Easter Lessons… and Blessings!

A very Happy Easter to you!

Easter is my favourite holiday, and I have many happy memories of Easter as a child, and loved learning the stories of it.

It reminds us of the lesson of due diligence today particularly, and I hope you have a happier Maundy Thursday than Jesus did…

If you remember, Jesus was betrayed by his fellow apostle Judas Iscariot. Judas was known for betraying Jesus to the Roman authorities for 30 pieces of silver.

After all the disciples had had the Last Supper together, Judas then identified Jesus to the guards in the Garden of Gethsemane by betraying Jesus with a kiss, leading to Jesus’ arrest and subsequent crucifixion.

It’s a story that still enrages and infuriates me every year – how could he do that to his friend?!?

Sadly in life, it’s never strangers who cause us the most upset and betrayal – it’s those we know and trust.

In the property industry, there are many wretches about. Every so often in the community, a story will pop up about somebody who has ripped somebody off.

I myself have inadvertently been scammed by someone I’d been involved in a property scheme with for a few years.

It came to light that we had been betrayed badly by a Judas, who purposely let us down through an elaborate scam to extort investment money from us.

He seemed a good guy, knew his stuff, showed us evidence of his previous work, was kind and charming and professional and talked a good game… but in hindsight we now realise this was likely all part of his several-year plan.

The projects never happened, the sites were left half built and / or abandoned, and we last heard that the main guy had fled to live in France, presumably living off our stolen money.

All of us in the cohort lost about £12,000 each, and some people that had actively invested even more, lost even more – tens of thousands of pounds, some hundreds of thousands. Majorly stress-inducing for them, especially as it was their own savings, or they’d borrowed it from their own friends, family and neighbours 😱

We did try to recoup our funds using Action Fraud, without joy. I am annoyed with this deceit myself, but I am even more enraged for my lovely friends who lost even higher amounts, because they trusted him.

Thus, the story of Jesus and Judas today on Maundy Thursday is a timely reminder to do thorough due diligence on those that you choose to do business with.

Some people will smile at your face then stab you in the back.

So check, check, check everybody you work with, because sadly some people have no shame in ripping you off.

I would rather die than not pay someone their money back.

Even the thought of me dying mid-project without repaying someone their investment funds really bothers me.

So I have an insurance policy in place to prevent that, a key (wo)man insurance plan with Royal London.

My death is not an excuse for someone not getting their money back.

I have a conscience, and I like to sleep at night. Even if it’s the big sleep!

But do, please, check out anybody you work with, fully.

Ask those awkward questions, especially if you’re going to be lending someone tens of thousands of pounds of your own money.

Because those of us who have nothing to hide, have nothing to worry about. 😊

PS – footnote…

Not commonly known, but did you know after witnessing Jesus’ death, Judas returned the money, and took his own life?

The Gospel of Matthew states he tried to return the money he received for the betrayal and then hanged himself. Some suggest this act was driven by remorse, guilt, or a desire to redeem himself.

I’m a strong believer in karma – so even if your conscience doesn’t get you for your bad actions, karma will…

Cheery story over…. now you have a lovely and peaceful Easter!

I hope you enjoy it with friends and family, and plenty of chocolate.

😊🐣🧆

My very best wishes,

Kellyann Martin x x x

A Top Ten Countdown of The Naughtiest Things Tenants Have Done in My Properties:

I’ve got the old-skool Top of the Pops countdown theme tune in my head; you know the one: Der derrr der der derrrrrrr….

Anyway, here’s a top ten countdown of the naughtiest things tenants have done in my properties so far…. In at 10…

10. Let someone sleep in the shed in the front garden

Yes, they really let some randomer sleep in the knackered old shed outside in the front yard. God knows why.

Why not let them stay in the house, if it was their friend?

Why let them sleep in the shed at all, if it was a complete stranger?

Bewildering.

I got rid of the shed. No squatters allowed.

