Industry Interview: YourNxtDoor

Property Wire spoke to property entrepreneur and chief executive of Kamani Property Group Adam Kamani (pictured) about his online estate agency YourNxtDoor, why he decided to enter the property world and his expansion plans in these challenging times.

What inspired you to enter into the property world, and in turn set up a letting agency?

Ever since I was a child, I’ve always been fascinated with hotels and big skyscrapers. When I would go to new hotels to stay on holiday I’d always be intrigued by them. At the time I didn’t really think much of it, but I guess I took an interest very early on. Later on in life, I became the chief executive of Kamani Property Group and we had a lot of residential properties that we gave to agents to manage. We soon realised that we knew the formula ourselves and that we could set up our own property management company, that is when YourNxtDoor was born.

What do you believe are the biggest challenges facing landlords currently, and how do you see the buy-to-let and rental market recovering from the global pandemic?  

It has been a tricky period for everyone in all industries across the world. Everyone is in new territory with this pandemic and we have to take each day as it comes, to learn and address each situation. I am very positive moving forward – that is my mindset always. We can’t change what is happening with the pandemic but we can all learn and become leaner from this. As for landlords, there’s no right or wrong answer. We have to adapt, listen, react and be forthcoming with change if necessary.

Tell us more about Yournxtdoor. What are your plans for expansion in these challenging times? 

YourNxtDoor is an online estate agency we set up in-house. We created this business with the intention to be honest and transparent to both the landlord and tenant, and to bridge that gap, making it seamless and easier for both parties. We are happy with the progress and as a result we have an app launching to help people searching for new homes, the new App is called MoveStreets and will be live on the 3rd August.

We really want to change the way people view property and make it fast, simple and easy for the agents and home buyer/renter. The property industry is one of the industries that hasn’t changed over the last 20 or 30 years in terms of how we look to buy or rent a property and that’s why we have created the MoveStreets app.

How important do you believe social media is in the property process? Do you believe it will become even more integral moving forward?

It doesn’t take a genius to see that social media has become so vital for many businesses and I feel we can do the same with property. You don’t see it often and we are making a conscious effort to use social media to showcase all of our property businesses. This generation and the next are all very powerful on social media so it would be an opportunity missed if we didn’t explore and expand that side of the business.

Do you plan for Yournxtdoor to become UK-wide in the future?

Of course. That’s always the plan to take this nationwide, as planned for the MoveStreets app. We will take baby steps and learn along the way and expand accordingly, but yes we want to extend our reach across the UK and then hopefully overseas after that.

The Kamani Property Group was hoping to move into a new HQ last month in order to house a growing team. What plans does the group have for the rest of 2020 and moving into 2021, and what do you see as the biggest challenges in the development and property investment space?

Kamani Property Group had to delay our move into a new HQ until 1st September because of the pandemic. We bought the building with the ambition to grow and build our team and to cope with the demands and plans we have in place for the future. We are all so excited for the next chapter at Kamani Property Group and the whole team are working to the same goal – to increase our developments across the UK.