanting to to maintain your work, like what's that been for you in terms of your challenges? Hard. It's been it's been I'll go I'll get emotional in a minute, but no, it's been hard because you have to weigh up the fact that you've got human beings to take care of against who you are, and it's taken me four children to realise that you can you can balance them, but you can't have them like equal at the minute, especially when they're young. I don't know as they get older, but for me, I can't have a a job that like this and then children like raising the children like I am at home, like this. You can't have that. So you have to take swings and roundabouts. So at one point the children are gonna have to go, I'm gonna have to stop, you know, I can't finish this report today, you know, the b the baby's not well, or you know, she's not feeling it. I'm gonna have to be with her and come back later on. Or, you know, you've got school, you've got you've got school projects, you've got sports day, you've got Christmas play, you know, they come before you work, which is the reason why I went into consultancy in the first place, to have more of that flexibility, to stop asking people to be a mum at the end of the day. Um so it is hard and you do lose your identity and I I'm still trying to find out who I am. You know, I've been with each child, you seem to lose it and you get it back and you're always different when you come back out the other side of it. You're always going to be different at the end of the day. And I'm hopefully on my way back out of my last you know child, um coming out to find out who I am and who like with all this stuff that's going on and bubbling under the surface, I'm trying to find who I am as a person. as a mum, as a lawyer, as a wife, as a sister, you know, and oh yeah, you evolve. You do like a Pokemon, you evolve. You do. yeah, it's just it's it's balance, but you have to remember that you cannot always have it equal. Sometimes you some days you think, I've got everything, I've cleaned the house, I've yeah, everyone's happy, no one's arguing, no one's tried to steal, you know, crisps out of the cupboard and feed it to the dog or or anything like that. You can have those days, but they're very far a few between for me at the minute, where it's always so during the day it's very much if I can take the calls and do the things I need to do. fantastic with the children around, especially 'cause it's summer holidays at minute. Um and then other days it's um, you know, I'm work I work in, I get it done, everyone's happy and it's great. It it's a balance. It's a balance. it is a balance, but I I can I can attest to you, you know, I am your testimonial, Kirsty, because I literally worked with you and what was so brilliant is is you, you know, you were first of all, you were so responsive. You really were like you you were more responsive, right? With four children juggling everything you do than previous solicitors I've ever had that don't have any of the responsibility that you have, that literally won't come back to me for like five days and I'm chasing them. I never had to chase you. You were always there. You even What's at me? Um, you were working late into the early hours because obviously that's where you get the most peace as well. Um good for you. I'm always up at that crazy hour because you know what, you know, that's just what I am. Me and you while I have like midnight chats because we're both up. But that that's that that's what worked well for me because we were actually on a similar wavelength basically with that. So I think that it is a superpower that you really have. And I don't I don't think that a lot of people could do what it is that you do, and you know, I I speak to a lot of people. About this notion of identity, and obviously, I don't have children, so I'm never ever ever going to be really able to fully relate. But I can certainly empathize and understand when I see women who have had children and they are saying to me, Um, I I uh I want to find me again, I want to go back to me again, I want to be working because you know, we are strong women, Kirsty, like strong women, entrepreneurial women, women who have desire and ambition, and it's like, and I I talk to a lot of people about this, they're like. I think you don't need to choose, you know. I used to ask this question of Do I have to choose between being a successful businesswoman and being a mum? And they people would say to me, Athena, you never ever have to choose. You can be both. And what you're demonstrating here, I see so many other incredible women in the community do as well, because literally, like 90% of mums, is um is show that you can be both. And I think that's a really important message today. Also, in addition to conveying, just for anyone who's feeling like they're listening to this, where let's say that the the the kids have just you know grabbed criticism. crisps out of the cupboard and fed it to the dog or they're taking the kids to school right now and you're listening to this, like we see you, we hear you, we're literally talking to you guys directly today. Like what message would you would you even give to them if if if you know with their ears in right now, Kirsty? without getting emotional. But you just need to think, right, this is just today. You know, you've you can see where you want to be. You can go that way. And you're gonna have backwards days. You're gonna have days where you think I cannot do this. Cause I still I get them all the time. I had them I had one this morning. I like, I can't go on this podcast. I said I don't what I don't know what I'm doing. I can't talk about conveyancing. I don't want to look normally I don't have a fringe. I'm normally in my husband's t-shirt because it's the first thing I've grabbed. I've got my hair pinned back. It's like flop flop everywhere. But you can you can I mean I work like that some some mornings and some days because I can't get myself ready. I've got everyone else ready, everyone's fed, everyone's happy, everyone's at school, change, whatever. But it's just you if you want to do something and you believe you can do it, don't think I'll do it when the kids grow up, I'll do it when they're going to bed. Think, right, this is the day I want to have. I can do X, Y, and Z. So let's see if we can do X, Y, and Z. And if we can't do X, Y, and Z, don't worry. It's fine. Because There's so much pressure on women and I think society does it, but I think we do it most to ourselves. And I think having that pressure, I do it all all the time to myself. I think, you know, I I didn't hoover today. I didn't, you know, I shout at the kids because they wouldn't stop yelling at each other or, you know, arguing. And it's fine as long as you learn from it. Which I'm still trying to do. You know, it's I'm not saying I don't know everything. I really, really don't know anything. And I just try and learn, and I'm not always successful. But you can do it. You just gotta believe in yourself. Mm. Beautiful. I absolutely love that. Well said. Well said. Very good. Um, do you know what? I'm I just thought of my celebration in that moment as you were speaking just there, which is I'm I'm celebrating these conversations, Kirsty. I'm celebrating you, I'm celebrating all the incredible women because for me, you know, we always talk about alignment and we always talk about like what our mission is and like why we're even doing what we do, why we put ourselves through this every single day. Do you know what I mean? And why we choose to live a different life to everybody else. And it's these conversations that that is that is my purpose, that that is my why.

