Craig Mitchell: Craig Mitchell: Why Buying a Home Is Harder Than It Should Be

Walking away from a senior construction career is one thing. Doing it to build a fresh, community-first estate agency in Falkirk is another. We sit down with Craig Mitchell, founder of Pop Homes, to talk about what he learned during 13 years at Persimmon Homes and why the home buying and home selling journey so often feels confusing, stressful, and harder than it needs to be.

We get into Craig’s path from trainee sales adviser to Sales Director for the North Scotland region, including how the pandemic disrupted transactions and raised expectations around communication and certainty. Craig breaks down the real-world difference between buying a new build and purchasing an existing home: the structure, the pace, and why the legal process can feel similar even when the experience is not. If you are a first-time buyer, a first-time seller, or simply trying to make sense of the Scottish property market, you will take away practical ways to stay informed and reduce overwhelm.

Craig also shares what comes next: launching a local business podcast designed to spotlight Falkirk entrepreneurs, start-ups, and well-known brands, helping them build brand awareness through stories people actually want to hear. We talk guests, marketing, networking through groups like the Chamber of Commerce, the role of social media, and why he is choosing steady, scalable growth instead of chasing constant content. If you enjoy the chat, subscribe, share it with a local business owner, and leave us a review so more people can find the Stirling Business Podcast.

Transcript

Welcome To Studio King Street

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hi, my name is Neil Monde, and I'm your host for the Sterling Business Podcast. The podcast is brought to you from Studio King Street here in the heart of Sterling. You can book our wonderful studio by going onto our website and making your booking that way, or sending uh an email to inquiries at studio kingstreet.com. Or you can simply pick up the phone and give Laura a call to make your uh make your booking. So, over to this week's episode of the Sterling Business Podcast. Uh today we've got Craig Mitchell. Welcome to Studio King Street. Craig, how are you? I'm good, thank you. How are you? I'm great, thanks. So thanks for uh agreeing to come on to the uh Sterling Business Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Great, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

It's gonna be an interesting conversation today when we get into the topic uh of um where you're looking to kind of take your podcast, which is something I know you're looking to uh to start. Um be lots of parallels drawn, I'm sure, as we get into that. But uh you've

Craig’s Story And What Drives Him

SPEAKER_00 1:12

recently uh founded uh Pop Homes after uh a long career in the construction sector. So we'll get into that in a little bit. Uh but uh before we kind of do that, why don't you just tell a little uh a little tell the audience a little bit about who you are and where you come from, and then we'll get it specifically into the career and where what what's brought you to the current day?

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Yeah. So I'm from Falkirk. Uh been based centrally most of my life, apart from a little bit when I was very young. Uh spent a wee bit of time in the Middle East and down south when I was at university. But other than that, I've been based around sort of Larbert's Dennis Muir, Newcarren area. I've recently launched Pop Poems, as you say, so I'm the founder and director there. Um I've worked in construction for a lot of years, spent more than ten years a national house builder, and that's what sort of led me into the down the route of the business with the estate agency. Uh away from the business, I am I'm a husband, I'm a dad of two, I'm a homeowner as well. So I've been through the process of purchasing a home, I've been through the transaction from both sides. So I've got experience of how challenging it can be, how frustrating it can be, and how overwhelming it can be, which is what um led me to creating my customer journey when I founded the business.

Learning The Trade At Persimmon Homes

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Okay. So your career um within construction, what did you specifically do and who who did you do it with?

SPEAKER_01 2:37

So I joined Persimmon Homes in 2012, following completion of my degree. I studied uh property development at university. And when I returned back to Scotland, I joined Persimmon West as a trainee sales advisor. So I spent 13 years with the business and I worked my way up through the business, held various roles, and eventually took up the position of sales director for the North Scotland region. So it was it was fantastic grounding that I got within the industry coming through the business because I've been involved in that customer journey at all levels. I dealt with the the clients that were purchasing their new homes face-to-face, day-to-day, while it was based on site, right through to leading the team and running the business since I was an executive director.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

So you had to live life through COVID when you were doing that, I'm assuming?

