Episode 1307: Balancing Property Rights and Pet Ownership with John Bradford

Pets are part of everyday life for millions of renters, but managing them fairly and consistently has become one of the biggest challenges in rental housing. In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene interviews John R. Bradford III, Founder and CEO of PetScreening, who explains how his property management experience led him to build PetScreening as a more consistent way to manage pet policies in rental housing. He discusses how the platform helps property managers assess pet-related risk, support property owners, and set clearer expectations for pet-owning residents. He also explores broader trends in pet-inclusive housing, property rights, regulatory changes, category creation, and PetScreening’s social mission through Fido Alert. Key Takeaways: → Property managers need clear systems because pets can pose risks, liabilities, and policy challenges. → The FIDO Score helps evaluate both the pet and the owner. → PetScreening helps property managers enforce their own rules rather than telling them what their policies should be. → PetScreening has helped housing providers rethink blanket breed restrictions. → Creating a new software category requires persistence, education, and continuous innovation. John R. Bradford III is the Founder and CEO of PetScreening, which he launched in 2017 with a vision to promote pet inclusivity across all areas of life. Driven by his belief that breeds such as pit bulls, German shepherds, and Rottweilers should not be judged solely on breed, John sought to create a platform that provides landlords, property managers, and businesses with data-driven insights to make informed, pet-friendly decisions. His mission is simple yet powerful: to make the world more pet-inclusive, no matter where people live, work, play, or stay. Connect With John: Website: https://www.petscreening.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-r-bradford-iii-b519184/

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Welcome to the Sharkpreneur Podcast with Kevin Harrington and Seth Green. Kevin Harrington is the inventor of the infomercial, one of the original sharks from the hit TV show Shark Tank, and has generated over $5 billion in TV and digital direct response sales. Seth Green is the world's first trusted authority on cutting-edge direct response marketing, a bestselling author, and the only three-time marketer of the year nominee. On the podcast, Kevin and Seth interview sharkpreneurs who share straight talk on what it takes to explode your business.

• 0:38Speaker 01

  Forty-nine faces looked to him in triumph. Over the last 12 months, they had each taken turns and promoted his business for a week at a time, driving over $987,342 in revenue. What if you had a network of 50 centers of influence who promoted your business every week for a year? Grab your copy of the number one Amazon bestselling book, The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your Business with a Podcast at 33% off the Amazon price by going to ultimatenpodcastbook.com. Again, that website for 33% off the Amazon price is ultimatenpodcastbook.com. Welcome to the podcast. This is your co-host Seth Green. Today, I got the good fortune to interview John Bradford from Park Avenue Properties and Pet Screening. Pet Screening's been nationally recognized four years in a row as one of the fastest-growing

• 1:23Speaker 01

  privately-owned companies in the United States. John's also been elected two terms as a town commissioner, four terms to the North Carolina House of Representatives. He was a senior chairman of the House Finance Committee and a whole bunch of other amazing things. John, thank you so much for joining us.

• 1:37Speaker 02

  Hey Seth, thanks for having me on your podcast here. Good to be with you today.

• 1:40Speaker 01

  Good to have you. So, let's go back in time a little bit. You've built two companies from the ground up. How did you get started?

• 1:47Speaker 02

  Well, you know, I was an engineer-turned-sales guy at IBM and started taking my bonus money and buying real estate as my...I had young children at the time, they're now in college, and I was buying houses as their 529B program. It was the John Bradford Program. And then stumbled into managing rental properties for myself and then doing it for others. And that journey led me down a path of being very pet-friendly and saw an opportunity to build a software platform to manage pet policy management and started Pet Screening. So, it was born out of necessity, honestly.

• 2:22Speaker 01

  So let's talk a little bit more about that. You were, before founding Pet Screening, obviously, you were deeply involved in property management.

• 2:28Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 2:28Speaker 01

  What problems kept coming up that made you think there's gotta be a better, different way?

