Going it alone

If I go back 5 years in my property journey I couldn’t understand why anybody would pay people to do things that they could do themselves? Why pay cleaners, workmen, agents, accountants etc.

I thought I was unique in my stance of doing everything myself and that this gave me an advantage over anyone, as I would always save costs and be in control.

What I didn’t realise is that I was actually holding myself back and not valuing my own time. Although I could do the minor refurbishment, paint work or cleaning it it took me twice as long and I could never do the work to the standard professionals.

Slowly and reluctantly I started to let go. I remember a very awkward piece of stud work turning a 3 bed house into a 5 bed student house,  I couldn’t face doing the job myself as I had a new born baby, a growing portfolio and full time job. I knew that I had to bring someone in. This decision introduced me to Ozzie, who is now jointly heading up our building team, that on average are working on 3 refurbishments at any given time.

Going back to 2014, one of our early joint ventures was with a chap that I met at a networking event. He was a MD of a construction company and had a good understanding of investments and leveraging people for professional services. He did a lot of research into property investment and understood this was a good way to pool his funds into long term sustainable returns.

Like many other individuals he believed his growth would be small, maybe one property per year, starting at the single let market with cash flow around £100 per month. This wasn’t for the lack of ambition or desire, he actually wanted a passive income within 2 years and to replace his salary. However, he was unsure how to deliver this.

After hearing me speak we had a chat over a coffee. I explained that I specialised in student houses and portfolio building, buying as far below market value as possible. We have since made various investments and within an 18 month period we’d bought 6 properties together, all student HMOs.

My practice over the past few years is to leverage people who are specialists in what I’m not experienced at, or are better at doing things I don’t like to do. For example, accountants, building personal assistance, admin teams, legal teams, architects, estate agents, lettings agents, mentors and trainers. That way you can focus on what your enjoy and do best and your growth can then start to match your desires and ambitions.

We now work with a plethora of investors who leverage us to be the professional for their property goals.

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