SPEAKER_01 3:23

I did, yes. Yes, it was. It wasn't without its challenges as it was everywhere. You know, it was difficult for a period where um everything shut down and people were waiting mid-transaction, waiting to get keys to their properties and things like that presented a challenge. Um but uh reflecting on it now, it wasn't as challenging as some people faced during that time. So we made it work and then obviously we had uh a real boom that came off the back of COVID, which brought a different challenge.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

But construction continued uh for the for the the the larger developers, right? Larger builders at the time.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Yes, yeah. It stopped for maybe a very brief period and then everything kicked off again once we had everything in

Launching Pop Homes In Falkirk

SPEAKER_01 4:05

place to that we could operate safely.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Right. Okay. So um kind of rolling forward, uh you decided to give up that career and do something different. So it looks like you've kind of set up a business. Yes. So tell us a little bit more about Pop Homes and uh where you're based and what your demographic is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

So Pop Homes are our local, independent, modern estate agency. It's based in Falkirk, covers the the entire town and the surrounding areas. Um, and it came basically from my um my experience through Persimmon, you know, and that gave me the confidence to go out on my own and take it from the sort of the the front line at Persimmon, if you like, through the leadership, through senior leadership, and now making a step into entrepreneurship. So my the the demographics we're after with problems is anyone, really. So that's we're we're happy to deal with first-time buyers, first-time sellers, nervous buyers, you know, executory cases. People who are buying new builds or are considering new builds, it may not be buying an established home. If they want to lean on my new build experience, then they're more than welcome to do that. You know, part of my mantra for the business is you don't have to be buying or selling through pop homes in order to benefit from the business and benefit from dealing with me directly.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Okay. So is there much difference in buying a new home versus buying an uh an existing home?

SPEAKER_01 5:23

In terms of the from the the purchaser perspective, um I would say the journey on the new build is a bit more structured. Uh it's a bit more it's a regulated industry now. It wasn't always, but it is now with the sort of the new home's ombudsman and the new home's quality code coming in, etc. So you find that there's a bit of a more structured customer journey there. Whereas in established home sales, maybe not quite so much. Um they tend to go at a different pace as well because established homes are built, no, they're built complete, so you don't have the construction phase of the journey to go through. So it differs there, but in terms of the legal side, etc., most of that is predominantly the same.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Yeah. Okay. So um you've started this uh new business. Uh do you do lettings as well?

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Or is it just just uh no just sales. Um possibly move into lettings in the future, but wanting to get into the the sales market initially and build the business and then grow

New Build Versus Existing Home Buying

SPEAKER_01 6:13

from there.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Right, okay. So uh you talked a little bit about entrepreneurship earlier on, um or you touched on that, but uh you're also kind of planning on starting your own podcast. Okay. Um so what will the content of that podcast be? I think there's some entrepreneurship somewhere in there. Yes. But uh what what are you planning to kind of launch and who what type of guests are you looking to bring in?

SPEAKER_01 6:37

So initially I'm looking at business owners, local business owners within the the Falkirk area. Um I want to showcase basically what they're doing because there's a lot of people within Falkirk, a lot of good people doing a lot of good things through their own business. And I found it myself, one of the most challenging things, especially early on, is the marketing side and that brand awareness and getting your name out there. So I want to use my platform to help others to do that within the local area.

Building A Local Business Podcast

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Okay, so uh using your podcast as a platform to uh bring business owners in to talk to. Yes. Uh as an opportunity for them to talk about their business and what they're doing. Yes, absolutely. That sounds pretty familiar, huh? Yeah, it does. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

And it may grow beyond that as well. But you know, I want it to be part of them's mantra is to be community focused. So starting out with business owners, because there's there's a lot of good businesses, as I say, that want to talk about things, want to tell their story. Um it may move on from that to look at local community groups, looking at local charities and things like that, or individual figures of of interest.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

Okay. And uh do you have a name yet for your podcast?

SPEAKER_01 7:44

I don't yet, no. No, it's very early days for it. Yeah. Um you think you'll have the word pop in there somewhere? Potentially. Um there is quite a popular popcast already in circulation though, so I need to be careful there. Um with a bit of competition. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

So uh types of guests that you're you're looking to kind of bring in. Do you have anybody lined up or in terms of industries? You don't need to be specific on early on.

SPEAKER_01 8:07

But in terms of industry, it's varied. I think that is that's the big thing. Particularly early on, I want to have a bit of variety in there. Um fortunately, that there is a lot of variety within the local business community in Folker, so there's a lot of people I can bring in. Um I've just done a bit of um promotional social media just to test the water and see who would be interested. And positively there's been a fantastic reaction to it. So I I think I should be able to get uh a lot of varied content out there. Because I need to be conscious of what the audience wants to hear about as well. They don't want repetition and the same people coming on saying the same things.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Yeah. And I'm assuming you're going for all all sorts of sizes of business as well, in terms of uh kind of guests.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Yes, anything and everything. Again, a bit of a mixture there. If I can get some well-known names or well-known brands, that's fantastic. If I can get smaller start-ups that are just looking to get the words out there and help with a bit of brand awareness, brilliant. That's what it's there to do.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

Aaron Ross Powell Okay. And how savvy are you with regards to the technology behind podcasting? Do you do you know much about how it works and how to get to the how to make yourself viral?