• 2:32Speaker 02

  Well, you know, I thought we were a pretty sophisticated firm. I mean, I was an IBM-er, and so I was selling technology, so I was bringing as much tech as possible into my own management company. And one thing I saw very quickly is, I think at the time, we had 11, I had 30 employees, and 11 of them were property managers, right? We had a bunch of assistants, but those 11 property managers all had professional designations. And what I learned was, they each had their own portfolio. We did, it was called portfolio management. And I learned that every one of them was doing pet policy management a little bit differently. One person may get a photo, one person may get two photos, someone may have intended to get a picture and they never did. And those inconsistencies for a shop that I thought was pretty technologically savvy and leading, really shined a light on the opportunity for us to standardize more

• 3:16Speaker 02

  consistently how we handled pets. Because I'm a bit, look, I'm a pet owner, I don't know if you have a pet or not, Seth, but, you know, a lot of people in America have pets. In fact, 70% of us do, and it's not one pet, it's 1.6 pets, so they're everywhere. And it's a part of American Fabricana, and people want to bring them to where they live. And there just needs to be a better way to manage it. And so that's how I saw the opportunity, because my firm wasn't doing a great job doing it. And so I built a tech platform to, you know, do it better.

• 3:42Speaker 01

  Yes, we are pet, pet, pet owners. For listeners or viewers who may not know, the property management industry, why are pets such complicated issues?

• 3:52Speaker 02

  Well, I mean, anything that's living brings risk, right? I mean, families are protected under the law, right? For me, you can't say no to a family with kids, right? I mean, if it's in a 55 and up community, that's different. But most certainly, pets are not necessarily protected class anywhere, so people can deny pets what they want. But so many people have pets that they're going to bring them. And they're either going to bring them because you know about it, or they're not going to tell you about it, and they're going to sneak them in. And so what we try to do at Pet Screening is, I trademarked this thing called a FIDO score. So we give a FIDO score on every pet and pet owner, so that the property manager better understands their risk. And the FIDO score is not punitive, Seth. I mean, a puppy is going to have a lower FIDO score, not because, I mean, look, It can be a golden retriever puppy, one of America's dogs, but it's going to be nibbling on

• 4:35Speaker 02

  baseboards, it's going to be potty on your floors. We're just saying that that dog has a little more risk and therefore the property manager needs to know about the risk. And maybe they charge a little more in pet fees until that dog becomes an adult dog. And that's really, the FIDO score's dynamic, so it improves over time, or it can not improve over time if that dog got caught not being on a leash, for example, that could, you know, make the FIDO score a little, a little lower, for example.

• 4:59Speaker 01

  So how do you balance between protecting property owners, supporting the property managers, and the residents?

• 5:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, so I, I think of us as like Switzerland, right? I mean, look, I love pets myself. And when I managed my own company, we were very, very pet friendly. But I'm also a big property rights advocate. When I served in the North Carolina legislature, I carried a majority of our tenant landlord law. So I, I do believe in property rights, and I do think property owners should be able to make the decisions that are best for them. And so we view pet screening as a platform that can help a property manager manage to their policies. Some people do not allow, I hate to pick on German Shepherds, but they say, we don't allow German Shepherds, this is a type of a guard dog. A lot of property managers are fine with German Shepherds. While I personally think German Shepherds are great dogs, you know, I don't, I can't force someone to take a German Shepherd. So our tool can manage if they allow German Shepherds or not. I don't necessarily tell them

• 5:52Speaker 02

  what to do, but I have a tool that enables them to do, run their business as they see fit.

• 5:57Speaker 01

  How has pet screening changed the way your property managers approach pets in housing?

• 6:03Speaker 02

  Well, you know, look, we love to say that our platform has really made the industry more pet inclusive, meaning we have lots of our clients that have had these archaic breed restrictions on the books for years. And there's really no bona fide proof that certain types of dogs are more dangerous necessarily. Don't get me wrong, certain types of dogs, you know, are stronger than others, and if it bites, it's going to hurt. But there's no concrete evidence that by not allowing these types of dogs, that you're going to have a better experience. In fact, you would almost have to get a DNA test to really know if a dog is a pure dog or not. So how do you really know? No one's doing, I mean, people do DNA tests, but no property managers requiring a DNA test. So we have a lot of clients. That have totally dropped their breed restrictions and they look at the the situation more holistically like a scorecard.

• 6:48Speaker 02

  And they're focused not only on the pet Seth, but the pet owner. Let's face it. The pet owner is the problem. If a pet owner doesn't raise their dog the right way and doesn't keep their dog on a leash and doesn't train them or keep them from barking all the time. It's not the dog's fault. I I love to say this and you'll appreciate what I'm gonna say. If you put me in a bedroom all day and I'm a dog and lock the door and never come to let me out, I will pee on your floor too. Because guess what? I cannot let myself out. So it's all about the pet owner and our platform's looking at the pet owner and the pet parent as much as we are the pet and we bring those things together through the Fido score.