And it's like, for example, I always say this to people: 23:36

like sometimes you can be the best, best at your you know, at what it is that you do, but sometimes you can just be the best kept secret that just people don't know about. And I think what's so beautiful about this podcast and what my soul's mission is, is to give the microphone to women like you, Kirsty, and to give you like a platform to be like, actually, come listen to this woman's voice, come listen to this woman over here, you know. To elevate other women to be like step forward into the spotlight, step forward because you have so much to give us do other women. And I was just listening to you speak there, and this is your debut podcast, and you just spoke so perfectly to the women who need to hear your voice today. Because I know that my voice, although important because it's important to recognise our own our own self-worth. My voice isn't always the voice that women need to hear. It's actually the voice other sometimes it's a different voice that women need to hear who are in a similar position to them or going through what it is. And what you just did there was speak directly to the women listening to this. And I went, that's that right there. That's why I started this podcast. Not for my voice, but for other women to have theirs. And that brings me joy and that makes me feel really good about what I do. So I'm celebrating this podcast and the voices that come on this this this whole thing and in the community so that we can all grow and learn together. So yeah, that's my celebration of love today. I've honestly got goosebumps. Goosebumps. It's just I think it's just people, women, I think if you've got that support, you can believe anything. And if you've got that support, you can do anything as well. I mean, I'm just a normal person. You know, I don't I don't do anything special. I'm just a normal person. But I go out and I try I try. I tr I do try, but you know, I'm just human. I try and be and give a hundred percent of what I can that day. Doesn't mean it's a hundred percent, but it's like out of a ho my a hundred percent, I give it to each section of me, you know, a wife, a mum, a lawyer, a student. I try and do that and not every day is it twenty five percent each or whatever. It it ha you have to give yourself that credit and that leeway to be a human being at the end of the day. I love that. Right. Should we talk about convincing? Should we do some should we do some convincing bits? Right, okay. So, first of all, let's take let's take the two let's take two different sets of demographics. Let's take demographic one. Demographic one is a listener who is just about to get into the property, you know, property investing. Now, they might have absolutely no experience whatsoever, having lived in rental their whole life, never even bought their first home, or we have a person. Who's listening also who has bought their first home, but that's been their actual home that they've lived in. They've never actually bought through, you know, a um an investment property before. What would you say would be the absolute first thing they need to know regarding what solicitor to choose, the documentation to get ready? Like, what are the fundamental first steps they need to know? So if you're gonna pick a lawyer, either pick one that you've used before and you're happy with. I would generally see if you can pick someone who is, let's say, a person who knows their stuff and it's not some unknown person. So sometimes you get these online conveyancing firms and The bigger the firm is, especially online, the more like you're going to be treated as a number and you just think, right, that number equals that amount of money I can get. So let's get it gone. You don't want that, especially when it comes to conveyancing, because that's a one of the biggest um purchases you're ever going to make is property, whether you it's investment, whether it's your personal one. So you've got to trust someone that you're dealing with. Um, get recommendations from people if you don't have any recommendations, use use me. Um, or you know, talk to people, talk to talk to family, talk to friends, you know, put it out on on Facebook or like next door, that kind of app. See what people um suggest. And then with regards to documentation, know so once you found the hash thing. I really like this house for for an investment, sort your finances out. Um, I know obviously it's gonna be in a short space of time, but you know, viewing the property, putting in an offer and bits pieces, it's gonna move fast from when you've done that. But You want to sort your finances out. So who's going to buy it? Is it a company? Is it your personal name? Is it joint names? Um, funding, how is that gonna come about? Are you gonna gift, are you gonna basically gift the whatever money you've got to the company? Are you gonna raise it from other um sources? Are you gonna mortgage it? What's the mortgage gonna look like? You need especially the finance bit, sort that out because then whatever the finance is, you how you're gonna who's gonna buy the property. And then with regards to that, if you've got I You're gonna have ID, so you're gonna have a valid passport, you need utility bills um from your in your personal name. Then if you're buying with a company as well, also make sure your company's set up and registered properly, you've got accounts, you've got I would get an accountant because they're really good. Accountant and broker are gonna work together with regards to your finances anyway as well. So I would make sure you've got you know a reliable accountant and a li reliable broker because your um your conveyancer is gonna work with them quite closely. to be honest as well. So there's gonna be things that are gonna pop up and the estate um with the estate agent as well. So if you've got a good team around you, it is gonna help you move the transaction forward. Hmm, I definitely find that. I feel like if you've got say that there's four in your power team but one of them's off, it doesn't matter how good your other three are, if one of them's off, you y you all have to work together, like literally. And you know, all three of you could be like, Athena, we're ready to go, but Mr. Mr. Accountant over here or Mrs. Accountant over here is not sending us the stuff and you're like, oh, like, you know, you can only go as fast as literally the whole team, right? Yeah, exactly. I mean, with regard to a transaction, you think about how many people you've got on your side. So you say you've got an estate agent, you've got a broker, you've got an accountant, you've got your conveyancer. That's just your side. You then got the other side and their law f you know their lawyer, whoever's selling it, whatever they've got, and the actual sellers as well. And that's why conveyancing sometimes seems to take so long, because you've got so many different parties that have got to chip things in. If someone doesn't put that in, you can't put the next, you know, the next level on. And that's where the problems sometimes arrive. And like for example, I've dealt with um transactions where the sellers, they're a divorcing couple. Well they can't talk. So they've also got then their divorce solicitors