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Yeah. I know the the basics of it. In terms of the technical aspect of the podcast itself, I probably need some engineering assistance there. But in terms of the marketing of it, um it's just like marketing with anything else and getting the name out there. So hopefully by doing that through my own channels and through those of the businesses and the people that I'm interviewing, then hopefully that will help it spread pretty quickly. Great.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Okay. So what about frequency? How often are you looking to put uh episodes out as we get going? Um I'm not set on that as yet.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

I'm thinking potentially looking at maybe fortnightly early on. Um depends how much interest there is in those that are coming on. But what I want to do is I don't want to end up in a churn where I've got content coming out constantly. Part of the main criteria of the podcast is to provide a platform for people. So I need to give them the time to do that. So when I put something out there, I need it to have the time to spread to the audience and for them to get their message across. Otherwise it will quickly be lost if I just keep keep them coming.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Aaron Ross Powell Yeah. And are you are you looking to potentially give them a platform for advertising as well? Uh post-podcasts or Yeah, potentially.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

It's not something we have explored yet, but it's something I can speak to the guests about uh as and when put in.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Very good. Very good. So uh networking is obviously going to play a big role uh in in in what you're doing moving forward. So uh how are you typically kind of going about networking and getting into the into the right groups to give you effectively a customer base to uh to bring onto your podcast? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Networking, there's various networking groups that are um I'm involved in now through Falk up through the Fourth Valley, to be honest, the the Chamber of Commerce and the likes have been fantastic because again there's a lot of like-minded individuals in there and there's a lot of small business owners that are are keen to get their message out. Um social media has been fantastic. You know, there's a lot of local Facebook groups and things like that that I can promote the podcast in. And then people see it on there and they share it and they're

Networking And Growing At The Right Pace

SPEAKER_01 10:58

tagging friends in it that are. Not quite yet. No. Um I will be you need to get there. I do. I do. I think it'll be a bit early for that yet. With things, platforms like TikTok, you really need a bank of content before you can start putting things out there. So that will come and it's very much in the planning, but it's not quite there yet.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Right. Got to get down with the kids. Got to get down with the kids. So um relatively new business. Uh you've got a couple of listings already, which is fantastic. So uh good luck with that. Hopefully that'll go from uh strength to strength for you. So where do you want to be in 12 months from now? So you're a relatively new business owner. Starting a podcast sounds like coming from a sales and marketing background, you've you've definitely got the right credentials to um you know to promote yourself and um and put yourself out there. So where do you want to be where do you want to be in 12 months from now? What would you like uh successfully?

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Yeah, I think success for me in twelve months looks like um having an established business and an established brand that people in the local area are familiar with. I think the real uh the sign of success for me will be organic lead generation. So at the minute I'm I'm doing a lot of them the marketing myself and I'm getting the business out there and it's great because I'm getting returns from that and I'll continue to do that. But it's for from the estate agency side, it's having people who aren't within my own network coming to the business organically because they they've seen it somewhere or they've heard good things about it and they're putting through their own inquiries through the website for others for evaluation, etc. Podcast similarly, I would like for whether it's local business owners or other people within the local community who just have feel that they've got a good story to tell to come to me and say to me, Craig, I have the story to tell, and I would love you to help me tell it.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Great. Okay. So um that's pretty clear. Uh from a reach point of view, do you are you going to keep it uh keep it to Falkirk or do you think you're gonna go ha slightly beyond that at fourth value or beyond?

SPEAKER_01 12:51

Yeah, for now, I think I'll stick to the local area because like I say, there is there's a lot there to talk about. Yeah, there's a lot of good things to say. So could I expand in time? Absolutely. And the way that I've set up both the state agency business and the podcast is that it's scalable. You know, so I can grow over time and I've got a plan in place to do that, but I want to do it at the right pace. Because that's a big thing for me. I don't want to push it too hard too fast and reach breaking point, because then it'll be my customers or the guests I've had on the podcast that will suffer. And that that goes against the the culture of the business.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Fantastic. So well, good luck with it all. Um you know, come back and tell us what you're gonna call it. I will. And uh we'll we'll give you a bit of a plug once you've uh once you've got a name. And then hopefully uh we'll we'll see you here recording your content with uh all those wonderful guests that you're gonna be bringing in from Falkirk. So I'm sure we'll see a lot more of you. Fantastic. Thank you very much for having me. Yeah, welcome, Craig. Thank you.

Next Steps And Where To Follow

SPEAKER_00 13:44

So that brings us to another end of an episode of the Sterling Business Podcast. Thank you again to our guests this week. Remember to follow us on the YouTube channel, on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Until next time, stay safe.