• 7:21Speaker 01

  You are, you know, one of the fastest growing private adult companies in the US four years in a row. How have you gotten the word out?

• 7:27Speaker 02

  You know, honestly, because I was in the industry, I was very involved. I'm kind of an all in guy, you know, I just, when I do something, I try to go deep, right? I want to, what's the old saying? I'd rather be a an inch wide, a mile deep than a mile wide, an inch deep. And so in the industry, at least as a single family residential side of the house, I was very involved in the industry. So a lot of my colleagues knew my Park Avenue Properties business. They knew I was a legislator. When they heard I started pet screening, they saw they had the same problems. And then I think word of mouth, our best salespeople are honestly customers who use us. I mean, we're trusted by over eight million rentals across the country. We're in the US military. We're about a hundred different, 110 bases, I think. It's it's a growing number. So I I think it's a pretty neat thing. Manufactured housing, student housing, affordable, senior, multifamily, single.

• 8:12Speaker 02

  If you have a roof over your head, chances are you're dealing with pets and assistance animals. And we just make sure everyone understands the rules and they follow them. And if they don't follow them, they're on the record saying they would and that helps create a liability barrier for our clients.

• 8:25Speaker 01

  That is really fascinating. So are your clients the property owners or the property managers or the end user consumer who rent, who who has the pet?

• 8:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, really, we think we're, we treat ourselves like a double-sided marketplace. There's no doubt that the property manager or the asset owner is the one that's setting the policies because, you know, they hold the goal to make the rules. But we understand that the pet owners are the ones that are going to be paying the rent, being the pet fees. So we view ourselves as the enabler, just to make sure that the pet, the, their future resident understands what those policies are related to pets and that they are going to agree to follow them. And it's a pretty simple, you know, two-way relationship, right? I mean, it's not something uncommon that we're asking folks to do. So I feel like they're both our customers, but most certainly, property managers and asset owners use our service and then that requires the applicant to go through our platform.

• 9:15Speaker 01

  You've disrupted the marketplace and added value in a way that hasn't been done before. What's your biggest challenge now?

• 9:22Speaker 02

  Well, I mean, look, we created a category. I mean, you know, I told my kids, you know, now they're all in college. I'm like, you know, in the next five to 10 years, you will not be able to live in a rental property in America and not have gone through a pet screening solution. And of course, we hope it's ours and we were the original, the first and, you know, and then, you know, we've had some competitors spin up, which is just, it happens, right? Competition is beautiful. It keeps everybody honest and, and it just makes us work harder. But creating a category is hard, right? To be a trailblazer, do something that's unheard of. It's, you know, it's pretty rewarding. It's a lot of work. We know, we're approaching, we have a little over 200 W2 employees at Pet Screening and we're growing and we just, I mean, we work hard and I treat us like we're in last place every day and that's all I know to do.

• 10:03Speaker 01

  What did your public service teach you that made you a better CEO?

• 10:08Speaker 02

  Well, you know, there's two sides to every story. You know, I just, I just like, I've not, you know, I, when I think about property rights, I'm very much a property rights guy, but I also believe tenants have rights too, right? If their, if their, uh, air conditioner goes out and it's 100 degrees, then the property manager needs to work really, really hard to get that air conditioning back working or if it's in the winter and the heat. And so it's a, I don't know, kindness doesn't cost anything extra. I just feel like in the legislature, you know, we're a two-party system. You have to pick a horse. You're in that party, but you have to be willing to work with anybody and everybody. And even though I might not always agree, I've just learned to say, hey, you know, I disagree with you, so let's go find things we can agree on. And we know we disagree on some things, but let's not let the disagreements define us. And, you know, I've tried to run my business that way.

• 10:51Speaker 01

  What, I mean, eight million rentals. What trends do you see affecting the future of rental housing?