that have to, you know, comment on things because they won't talk to each other. So that's another set of um parties that you've got to involve in the transaction. So it can be complicated because of n not just because of conveniences can be complicated anyway, but because of the amount parties you've got. So Yeah, yeah. And do you know what it's so frustrating is is I've had it before also where my whole power team has been incredible. All my ducks in a row, lovely, lovely, everything's going wonderful. But over here, ms Mr. and Mrs. Seller, literally they've decided to go with a really cheap online one just because because they they don't have the the the understanding of it. And so you're like, you know, we can suggest all we want that they, you know, go with your recommended solicitor and all of this, but they they have the decision at the end of the day and you literally cannot go any Any quicker than you're going, even with the A team in your corner, because you're working with a Z team over here, and you're like, Well, we there's nothing we can do, they're literally not responding. And that's such a difficult thing to do. Like, what advice would you give actually to somebody in that position where you know I've had it before, even Kirsi, where literally I'm like, what is the other solicitors doing? And you know, you could be like, Look, we've literally been chasing them all week, we've been calling them, we're not getting a response from them. Like, you know, what do we do? You know, in regards to obviously, we could call the agent, we can approach the. vendor, like we can do all those things and get them to chase directly. But is there anything else that could be done in those moments? I mean, as long the estate agent is great, you either get a really good one or you get a really bad one. Um, really good ones will work with you to because obviously they can contact the seller direct and they can go up and down if you've got a bigger chain, they can go up to the very top of the chain if you're down the bottom. Whereas I can only speak to the parties that are next to me and it's only the lawyers that I can speak to. They can go up and down the chain, they can talk between themselves. So if you've got a really good estate agent, you can get them to talk to the seller direct. Or if they've got a problem with their ongoing purchase, for example find they can find out. They're much quicker at finding out. So the estate agent's probably your best call. I I I'm a bit of a cow. Um if I find that the um fee earner is not responding to me, I'll go to the head of the department or whoever their manager is and I'll say this person is not responding. I need a response. So I'm a bit of a cow. So I do give them leeway and then I'm like, right, I've had enough now so let's let's sort it out. So I will bring in someone who is above them to sort it out. J even if they say we've got no we've got no feedback for you on X, Y, and Z at all. It's because of the chain above us. But that's fine, but let me know. It's the communication side. And with conveyancing, because it is so high volume and a lot of firms will take on a lot more um files and give to fee earners and they've got some of them have got 150 files. It's ridiculous that they're trying to manage. That's why some conveyancers don't respond to because they've got 70 other clients who are also doing exactly the same thing and it's not fair on the fee earner. So it's about balancing. That's why I went to say I went into consultancy. I can pick who I actually work with and who I work for. So doing that allows me to have that good communication, which is always key when it comes to clients. Sometimes things can go absolutely arse over tip, but as long as you communicate that to every single party that you can, then it's fine. They're happy with that. They want that communication. It's not always the outcome, it's how they know about it. So it's chasing communication. and say at the end of the day, if there's if it won't if the sellers aren't budging and coming back to you, you're kinda stuck. But if you can do everything in your power to get it going, then that's that's something you can do. hundred percent. I love that. I love the fact that you were like, I'm just gonna go above them. I'm bored of this now. Let me go above them. This is why you're great, Kirsty. This is brilliant. I don't do it all the time. So s if there are any other lawyers on there and you get like a an email from your boss, it's not because I'm a cow, it's because you haven't done know, I I told funny enough, I'll tell you about one story that actually happened to me. So I was going through a conveyancing process. This this was about three years ago, as it were, with with one of my properties. I was I was actually selling it. So I was wasn't buying it, I was selling it. And um for some reason and I was speaking to the estate agents constantly, nearly every single day, and the the people that were buying it were first time buyers of one of my rentals and they had used one of the brokers, let's call it, recommendation of a solicitor. who are rubbish, like absolute rubbish, dog rubbish. And literally I was like my god, like this is just not moving. And when I say not moving, it wasn't moving for like about three weeks, not moving. And I was like, enough now. And I remember I actually said to them, um, I think you're allowed to do this. I'm pretty sure you're allowed to do this because I did do this. If I'm not allowed to do this, then sell it. It already happened. oh But I did do this. I did do this. You can tell me if I'm allowed or not. I said I don't know if he said to the solicitor, because I obviously at this point started to make really good connections and I found a really amazing solicitor who would work really well with my solicitor. And I was like, I need you to act on behalf of these people, basically. Like I need you to go and essentially work for them over here. And and so I called my agent and I said, look, I'm I'm literally at at my my wit's end here. We'll give them another week. If they don't respond, I'm I'm I basically am saying to them, either I'm gonna pull out of this or or they need to use this recommended solicitor. In order to basically go go forward and and do this. So in the end, they actually did go with my recommended solicitor, because they were also fed up with their own solicitor. So they went with it and then it all went through and it was it was wonderful and it all did. But I'm not sure if you're allowed to do that, if you're allowed to say you've got to go with my recommended solicitor. Are you allowed to do that? suggestion. It's fine. It was a suggestion. I was just like, listen, it was three years ago, you know, whatever. But I was like, I'm just gonna suggest that you do this essentially. But funny enough, then it all managed to go through. And they were very happy to do it, by the way. Like they were I wasn't, you know, they were in a one, they were like, we want to do that as well. It wasn't like handcuffing them to it. Um But I I just had to take matters into my own hands. I was dying. I was absolutely dying. And I thought we can't wait another month. We just can't do this. Because the property at this point was also gonna become empty because the tenant was about to vacate. So I was under real, real strict um deadlines and timelines, as it were. But yeah, we can make suggestions. We can always make suggestions. Like I said, three years