9. Painted kitchen cupboard units red

To be fair, this wasn’t an act of naughtiness, more a misunderstanding of the terms and conditions on their part.

Tenant asked if they could redecorate kitchen. I said yes. Tenant took this to mean that EVERYTHING could be painted, not just the walls, as I had assumed everyone knew. So yes, it was a shocking revelation to discover on a tenancy inspection that my lovely pine-coloured units had been coated in a garish red.

“You said I could decorate” they said… And they weren’t wrong, I did!

So THAT was an interesting lesson on explanation and clarification!

Luckily the tenant likes red, and luckily, they are good long-term tenants who are not going anywhere.

8. Had a stash of 6 secret dogs which ruined all the laminate flooring

And thus began my hate-hate relationship with letting agents. Because had they actually been inspecting and managing the tenancy properly, like they were supposed to – nay, like they were being PAID to – they would have realised the tenancy agreement at the time stated no dogs. Not a single one. Let alone 6. It was the neighbour that told me that, after they left.

The tenants had inherited a deceased relative’s windfall and bought their own house, which no doubt now resembles a chaotic stinking zoo.

Meanwhile I had to tip all my lovely laminate wooden flooring, which was steeped in dog piss.

7. Fill their room to the rafters with hoarded junk, stopped paying rent and dumped a caravan on the drive.

Oh, this one annoyed me immensely, not because of what they’d done, but because when I questioned their behaviour, their stinking, stroppy, rude and threatening attitude towards me was appallingly vile. An absolute arsehole: I’ve never before wanted to punch a tenant in the face so badly until this one, and they would definitely have deserved it. Still, there’s always time, should I ever see them again…

Or maybe I’ll leave their fate up to karma; it always catches up with and reprimands wretches in the end. Karma’s a bitch… but I quite like her!

6. Moved into a HMO room, stop paying rent, make up a cock-and-bull story about being investigated for fraud, and dragged his poor ex-wife into his lies, claiming the rent would be coming out of her bank.

Never in my life until this guy had I met such a plausible liar who seemed the real deal – and I am suspicious and mistrusting of most people!

Billy Liar spouted lies with such charm and conviction that I am convinced he actually believed what came out of his own mouth. When I spoke to his ex-wife on the phone, who was lovely, it became very clear he was full of shit, and his life on a downward spiral trajectory. Absolutely no doubt at all that this clown will end up in the jail.

5. Created a marijuana growing farm in a loft

Discovered this after the tenants had left. Had to pull all the ‘gardening garb’ down from the loft, and then the police didn’t want to know or care, and just told me to get rid of it. So I did. Made about £60 selling the pots to keen gardeners on Facebook marketplace. Which saved me traipsing them all to the tip.

4. Flooded the bathroom which then poured through the ceiling, water damaged ceilings and cut the electrics out.

Tenant couldn’t understand why the bath had overflowed at 11pm at night.

I could, and so could the insurance claims man: tenant clearly fell asleep whilst the bath was running late at night, and the bath overflowed.

But no, tenant argued the toss and swore blind that there was something wrong with the pipework.

Hey, people make mistakes, and I accept that, and am ok with that.

It’s when they try to bullshit me with lies to try and absolve their own responsibility that it infuriates me.

3. Tenant caught child grooming in an online child-pretence sting operation which was filmed for a paedophile-hunters programme and then shared on the internet.

Erm, yes. The other occupants of the shared house informed me of this video, and then I had to have a very awkward conversation with him, whereby I pretty much said to the guy: Look, I’ve seen the video. You can’t really stay here anymore, can you?

He left swiftly without a fuss – leaving the room immaculate.

Hopefully no actual children were harmed in real life from this guy.

2. Tenant caused chip pan fire in kitchen, took on knobhead boyfriend, got into drugs, trashed house, door kicked in, windows smashed and neglected own children

Same naughty tenants as drug farm above. Cost an absolute fortune to get fixed and put property back to the (newly refurbished) condition it was in when they moved in two years before. Absolute nightmare, and the worst house trashing I’d had.

