Arya Taware, managing director and founder of FutureBricks, on how she got started in property, the challenges she has overcome and her advice for young people. She also shares her cultural recommendations.
What do you value in people?
I value integrity, hard work and honesty/transparency, which are also driving values at FutureBricks.
What does your job entail?
From ensuring the smooth running of operations to seeing the bigger picture with the right strategic stance, I am focused on growing the business and allowing it to service a larger audience, namely corporate/institutional lenders.
How did you join the property industry?
With an academic background in urban planning and real estate, I started working for an SME housebuilding firm and Southwark Council, and that’s when I found a gap in the market. FutureBricks was born there, between the SME housebuilders that could not access mainstream finance and the financial consumers who had savings accounts that could not even beat the inflation rate.
What do you like most about the property industry?
I like that what I do within the property industry is fast-paced when it comes to closing deals. I love how our loans’ exit is making our customers’ money work hard. More than this, I love that every deal we take on is unique, meaning that none of them has the same features and so everything done at FutureBricks is thrilling.
Offering the chance for anyone to join property investments with as little as £500 earning up to 10% gross interest a year is only the beginning.
And what do you dislike most about it?
There are some deals that take longer than expected due to bureaucracy when it comes to planning and councils. There could definitely be better efficiency.
What barriers or challenges have you overcome?
I have been able to successfully raise external capital and build a track record: raising more than £3.2m from lenders across 17 projects with more than 650 registered lenders and investments accepted from 111 countries, having offered five successful exits at 12%, 18%, 9%, 8% and 13% gross interest a year, with a 0% default rate to date, all while upholding a 91% satisfaction rate on Trustpilot.
What are you most proud of in your career?
I am most proud of having been able to start this entrepreneurial journey and see that FutureBricks is growing on its own, when it was initially a business started from scratch and only an idea.
What advice would you give someone starting a career in the property industry?
Be knowledgeable, do your own due diligence and learn how to be a good communicator, especially in negotiating.
What do you want to change about the property industry?
One of the major changes I want to instil in the property industry is to make it future-proof by bringing in more technology innovations, such as electronic signing of forms and deeds, the power of big data and analytics used in real time, and tapping into AI for legal work.
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