David Howell, the notoriously quiet CEO of Dynamic Methods is my guest in this episode of the Proptech Podcast. I chose David that he is an international man of history in Proptech because everyone knows him, but he is impossibly hard to catch. Now, you might not have heard of Dynamic Methods itself, but you probably know of their products if you're an agent. They're the brains behind REI Forms across New South Wales, South Australia, WA, and most states, Realworks in Queensland, and now they've launched Forms Live in Victoria. And they specialise not just in forms and contracts, but in the workflows for agents and property managers around those forms. With more and more tech-enabled platforms streamlining those workflows, the quality of the forms going into these systems is really paramount. And that's Dynamic Methods' secret sauce. So if you didn't think a conversation about forms could actually be interesting, get ready to be surprised as we look at how forms really are the oil that's greasing the wheels of digital transactions in real estate.

(01:59): David explains the Dynamic Methods elevator pitch. And as a man of few words, nails it completely.

(02:30): How a Commodore 64 as a kid started David’s career in electrical engineering and extended into being an expert in Microsoft Office – back in the day when that was cool.

(04:46): The move to real estate and how REISA and REINSW got behind the idea.

(07:42): REI Forms Live and Real Works and why no one really knows Dynamic Methods, plus their relationships with the REIs.

(08:31): David tells us about the launch of Forms Live in Victoria.

(09:42): What does best practice look like in real estate around digital forms?

(12:28): How the Dynamic Methods forms products streamline the necessary evil of forms and contracts.

(13:53): Why automating forms is important and how it is driving efficiency in other platforms.

(16:48): David explains how property managers can save time using digitised forms.

(18:14): David talks about the consumer hunger for digital signatures and how real estate agents need to catch up.

(20:25): David shares the example of Tom Hector from Harris Real Estate in Adelaide who sells 200 houses a year using electronic signing.

(22:19): How an Open API for forms is powering other proptechs to streamline a raft of improvements in real estate.

(23:55): Fun fact – users of Dynamic Methods are creating nearly half a million forms a month! (24:31): David explains more about the move into Victoria with Forms Live and how it will help Victorian agents.

(27:39): The growth in API requests

(31:35): How Dynamic Methods built RESO

(35:35): A great summary. It’s actually not about forms, it’s about automation and workflow.