Tenant moved on by council into a lovely new property, in a much nicer area, only to repeat the same toxic pattern of new knobhead boyfriend, drugs, arguments, violence, house trashed.

Some people just don’t learn what’s good for them, do they?

Sadly even when they’ve their own kids to look after and protect.

1. Allow local naughty waste dumpers to dump several tonnes of asbestos on the drive in exchange for drugs

Same naughty tenants, as above, again. Again, cost a fortune to have asbestos and rubbish removed, but not before local yokels had been breaking and entering into the property and also setting fire to the crap in the garden a couple of times and caused the fire brigade to be called out on each occasion, causing chaos with the house, garden and neighbours.

What is wrong with some people?!

So there we have it: top ten countdown of wretch behaviour. Some from tenants which didn’t end up last long as all…. NO MERCY FOR NONSENSE!

Surely that’s it for my bad luck of tenants now?

And no Mr Universe, this is not a request to send me more testing problems to compile another countdown list, thank you!

I’m quite happy with having lovely, well-behaved tenants who do the right thing, thank you very much! 😊

Kellyann Martin is a property developer from Leeds who utilises private investment funds to purchase and enhance properties for local families.

She has a book available for purchase on Amazon, click here to buy:

STARTING OUT IN PROPERTY…: What I Wish I’d Known At The Beginning! : Martin, Kellyann: Amazon.co.uk: Books

For more details on the investment process, visit other pages of this website, starting here:

INVESTMENT

MY RULES OF PROPERTY INVESTING


1. Never buy a house I wouldn’t live in myself

A nice simple self-explanatory rule to start with!

With all my houses, even the ones in the less popular areas of the city, I would still be content to live in them myself if I had to. Because if I’m not prepared to live in the homes I’ve created, why should I expect anybody else to?

If the street or area is rough and ropy or unsafe, or the house is not refurbished well enough, then it’s not suitable for customers / tenants / people. And if I think it’s not good enough for me, it’s not good enough for others either.

2. Only buy houses within 20 minutes from my front door

I’m Leeds born and bred, and have lived here all my life. Whilst I can understand the appeal that some other investors have about buying property in different areas all over the country, that’s just not for me.

My goal was always to provide local homes for local people in my home town.

And because my houses are relatively close, I can visit them easily, or get there quickly if there’s an emergency to deal with.

3. Ensure the property cashflows a minimum £250 net profit from the rent per month

From a monetary business aspect, each house must create positive cashflow every month after the mortgage has been paid.

It astounds me to hear of landlords where the rental income only just covers the property’s buy-to-let mortgage.

Or even worse – the mortgage is more than the rent, so the landlord is effectively paying for a tenant to live there!

Make sure you make money from each property, or you may end up in debt, stress, and trouble.

Another key property business mistake to avoid is this: don’t get too emotionally attached to the houses either – it’s a business, so they are effectively just boxes that you make money from.

As long as you maintain and look after your boxes and their contents (people included!) all should be well.

4. Have the potential to add at least £25k to the end value

Buying houses below market value is not always easy. But that’s the way my business model works. I’ve got to be able to uplift the value via refurbishment to be able to pull out mine and my investors’ money when the property is revalued, after all the work is complete. So you need to be realistic when checking end values and ceiling prices of the rest of the comparable houses nearby.

Be cautious when researching likely end property values, so take your cheerful rose-tinted glasses off!

Here’s one of the very few places in life where it’s better to be cautiously pessimistic / realistic in the financial figures rather than overly optimistic.

5. Don’t deal with dickheads

There’s no other way to phrase this nicely.

Some people will just cause you chaos, stress, anxiety, and cost you time, money, effect and energy.

There’s lots of lovely people, tenants, contractors, and professionals around…So we don’t need to waste our time with unscrupulous and unsuitable people who just do not respect us. (And this means people in our personal life who behave in stupid ways too!!)