ago, it's fine. I didn't act for you, it was fine. I didn't act for you, it's fine. No. fine. Um, I love it. Um so that was the first bit then. So we're saying about, you know, power team and we're saying about getting all your docs in row. What's another bit of really good information then from a conveying team perspective? For me, obviously we check the legal title. So we check that you can access the property from any like un you know, any right right of way or from the um adopted highway. As long as you can get to that property, that's fine and everything is legally sound that way. We obviously we don't check the actual structure of the property. We we can suggest that we get planning permission or build and regs if you've had an extension in bits and pieces, but we obviously don't go out and actually check it. So I would always get a survey. Always, always get a survey. So again, that's another if you that's another like power team that you can you can you know the power person that you can add to your team is um a surveyor I would because they can go out they can do a thorough check of everything whereas we can't we can only go you've had an extension or you've had Windows done um let's see make sure you've got the documentation for it but that doesn't mean anything essentially you know if the actual property is a bit of a wreck so um I would get a good surveyor on your hands to check the the property I mean you can do a home buyer's I've had home buyers done in the past for my own property and it was pretty like, yeah, there's a it's a house. And that's about it. That they don't really need anything. So I would, especially if you're investment, because at the end of the day it's investment, you're gonna come to sell or do something with it in say five years, ten years time, you want to make sure that there's nothing that's going to impact the value of that property in ten years' time because at the end of the day you n you don't want to down value the property by not doing something or not getting it for a good price so you can fix it. So I would always get a survey done. So you just mentioned there, um, on a point there about the home buyer survey, you know, not being very good as we know. Yeah, they're not. They literally go do you know what the best bit on my on the home survey is, and I always laugh every time I I I don't even bother with them anymore, but back in the day when I used to get them, right? Was they they would they would say, i i electrics look stable but we but would be good to get an electrician in to check these. Plumbing plumbing looks okay. But I would suggest getting a plumber in to check these. And I'm going, Okay. I'm like, thanks Thanks for thanks for paying six hundred pounds for you to tell me that. it has a roof and it has four windows. I'm like, yeah, I know that. Yeah. Yeah, what w exactly. So what what type of survey would you suggest then when you talk about getting a survey done? You can there's obviously that depending on the the age of the property and where it is, you can each like kind of surveyor's got different kind of grades, but I would I would always go above a home buyer's, whatever you're comfortable with. Like say if you want to do extensive work on the property, you want to gonna get the most uh the the best survey you can 'cause you're gonna be knocking down walls, you're gonna be adding to it, you wanna make sure that everything's structurally sound before you start breaking it down. Um, so I would go to find a good surveyor, see what they offer, because each say each you get the standard, but home buyers, but I would go and find yourself a good surveyor, a good local surveyor, because obviously they've got local knowledge. So I would definitely go with a local surveyor, get them out and just have a chat with them, say like this is what I want to do. I like either I want to buy my own property for myself or I want to invest and I really want to work with someone who is, you know, who knows their stuff and has local knowledge. So what would you suggest? And they'll tell you, what would you suggest for this property? This is the age of it. This is what I want to do. What would you suggest would the best um survey for that property? And it might change per property. So I'll definitely get a local um surveyor out. Um and establish a connection, especially if you're an investor, s establish a connection to be honest, and see how they work. True, 'cause you're gonna need them, they're gonna need them in their pocket. A good surveyor is is a fantastic person to have on your on your team, absolutely. Okay, so we've got we've got we've got the first sort of bits then. What what's another what's another good bit of info? Um, so for if you're doing investment, I would say you want to know what you want to do with property. Do you want to keep it long term? Do you just want to let it out? Um, do you want to just, you know, own it for a certain amount of time before you then to go and sell it? So you want to know what you want to do with property, and then obviously you can your inquiries are slightly changed what you want to do, like survey wise or work wise, it's gonna change depending what you want to do with it. So I'll you wanna know what you want to do with property at the end of the day. if it's your home, you wanna look at I know it sounds bad because you want to live in it, but Is it going to go up in value? Is there going to be a problems like down the line? Are they building something near it? Are they, you know, are they building new developments? Is there going to be a school? You know, they're going to bring up some more shops. Is there um do you know if there's past mining like especially in Cornwall, we've got mining everywhere. Is there a problem with that kind of area with mining and bits and pieces? So know the area. Um have a you know, you don't have to do a lot of research because obviously we as lawyers will go through and do your searches and we can find out in much more detail. But it means that you're not surprised when those searches come up. So you know roughly what's going to happen in the area. So you want to make sure that and you want to see how long you want to own it for. Is it kind of like a steppemstone like house? Are you going to move in five years' time because you want a bigger house? You know, what's the value going to be like? So I even though it's for you to live in, I would still think about what's the future gonna hold for that property and me. You know, how much am I gonna resell it on? Does that mean I can buy that bigger house because I've had that jump in value? So you really wanna look at that as well. Yeah, definitely. A hundred percent. I totally agree with that. And then just think about this. The main ones that that for me that always always comes up is obviously the first thing you gotta wait on is bloody searches. That's always the first one. Now, searches take anything from like, I don't know, three weeks, I'd say is probably the quickest I've ever got searches back. Have you ever done quicker than that? Yeah. authorities local authority is the one that takes the longest. At least four weeks. Three, four weeks. and then, you know, the my god, during COVID, my god, that was a nightmare. Searches were taking like six months. Five, six months. I was furloughed and I just come off of maternity leave so I didn't I didn't work for like two and a half years 'cause I had back back maternity leave and then