• 10:56Speaker 02

  Well, I mean, some trends we're seeing are some regulatory trends. I mean, there's some new changes coming out of HUD. You know, anytime political winds happen, so new administrations bring new agency leaders. So we're seeing some regulatory changes out of the federal government as it relates to assistance animals. But then we're also seeing states start to pass their own laws to maybe fill in the gaps if the federal law and the federal guidance takes like a U-turn or a different direction. So I just, you're gonna have sort of this regulatory ideology changes and it's always been there. I wouldn't say it's new, but most certainly with social media, it seems to travel faster and quicker. And so that's, you know, those are just gonna be continued challenges over the years ahead, I think.

• 11:36Speaker 01

  Your passion is obvious. What do you like best about what you're doing?

• 11:39Speaker 02

  You know, I love creating. I mean, we're innovators. We truly think of ourselves as an innovative company. You know, we started a category, obviously pet screening, the, you know, people refer to this as a pet screening solution. And so our brand name is descriptive in nature, but we have this as a trademark because we created the category and the USPTO agreed with us, which is why we got it trademarked and was able to pull that off. We also started Amber Alert for Pets. It's called Fido Alert. It has never been done before. So we just have a history of, I think, finding things that haven't been done and do it and do it well. And it just so happens to be around pets. And so it's fun to run a business that's pet-centric. And look, every time I go to the office, well, we're in the office Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays,

• 12:22Speaker 02

  and we try to hire as many people out of the greater Charlotte market. We're in North Carolina, even though we're nationwide. And they get to bring, our employees, we call our pack, they bring their dogs to the office. So being able to see all these dogs in our office, I think we have two cats now, Seth. So it's just fun. I mean, it's a lot of fun to interact with not only my employees, but their pets that they bring into their space every day when they're in the office.

• 12:42Speaker 01

  That is awesome. As you mentioned, married with kids and I believe a Boykin Spaniel.

• 12:48Speaker 02

  Yes, like a Boykin, yes.

• 12:50Speaker 01

  How has family life shaped the way you define success?

• 12:53Speaker 02

  You know, I look, I lead by example and you know, we have a very honest household Seth. We don't, I don't cut my kids any slack. I think if I am cutting them slack, then I'm not doing a good job as a parent. I, I tell this funny story at my last company, Park Avenue Properties, which I've since divested it. But you know, my kids, when they're in high school, they all worked at the company as like an intern. And one of my daughters, one of my employees sent a picture of my daughter who had fallen asleep at her chair. And I remember telling my employees, if she falls asleep again, call me and then I'm going to fire her. And so I called my daughter. I said, if you fall asleep again, you're going to be fired. And I'm sorry to use such harsh words, but I have to set an example and I can't let my kids catch a break. You have to come to work alert. And if you're going to stay up to two in the morning on social media, well, you

• 13:36Speaker 02

  better drink an energy drink or something. I don't know what it is, but you better be alert, be aware, because my reputation is everything and so is yours. And falling asleep is not going to get it done. My daughter never fell asleep again, and she still remembers that to this day. And now she wants to go to law school. So I think just raising a family and honest traditions and principles of just, you know, like I said, being kind to everybody, but working hard. And you know, we, I've raised my family to be more of a, of a hand up, not a handout. And that's important to me.

• 14:02Speaker 01

  Amen to that. You've, for our folks who are watching or listening, who want to learn more, where is the best place for them to go?

• 14:09Speaker 02

  Well, I mean, you know, you try, look personally, you can go find me on LinkedIn. I'm John Ray, R A Y, or John R Bradford, petscreening.com. Our, our name is our brand, petscreening.com. If you want to, if you want to sign up for Fido Alert, which is for cats too, it's fidoalert.com. It's a, it's a free service because my company uses our profits to do good Seth. We've spent millions of dollars on Fido Alert. It uses tech, we've sent 12 million text messages and we've reunited over 70,000 lost dogs and cats. So I mean, when I say free, it is not free because I pay for it. But it is free to people who have pets and they can go to fidoalert.com and enroll their dog or cat. And that's a, that's a, that's part of our social mission to do good. So we're really a good corporate citizen and we want to do good with our profits. And I think we put our money where our mouth is.

• 14:53Speaker 01

  That is absolutely incredible. Well, we know your time is incredibly valuable. We greatly appreciate you spending some of it with us today. This has been Seth Green with John Bradford of Pet Screening. John, thanks again for joining us.

• 15:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, Seth, thank you so much for having me.

• 15:04Speaker 01

  Thanks, everybody for watching or listening. We'll talk to you or see you next time.

• 15:08Speaker 03

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