They may be rude or disrespectful or patronising to you, not do as good a job as they promised, trash your house, lie to you, and generally cause you a headache. The key is being able to spot these types of people before you engage with them.

Which leads us to…

6. Use your gut instinct when working with other people

Spotting genuinely good people from those who just pretend to be, is difficult.

I’ve had a plasterer that promised me he was awesome – then walked off the job because he couldn’t get his plaster to stick to the ceiling.

I’ve had a HMO tenant be such a charming manipulative liar that he lied to my face with ease – only to then stop paying rent, and become an avoidant problematic bullshitter.

I’ve had a tenant wanting a fresh start of stability from her chaotic past and provide a secure home for her children – only to repeat her same mistakes, get involved with drugs and violent boyfriends and utterly trash my house and abscond leaving a horrendous and expensive mess for me to deal with.

The common factor in these, and every case I’ve had which has turned out badly, is that every time, I had a niggling feeling in my gut that something wasn’t right about these people.

But I chose to ignore that uncertainty I felt and gave them a chance anyway, because I try to be nice like that, and trust that they won’t let me down with their chance.

I don’t do that anymore.

If my gut instinct tells me something isn’t right about something or someone – I believe it.

7. A void is better than a headache

Following on from my last point, if your gut instinct tells you someone will not make a suitable tenant in your property, wait until you find one that is.

There’s plenty of people around needing housing, so we shouldn’t be so desperate to grasp rental money that we end up putting someone unsuitable in our properties.

Not only because if / when it all goes wrong, it’s then very difficult to get rid of them, especially if you have to go down the costly eviction route.

Do stringent checks on your potential tenants, and if someone’s not right or you just don’t get a good feeling about them, say no.

It really is better to have a void than a headache.

I’ve left rooms and properties empty for weeks and weeks sometimes, because I haven’t been totally happy about potential tenants that have viewed them.

The right tenant is worth waiting for.

You’re looking for long term stability and reliability in your tenants, not just filling your wallet with short term cash.

8. Avoid false economy during refurbishments

It may seem like a good idea at the time, not doing certain things during refurbishments to save time or money – but it is false economy in the long run.

Examples I have made like this which taught me this lesson include:

⁃ Not putting radiators in kitchens. Only to then later have to retrofit electric heaters.

⁃ Not replacing the old gutters at the same time as having a new roof done. Only to then have to replace them a few years later – and the majority of the cost was having to put scaffolding up again.

⁃ Buying cheap poor quality boilers – only to then have to replace them way before the usual boiler lifespan because they went kaput.

Better to do big jobs all at once during the refurb, rather than kicking the can down the road to have to deal with at a later time – and likely with more expensive retrofitting or replacement costs.

9. Be a good person

Unfortunately there are a lot of wretches in this industry.

They talk a good game, give a nice winning smile, extort money from people… only to then do them wrong or rip them off for vast amounts of money. Eventually though, all these wretches get found out, and rightly so.

Because it’s not enough to just PRETEND to be a good person – you’ve got to actually BE a good person.

And that means caring about other people, rather than taking advantage of them for your own selfish needs.

So be understanding when your tenant is genuinely struggling.

Pay your contractors’ invoice swiftly when they have already completed the work for you.

Repay your investors in full and on time – and if there’s a problem, be open and honest about it, and work hard to get it resolved.

Things do sometimes go wrong – in projects and in life – but radio silence and lack of communication just causes mistrust and makes things worse.

My final thought on this topic is one personal life rule I live by:

Don’t ever say anything or do anything or behave in a way that would make your favourite grandma ashamed of you.

Your Nanna and your conscience are watching – so don’t let them down, and do yourself proud.

10. Have great integrity and do what you say you will do

Last one, which is a nice follow on from the previous rule.

It surprises and appals me how many people in life don’t actually do what they say they will do. I think if you do have great integrity, you really are in the minority of people.

You wouldn’t believe the amount of people I book tenancy viewings or meetings for, who don’t even turn up.