I was furloughed for six months, so I was at home for two and a half years. I did searches searches were just an a nightmare, like an actual nightmare and planning and all sorts of things. So searches were a pain. So yeah, searches is always the first one and then obviously inquiries as well. This whole thing about all right, we're gonna get our inquiries back. And it's so funny some of the stuff that comes back and you're you know, you lived in a house like let's say, you know, when obviously I had my house that I'd lived in for five years, and they were asking all these questions about the house or or documentation. I was like, Kirsty, I haven't got a clue what any of that is. Like I don't yeah. good was like, I was like, I was like, you're asking me things, I've got no idea. And your response was so funny, you're like, don't worry about it, it's fine. Why not got it the way I thought I'd ask you anyway because but that's I suppose that kind of links in with the your beginning um especially if you're selling links in with your your ID in business you'll get given those protocol forms so you fit into contents form property information form and leasehold information form if you've got leasehold property make sure you fill them out properly and make sure you supply the documentation you say is enclosed please do that and if you don't know then say I don't know or as to follow and then I can either say here it is or by the way they don't actually have it'Cause they've lost it. But then I know, but it's when people have ticked things and I'm like, Right, where's the boiler installation certificate? Oh, well I I thought I had it. Well where is it? I don't know, I'll have a look. Have you not looked? I know. I know you did. It was fine. I know you did. I had the boiler installation thing and I definitely did another boiler installation thing. And I was like, I was like, I'm pretty sure I had it on the boiler. I think it's disappeared after five years. cli I'll label it bad client doesn't have documentation It's a very me thing to do, to be fair. Documentations and me just don't go very well together, which is quite funny. But I know, I know, I know, I know, yeah, I know, it's my brain, it's definitely my brain. But but yeah, absolutely, and this is the thing. And I I'll tell you another one actually, just while we're on the topic of um of this has just come in into my brain and and a lot of people will go, Yes, Athena, my god. Some people won't know about Isla. as well, you know, and then sort of like Ida just comes out of nowhere and then they're like, I didn't even know I need to do this. So can you please explain to everybody about this and kind of the fact that they're gonna need this as well if they're obviously buying through in the middle company. Yeah, so um I don't do a lot of purchases through limited companies. This is the one of the things that I'm uh I'm moving forward on. But you you do need like I've got obviously the a bit of background, but you're gonna need everyone just thinks I'm buying it as a company, here's an I'm a director, here's my ID, and it doesn't work like that. You're gonna need all the company information. So you're gonna need I need to do background checks on the company, I need accounts, I need your incorporation um documents. And I need to do say and I need to do a background check on the company. That's what I need and no one thinks about that. And if you've got anything to do with a mortgage, I've got I've had it in the past where I've got a limited company who's purchasing a leasehold property, but they're gifting the deposit from their personal funds. And I was like, Well, that's where your accounting comes in because I need an accountant's letter to show that you've discussed it with an accountant and you've held minutes with the company and They were like, I don't need need needed to do that. And I said, Yeah, you do need to do that as well. So and then then so I've got to go back to their broker and back to the mortgage company and say, look, this is this is where the money's coming from. It's not actually coming from the company itself because even though they've got a company set up, there's no money in that account. It's just like a holding company. So yeah, it can be a bit more difficult when you're buying with a company. It it it is. So for example, just just just to to explain this so that people don't get caught caught out in it. So essentially what happens is and I'm gonna say this in a very, very basic way, obviously go and get professional, you know, advice from independent legal advisors, ILA, that actually do do provide this and there are specific ones to that. But essentially the first time I ever did it, I remember I I just couldn't comprehend this because essentially what it is is they're saying to you that your company is buying it and therefore they see that you are separate to your company. And I'm like, But I'm not separate to my company because I Athena Dobson and director of this company, and they're Yeah, we don't care about that. It's still a separate entity. So, what needs to happen is independent legal advice is where you and your company essentially need to have a conversation of minutes with each other, minutes, documented minutes to say, I, Athena Dobson, understand that the risk that is essentially being taken by buying this house with my said company, and I understand the risk that's associated with it. Then what you need to do is you need to pay an independent Legal advisor, the privilege of this conversation. Now, independent legal advice, I'm not going to go into this in a huge amount of detail, but quite frankly, and I mean this with love and respect in the best way that I can say it, is absolute cowboy country, right? Proper cowboy country. Where you can have someone that charges you 250 pounds, you can have somebody that charges you 750 pounds, you can have somebody that charges you £1,000, you can have somebody that charges this. And what happens is that they charge you based on the level of work and, of course, the risk that's associated with it. It so the risk, if the risk is going to be more, you are gonna pay more. If the risk is less, you're gonna pay less. So I have paid anything from I think the cheapest ILA I've ever paid for was like 370, like 370, and the most I've ever paid for it is like 900, something like 900, as it were. Something like that. It literally varies, and what happens is you go on the Zoom call with this person, which has been what my experience has been so far. And they have said, do you understand the risk that's associated with basically buying this property through this? The conversation lasts for about 10 minutes. I say, I'm I'm aware of the of the risk. I am sound of mind to be making this decision. I am this, this, this, this, this, and they go, great, tick, they tick a box, and then off you go. It is the most ridiculous thing you will ever go through, but it is imperative that you understand that you are always going to need ILA if you are going to be buying through it. And the thing that happens every single time, and I see people caught out on this, it's my top tip for you all, if you are going be doing this, is that the not you curse, I'm talking about other solicitors. Other solicitors will assume that you know this and assume that you've already got ILA intact or that you have already got this measure set up. You you don't. And so just before completion or just before exchange, you'll