They don’t appear, they don’t call, they don’t do the thing they agreed to. It tells me a lot about that person.

And an unreliable, untrustworthy, flaky person of poor integrity is not the sort of reputation you want other people to have about you.

Having great integrity is always doing the right thing – even when no one is watching.

So those are my own personal ten rules of property investing – and as you’ve seen, it’s not just about the tangible bricks and mortar aspect of it!

Best of luck with building your own property portfolio, because it’s not easy.

Because if it was, everyone would do it…

Wouldn’t they…?!?

Kellyann Martin is a UK-based property investor.

She has a book available for purchase on Amazon, click here to buy:

STARTING OUT IN PROPERTY…: What I Wish I’d Known At The Beginning! : Martin, Kellyann: Amazon.co.uk: Books

THE BENEFITS OF GROWING UP SKINT!

The other day I was musing about how I rarely get sick, or have never been seriously ill, and I surmised it was because of this reason:

I grew up as a child on a council estate in the 1980s… so my immune system is pretty much immortal!

It seems being mainly outdoors as a child, with no fussing over a bit of muck or dirt, is a good way of building up strong immunity.

But it got me thinking…

What are the other benefits do you think you have gained from growing up with little money?

Fat Baby does a cheeky grin at having to make her mum cut her elasticated sleeves!

Here is a list of ways I believe I benefitted from growing up skint!

RESOURCEFUL

You made do with what you had, and you made your own entertainment. In my case this included making rose petal perfume, creating my own library out of my books, a VIP Halloween party in my bedroom, and I have particularly fond memories of making mixtapes by taping songs off the radio and MC-ing to them.

These cassette tapes, Kelly’s Funky Jazzy mixtapes, volumes 1-20odd might be worth a fortune one day! 😆

I’m listening to the original Funky Jazzy tape right now as I’m editing this blog… it started strong with 80s legends The London Boys!
And my mate’s keyboard playing and singing is particularly entertaining!

YOU LOOK AFTER YOUR STUFF

Because you didn’t have much, you looked after the stuff you had.

This explains why thirty plus years later I still have many things in near-immaculate condition: my Beano annuals and Enid Blyton books, I have decades-old clothes and trainers, various toys and wrestling figures (and don’t say you wouldn’t have arranged them in order of your favourites for the photo either! 😆)

But even now it’s engrained in me to look after things well.

Really must clear out that loft, the tenant probably thinks there’s a corpse locked up there!
22p?! Can you get owt for 22p these days?!!
I’ll be impressed if you can name all these WWF Wrestlers!
I got very distracted very often with my nostalgic items whilst taking pictures for this blog.
But these dancing flowers are worth a pretty penny on Ebay!

NOT EASY TO SHOCK

“Interesting” things happened on streets where there was council housing… burglaries, fights and disputes, screaming and shouting, clothes and belongings being thrown out of windows, people shoved out of doors… all good entertainment, and excellent for building up a tough skin of unshockable resilience!

Stand there with that big vicious savage German Shepherd, it’ll be reyyyt…
An 80s fake Jerry Lee!

FRIENDLY AND SOCIABLE

Everybody knew everybody on the street, and most people were helpful if they could be. Like the time I accidentally stuck a wallpaper scraper in my forehead, and our elderly neighbours Betsy and Laurie helped my panicking mother sort out my bloodied forehead mess (look for the scar above my eyebrow – Harry Potter clearly copied me! 😆)

Top tip: don’t give children sharp tools, folks…

Or in fact, don’t give me tools at all; I can’t be trusted not to hurt myself with them!

All anyone wants in life is a knight in shining shell suit!
And I LOVED that cap!

GOOD WITH MONEY AND BUDGETING

When you have very little money, you have to learn to manage it well. So budgeting becomes a key skill you acquire, because you know your money must last. It means you don’t ever waste money on poor value items.

Earlier this month, I was utterly horrified to watch my friend get ripped off at the ice cream man, £4.50 for a cone! 😱

Not in our day: a great value ice cream from Mr Rossi cost just 25p.

Or if money was tight that week you were told, “NO, get a choc ice out of your freezer” 😫

Hell fire, a nonce’s dream! Which leads us to our next point…

CAN SPOT A NONCE A MILE OFF / GOOD GUT INSTINCT.

This is a very strange and peculiar spidey sense I have developed since childhood. Not least because we were clearly told: “Keep away from the nonce at number 37” etc.

It was common knowledge to everyone locally who all the paedophiles were and where they lived, and thus was totally acceptable to talk freely about them / warn children to avoid them when you saw them.

This in turn meant you learnt to see and recognise bad people and sense things about them. I think they have a strangeness and a particular ‘look’ about them – and it’s not just because they wear a particular style of spectacles, known in the 80s as paedo glasses.

Anyway my point is this: it meant I developed a real good gut instinct about people. And not just if they’re a wretch child molester. I can tell when something’s not quite right with someone, or even if they are feeling bad / sad / not quite themselves, on a particular day. Weird, eh?!

CHEERY, AND MAKE THE BEST OF THINGS.

You had little, you might have been skint, hungry, lacking in the latest toys, and wearing second hand clothes – but you got on with it. There was no point dwelling on what a terrible lifestyle you had or how bad luck the hand you were dealt was – so you might as well make the most of it, no matter how dire the situation.

For me, this meant skating down the house ginnel in roller skates singing “Just one Cornettooooo” or failing badly trying to master a pogo stick – and the day my mate’s mum got a large paddling pool from a catalogue was like jackpot!

Picture shows original ginnel!
And absolutely sweet threads for the kids in the 80s!

Also:

MANY HOURS OF INDEPENDENCE AND CONFIDENCE BUILDING

Toodling along on my little scooter with my mate on his BMX around the village. Yes, we were free to roam the entire village; no soft namby-pamby, mollycoddling, don’t-leave-my-sight helicopter parenting in the 80s – you just had to make sure you were back home when the street lights came on! Great for pushing your own bravery levels and comfort zones!

We would explore the village, and also deliver newspapers to all the posh houses, me in awe at how much bigger and nicer they were than ours.

(Must have subconsciously made it my mission in life to one day own a bunch of houses!)

I was so amused the day I got given this ‘Adult’ ticket at a show that I kept it!
SEE MUMMY, THE MAN SAID SO!!

This has given me possibly the biggest benefit of all:

A GOOD WORK ETHIC, GRATITUDE AND APPRECIATION.

I appreciate everything, because I still remember what it means to have nothing.

Now I am (supposedly!) a grown adult, and a comfortable homeowner with my own business, I don’t ever forget my roots, or where I came from – nor am I ashamed of it.

Although I was embarrassed at the time, being one of the very few minority kids in Drighlington Juniors from the few council house streets that were on free school meals – and I think that burning shame sticks with you and spurs you on to do better.

I believe if you were born poor, it’s not your fault.

But if you die poor, that’s entirely your fault.

So I’ve worked hard to escape that poverty trap.

And in an interesting twist of fate, a large percentage of my rental houses are ex-council houses, meaning the previous owners have likely bought them through the Council’s right to buy scheme.

So I buy them and then often house families who have been on the council housing waiting list many years… because the council now doesn’t have enough council housing to house low-income families.

Ironic, eh?!

So on the whole, I think I’ve developed many benefits of growing up with little money.

And yes, I can only imagine that privilege is good – but graft is better 😉

Featuring Sam the teddy, who still gets to sleep with me every night! 😆

I’ll leave you with one final amusing anecdote of childhood life in the 80s:

Sunday night bath, then drying off in front of the gas fire in your nightie, watching Bullseye on the telly.

…ONE BATH A WEEK?!?