then not be asked where your ILA is and you'll What the hell is ILA? And then you'll be forced to spend more money to do it because you'll be under time constraints. Get this set up as soon as possible, and then you're not going to pay as much, okay? So that would be my top top tip for anyone who's going to be buying through a limited company. You are a separate entity to your limited company. So really just a top tip for you all on that one. Yeah, it's say it definitely catches it catches people out and 'cause as you say, people are a director, so they think, Well, that's that's me. I own that. But then that's me like, No, no, it's not but yeah. I I do I I I'll give another one, Kirsten, and I'd love to get your opinion on this one because you you might you might know a bit on this one. So I've also been in the position where I've obviously bought a flat before where I've also been the freeholder. And so we've actually had to put the freehold in a different company to obviously the leasehold. Have you ha done that before? I've come across it. I haven't been on the one to swap them, but I've been when it's been in developer's name and then each flat has been sold. It's been like a house has been converted. I'm buying one flat, another um lawyer is buying the other flat for their client, and what we have to do is work under the same time constraints to transfer the freehold and both their names from the developer who or the the company who has then developed the house into two separate flats. Basically, yeah. mine was a little bit simpler than that. So it's yeah, but essentially that's it. So mine was just where I was buying a flat, but also the freehold to the um it wasn't even a block, it was a house that just had two it was just one of those simple two uh two two flat conversions as it were. But I didn't realise that I had set up another company to buy the freehold in. So the freehold went into my holding company and the uh leasehold house itself went into my limited company and I was like, I didn't realize that I had to do that. And so therefore again there's more fees involved because then it's like two different sets of documentations where you're like, well you're two two different people are basically or two different entities I should say are buying said property but under two different things. I didn't realise that a freehold couldn't go into the same one. So it's little things. It's like little nuances where you're like once you've done it the first time you're like I know that next time but you you can't know everything can you? No, exactly. Which is why you if you've got a good lawyer, they will have then a good connection with other lawyers that they can bounce those kind of inquiries off of. So it's all like I don't know everything and I'm sure like the the people I work with don't know everything. So that's why if you've got a good base, you can bounce things off each other, you can find ways that it's gonna work. So it's those little things that really, really help when it comes to having a good lawyer. Do you know what my top tip would be, Kirsty, for everyone? My my top tip would be this. I I actually think from the I've been with a few different solicitors now. And I think for me, I um by the way, I've been with some my god, so Kirsty, can I just tell you this? Do you know my first ever, just before I give my top tip, just give this story. Do you know my my first ever solicitor back in the day where I was really, believe it or not, shy and timid and you know, all of this, uh I won't say his name, but he would he worked for uh he worked for a small firm in Ringwood in near Bournemouth as it were and I was asking him what I would like to deem normal questions. I personally would like to deem them normal questions because he was not responsive to me. He was not communicating with me. Like I wasn't getting anything from him. So I felt like I was getting anxious attachments and I was like please just respond to me, you know, Mr. Slicitorman and all of this. And he literally emailed me back, and this isn't verbatim, but along the lines of, Athena, if you continue to email me, I will charge you for each time I respond to your your email. Um, I've spent more time replying to your emails than actually doing the job itself. So so stop emailing me. And I was like, and in my head, I was like Number one, if you'd just responded to my actual question, it'd been quicker for you to have actually responded rather than written that in an email. And two, he was so he made me feel like I'll never forget. He made me feel like I was stupid. He made me feel like some of the questions I asked were irrelevant. He made me feel like I knew nothing. He made me feel he really, really made me feel so inadequate, that man. He really did as a solicitor. I would never recommend him. I would never I don't even know if he's practicing anymore. He was older, actually. Just say. And you know, I I just remember thinking to myself, if all solicitors are like this, then I never want to talk to another solicitor again. I really don't. And he might have had all the knowledge till the cows come home. And don't get me wrong, it's always good when a man like that is in your corner fighting because you know you want someone like that who's a bit who's a bit like that. But for me, the best advice I can actually give is I would rather work with someone like you, Kirsty, who is approachable, fun, you know, making the process fun, like like can go and go, I'm sorry, I haven't actually got the boiler inspection and you going, right, okay, let me go sort this, rather than shouting at me and saying, well you shouldn't have done this as per this form regulation. And I think that, you know, getting a solicitor that understands that they don't know everything and admits they don't know everything but can go and find the information, but having a warm personality and a person that you know that you can work with, I would take that ten times over somebody that is unapproachable, somebody that I can't talk to, that might have all the knowledge in the world, but I feel I can't even email because I'm scared of their response and I'm triggered every time they email me back. Do you know what I mean? it's that it's that we take it for granted, or I s I certainly did when I first started, that I know the process, I know what I'm doing and the background from what it appears that I'm doing for everyone else. So you you've got all your admin and bits in the background. I used to take that for granted and I think, well, why I am doing it? But they d a lot of people, ninety percent of people don't know the process and therefore they haven't heard from you for a week. They're like, I'm getting, you know, itchy feet, I don't know what's happening. That's because I'm doing things in the background, like I'm reviewing the contract pack, I'm raising the inquiries, but which is where the communication comes in handy. It's you have to communicate with people going, don't worry, just reviewing the contract pack. And it doesn't take two seconds to email that over, text that over, WhatsApp, whatever, to say, this is what I'm doing. Don't worry. It's quite a big contract pack. So there'll be a number of inquiries. You will get a copy of that at the end in the report so you can see exactly what I've done and you can see the responses. So you can see what's been happening with regards to that underneath everything else. So it literally doesn't