WHAT WAS ALL THAT ABOUT?!? 😆😆

Make no wonder my immune system’s bulletproof! 😆👊🏼

I have no explanation as to why I looked like a young boy for about, er, 40 years…

3 Things in Property that I found SHOCKING!

3 Things in Property that I found Shocking:

Having been in property for several years, there are still many things that surprise, shock and baffle me.

Here are three things in property that shocked me when I first learnt or realised them:

1.    How much prices, cost and values vary. Something is worth what someone is willing to pay. And whether that is a house purchase, refurbishment work, or materials, the prices vary vastly. And sadly, I too have had a couple of experiences where contractors have given me stupid quotes where they’ve added on a “female tax” – ie tried to give me a stupid price to rip me off, because they think I’m just a thick, daft woman who doesn’t know any better. Yes, my friends, sexism is still alive and well for some people – shocking, I know! 😱

      

2.    The second thing that shocked me in property is that not everyone behaves in the same way you do. Not everyone has the same morals values, ethics and integrity, and this includes tenants, contractors, and other people in property investment. It is a real surprise sometimes to see the way that other people behave, especially when you would never dream of behaving like that. What can I say, some people are just wretches!

3.    The third thing I was shocked about was how friendly most people in property are. This surprised me, as you would think that with limited housing sale choices, and the reality being that other developers are effectively your competition, people would be cut-throat and not willing to share their time, knowledge and expertise. But that’s simply not the case, and the majority of people I’ve met in property have been lovely.

So there you have it, three things I learnt in property that shocked me.

I also considered talking about how ‘doing property’ is not as easy as everyone makes out, or how difficult refurbishment actually is – but perhaps that’s for another day!

Thanks for reading, and take care!

Kellyann Martin is a UK-based property investor.

She has a book available for purchase on Amazon, click here to buy:

STARTING OUT IN PROPERTY…: What I Wish I’d Known At The Beginning! : Martin, Kellyann: Amazon.co.uk: Books

THE TOP FIVE BOOKS I’VE READ

THE TOP FIVE BOOKS I’VE READ… in the last few years, of a self-development nature, although two of them were audiobooks I listened to but I’m still counting them…

Well, the title pretty much tells you what this blog is about!

I’m so old now, I have to wear my glasses to read…

I’ve always been an avid reader, but I switched from fiction to self-development books when I started my property career.

I meticulously log the titles of all the books I read, but it was only in January 2021 that I started grades for each book, giving each one a mark out of 5.

So this is how I can easily pick out the best I’ve read to share with you. Well, from the ones since I started grading them that is!

So here we go, in no particular order:

1.     Happy Sexy Millionaire by Steven Bartlett

An audiobook, which I listened to the majority of whilst driving to and from Birmingham earlier this year. I like authentic storytelling of genuine hardship childhood stories, mixed with no nonsense fluff, so this was good for me.

Here’s the tinterweb link I used to listen to it for free! 

2.    The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari – Robin Sharma

I bought this on the recommendation of a lovely lady, and it got one of my (few!) 5-star ratings. Again, an interesting biographical story, about, well again, the clue’s in the title!

3.    Atomic Habits – James Clear

Another audiobook I’ve given a 5 to. This was over a year ago, and with memory failure I’m not sure why – that’s the problem with driving and listening, you can’t make notes or plan out things to implement immediately! I do remember thinking at the time though: this is useful to help with my (as yet undiagnosed) ADHD traits – so I will definitely be revisiting this book. And making notes this time!

4.    Eat The Frog – Brian Tracy

I go through phases where I’m a terrible procrastinator, so this book definitely helped with my mindset to stop faffing about and gerronwi’it. And I tell you what, Mr Tracy must have had a positive effect on me, because he’s made it into my list twice!

5.    No Excuses – Brian Tracy

Doing well for ‘clues in the title’ today, aren’t we?! Anyway, Brian did well again with inspirational mindset work which fired me into action. This was an audiobook too, get yourself a bit of Brian ont speakers!