take five minutes, but you need to do that. And get the estate agents off your back. Do the same because they like to email you every week. Several times a week. Yeah. bother me actually. I quite like it when the estate agents email me because at least they want to push the sale as well. So actually for me, when the estate agent emails me, which is regular, I'm like, Yeah, I don't mind it. I'm like, Yeah, you know, I'll go I'll go you know, I'm I'm the world's best chaser as you know, Kirsty. I'm very I'm very good at chasing. She didn't chase me though, everyone. She didn't chase me. It's fine. Chase everyone else. Yeah. Tactive. You we literally tagged team. You were like, I'm gonna chase this way, you chase this way, and together we did it. And it was seamless. Like it was absolutely seamless. And I like I said, me and you are, you know, I said this to you when when you called me to say we've completed here's your your your lovely pot of money that's just come back to you. Um, I said to you, I'll call you for the next one. Like I literally said that to you. I was like, that's the best that's how you know that you have done good because you get people going, I'll use you again. They f they try and find you. If you've moved firms, they will find you and they will recommend other people. Like I've had people come and go, Oh, so and so's recommended me and some of these people I haven't even acted for as in the r who the r who recommended me. It's because I know them like personally and they've gone, you know, go to Kirstie and that's where a lot of my work comes from. It's because of me Act in well in other people's files at the end of the day. If you do a crap job, you're not gonna get anyone else to come back to you, especially when you're like self-employed. You rely on that work, so therefore, don't burn your own bridges. If you've got a really horrible client and a really intense client, work with it, work with it. They're intense for a reason, therefore work with them, and then you're you can probably see that back tenfold. They'll recommend you to ten people. It's the people that you don't think will recommend you most of the time that will recommend you. Yep. a good point. Yeah, yeah. I love that. I love that. Um, I know. Do you know what? I could talk to you for hours, Kirsi. I really could, because it's just such for me, like I said, it's just an interesting conversation. I want to give like loads of value and jam-packed as it were. But the good news is you're of course in the girls and property community, um, which I love. You know, love having you in there. You know, you're brand new to it. And what's great is I love the fact that we've got literally like power teams in there. So for example, anyone who's ever got a conveyancing question were like, Kirsty, can you answer this one? And there you are, you're like, Here you go, here's the answer. Um or you're beautiful in saying, I'm not sure of the answer, but let me go find out for you, which I love about you. We've got brokers in there, we've got accountants in there, like and it's great because then when people have questions they can actually get to the root of the answer to it. So I think like you were talking about earlier with community and kind of like sharing and things like that. I really believe like it's such an important thing to have and particularly um For me, I just love the the female aspect of it as well. So yay, yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's it's it's women for women at the end of the day. And I think that's you can have men on your side, but I think it impacts more when you've got a woman, especially a woman who's not bitchy or trying to backstab you or doing it for their own intentions, like purely their own intentions. to have that pure female empowerment from other women is very special and it just boosts you, you think, yeah, I can do it. And it changes your whole mindset like for the day, for the week, for the month. It really sets you forward. And I think that's what women are really good at is is doing that for other women. It's putting them on that pedestal that they all deserve to be on. Hmm. Amen. Well said, well said. So Kirsi, this is my last question to you to round up your podcast. You've done a fabulous job, an absolutely fabulous job. Here's my question. You'll know this. If you've been listening to sort of previous episodes, you might know the question that's coming. But if you haven't, then then even better, because then you're just gonna have it blank. Um so about a year ago I went on someone's podcast and they asked me a very specific question which absolutely stumped me for about three minutes. I didn't know how to answer it, and I was like, what the hell is the answer to that question? So I'm gonna ask you it as I do my other guests because I'm really fascinated to know the answer to it, which is this. What's one question that nobody has ever asked you that you wish that somebody would have asked you? I knew this was coming and I still am stumped. I still am stumped. Um what is it that you actually want? Because I've been going through I've been through life and it's like, I want to do this, I want to do that, I'm gonna do I'm gonna go down this route, and I'm gonna do that. And I think it's fine to change your mind, but I my mind was never set on anything. So I've always been a bit of like, oh yeah, that I can do that now. I can do that. It's never like I want this. This is what I want. And I've never and I've always had the drive, but it's knowing what I want, if that makes sense. I don't know if that's coming through, but it's going This is definitely what I want. I can do this. Let's do it. It's more like, I'll do that. yeah, I'll do that. There's no and I think it becomes from like self like discipline and um belief that you can do what you want to do. And it's never like what no one's going, what do you actually want to do? And I think someone I wish someone had asked me that, you know, late teens, early twenties, because I think it does change throughout your life. But I've never been, this is what I want. At the end of the day, this is what I want. And I think I'm getting there now because my husband's really good. It's always like, what do you want to do? I've been through like a few like midlife crises. I like like five years ago, I was like, I'm gonna be a criminal lawyer, I'm gonna do that now. And that didn't work out, I didn't even go down that route. But it's like, what do you wanna do? You're at the stage now where you can completely change whatever you wanna do. You could be a nurse, you could be a bus driver, you could be a you know, a lorry driver, do whatever you wanna do, electrician. What do you actually wanna do? And I think it's taken me five years to go, this is what I want to do. But I don't just want to do this. I want to I wanna be like, I wanna be a mentor. I wanna be someone that people come through advice. I want to be the person that you think I need a conveyance. Oh, yeah, cursey, end of. I want that's what I want. I want to show my girls that you can do whatever you want to do. You wanna go off traveling like you are, go off traveling. You wanna find yourself, go. You want to live in Australia, you wanna be a bin lady, you do whatever you want to do. If you're happy at the end of the day, if you are happy, then I am happy because you are happy. And that's what I think I always wanted, that guidance. Say you can do whatever you want to do, but what do you want to do at that time in life? Beautiful, beautifully said, and such an important message for all the listeners today. I it's a really weird one, you know, because I've always struggled with this myself when people say, you know, what do you want to do? I think it is quite a different one. But you actually just said something really beautiful there in your own way, which is rather than saying, what is it that you actually want to do, it's more who is it that you actually want to be. Yeah. Who do you want to be? Right? It's a very different question. And so for me, I always think that that's the question to ask. Who do you want to be? How do you want to feel? And what I'm learning is by working with my subconscious coaches, you know, we always talk about like our week, and we're like, right, what do you want achieve by this week? What do you want to get done this week? All of this. And she always says to me, Athena, how do you want to feel this week? She's like, How do you want feel? And it's always a It's always a different answer because I can give all the metrics and I can say, right, we've got this to do this week, but this to do this week, but this to do this week. It's easy for me. But she's like, Yeah, but how you want feel? And I'm like, Mm, good question. Good question. So yeah, I love it. And I think that's such a beautiful, beautiful answer to that question, Kirsty, and one that I think that we will leave the listeners with today is, you know, what do we want to do and and who do we want to be? I think that's gorgeous. Um, so people are gonna want to get in touch with you. They're gonna want to work with you, Kirsty, because you're bloody fabulous. So where is the best place for people to find you and connect with you? So you can find me on Taylor Rose's website. Um, so just type in my name, Taylor Rose, and I'll come up. If not, you can drop me an email. So Kirsty.baxter at TaylorHyphenrose.co.uk and just drop me an email. Need some advice, you want to know what to do, absolutely fine. You know, I'm not one of these people go, you need to instruct me. I'm more like, let's see what I can do for you. And then I'm all about giving. You know, I can let me give what I can give to you. And if it sends you on a different route from me acting, that's absolutely fine because you've got what want. So yeah, drop me an email. Happy to guide anyone in the right direction. Beautiful. And what's your Instagram? Because you are on Instagram as well. Yeah, so Kirsty Baxter Conveyance and you can find me there in my old not looking so like sweaty, but um yeah, find me over on Instagram, that's where you find out exactly what I've been doing during the day. It's normally trying to, you know, put socks on the burby who gets pulling them off. But yeah, over there and you can see what it's like me um day to day really. Gorgeous. And as always, guys, I am Athena Dobson underscore official Girls and Property on Instagram. Come and drop into the DMs. You know, Kirsty's now part of the Girls and Property community. And so, you know, she she's in there as are so many other power team of incredible women. So if you're a woman in there, then you can also um direct message Kirsty, Kirsty in there. But you know, we're at a hundred and well, when I when I recorded this two weeks ago with now being released, you know, we're at 170 members. Now, some of you will know by listening to my stories, I set myself a goal of 170 members in the Girls and Property community. before I went travelling to Canada on the twenty second, whereas today it's the third of August when I recorded this and um and literally we have already hit that target which is incredible. So I'm now gonna go for what should we say? Should we say like 190? Get another 20 in before before I go away, get another 20. Yeah, 200. All right, fricky there. Aim for the start right, Kirsty, aim for the stars. Two hundred. Two hundred before I go away on the 22nd of August. So, you know, if you've been looking for a community like Kirsty said of like-minded women to come together. If you've been looking for a community where you know your questions get answered, your questions get asked as it were, then then come and drop in to the community, come and be part of it. It's absolutely gorgeous. It's only £40 a month, or you can pay you know annually for the year and get two months free. And we do two calls every single month, so you get hold accountable. There's a whole library full of information in there. you know, and it's just it's just a place where if you've been thinking to yourself about feeling in the messy middle, feeling stuck, you haven't got to spend, and I keep saying this, you haven't got to spend your two and a half grand and your five grand, like all of this, to get the answers or feel part of something. You know, come and dabble, just come and sort of d dip your feet in forty pounds a month, you've got nothing to lose, just don't get that takeaway from the Chinese. Do you know what I mean? And investing yourself with other women who are like, Me too, I see you. This is what I'm doing. How can I help? Like all of this. And if you're ever not sure about it at all, I've now introduced this whole situation of um Amy Miller who's our gorgeous community leader where she now does 15 minute discovery calls for anyone who's interested in the community to come in to sort of like test drive it have a look at it speak to Amy have your 15 minutes and see if it's right for you and at the moment Amy is working on a hundred percent conversion rate. I think there's been 12 people that booked in the calls and 12 are booked in because once you see it you're kind of like wow this is amazing and then you know you sign up there and then so let's keep the 100% conversion rate going. I'm so so proud of her in every way. And um yeah, just come and come and be part of it. If you need any sort of extra bits of advice, then I also do my ninety minute deep dive calls, my flow and alignment calls. Just drop into my DMs if that's you and you just want ninety minutes of my time and we can have a conversation. If you want an online course, you know, I've got my self led program as well. So basically anything you need, just just come and talk to me. I'm more than happy to to help and really wanting to shape th this industry up with good education that doesn't need to cost an arm and a leg. Um but Kirsty, I'm gonna give you the parting words for our listeners today. So what are your parting words to everyone? Believe in yourself. Have a good community, whether that's work related or home or like, you know, personal. Get that community, get that support, belief, believe in yourself, and you can do it. It doesn't mean it might take you five years, might take you ten years, might take you a year, but you can do it. You do it on your own timeline. You set it for yourself. You can do it. It's just a matter of self belief. Well said, beautifully said. Congratulations on your debut podcast. You did brilliantly. Good. Excellent. Just shows you girls, like it doesn't need to be scary. Like, you know, if you if you like Kirsty, you're thinking, do know what Athena? I am the best kept secret at the moment. You know, DM me, let me know. Let me know why you would be fabulous for the podcast. I am all there's for you. So have an amazing week. Look after yourselves. Go be fabulous. And if you need us, you know where to find us. All right, take care. Love you lots. Bye.