BRUCIE BONUS –

Yes, I know I said Top 5, but this one’s also down in my list graded as a 5, and so I’ll feel bad / unfair / it will upset my Libra sense of righteousness if I miss it out! So, last one:

6.    Get Rich, Lucky Bitch – Denise Duffield Thomas

A lady that changed her mindset around money and gives inspirational help and insight into how to do it too! I like Denise, and I follow her on various platforms. She’s no nonsense, casual in her approach, and non-ranty (sorry Mr T. Robbins; I like you, but forced positivity is hard work for us Brits!). Anyway, DDT’s a top lass 😊

So there’s my best book recommendations for you, and before you go, here’s why reading self-development books is so beneficial:

You get to learn in a few hours, key skills and knowledge that has taken other people spent decades of experience and research to learn.

How’s that’s for a quick-fix, easy way ‘cheat’ to success?!

And books are mere pounds in cost, compared to hundreds or thousands spent on courses and seminars!

It is said that Warren Buffett spends 5-6 hours a day reading, and look where that has got him: one of the five richest people in the world.

So if reading is good enough for Uncle Warren, it’s good enough for me!

UNCLE WARREN SAYS:
GET READING, GET CLEVERERER!
(or something like that, probably!

Best wishes, and happy reading (or audiobook listening),

Kellyann x x x

Kellyann Martin is a UK-based property investor.

She has a her own book available for purchase on Amazon, click here to buy:

STARTING OUT IN PROPERTY…: What I Wish I’d Known At The Beginning! : Martin, Kellyann: Amazon.co.uk: Books

How Do You Know When to Walk Away From a Deal?

It’s a very rare occurrence, but I rarely walk away from a property once I’ve had an offer accepted on it. 

But that’s what’s happened recently.

I was initially very excited about this property – but also, a little baffled about how quickly the vendor accepted my low offer.

Further due diligence revealed that there was a flying freehold issue – which meant the loft space above the property’s main bedroom belonged to a neighbour in the house attached to the back of that property… very strange layout.

So the room in the loft space was someone else’s space, with their bedroom / bathroom above our bedroom.

I think it would’ve been very difficult to get a mortgage on that sort of flying freehold issue – hence why the vendor was desperate for a cash offer, having already had other buyers drop out.

It’s no good doing a load of work on a property and then not be able to pull the funds back out – I don’t take scary risks like that, especially not with other people’s investment money.

So today’s blog has three main points…

How do you know when to walk away from a property deal?

Or in the words of Kenny Rogers: know when to walk away, know when to run!


1. WALK AWAY IF…

A property isn’t mortgageable, or it will be very difficult to get a mortgage on it… assuming you did intend being able to get a mortgage on it at some point, and not just buy it cash outright and leave cash in it. Yes, sometimes unmortgageable properties can be made mortgageable, e.g. by adding in kitchens to make it habitable and so on.

But you can’t do much about someone else’s bit of house over your bit of house!

2. WALK AWAY IF…

The deal simply doesn’t stack. If you’re going to end up leaving way more money in than you ever imagined, perhaps the deal isn’t really a good deal at all.

3. WALK AWAY IF…

The house is a turkey. If there’s something terribly wrong with it, which is either unfixable, or it will cost you a massive bomb to fix it eg. major subsidence.

So those are three reasons to walk away. Unless of course you’re super rich and are willing to pay for fixes and problems and headaches, or can afford to leave loads of money in the problem.

Is it really worth the cost, stress and sleepless nights?!

That’s up to you to decide, dependent on your available funds, your mental wellbeing and your risk factor!

But I don’t take high risks. I like to sleep at night, and have an easy, calm, drama-free, stress-free life – so I always play it as safe and securely as possible.

In my view, yes, it’s a shame if things don’t work out to plan, and it’s disappointing when it rains on your parade… but it’s better that than being struck by lightning!


SO DON’T TAKE CRAZY RISKS!

It’s not worth the stress, hassle, and major risk to yours or other people’s investment funds!


PS – I saw the late great Kenny Rogers in concert in Manchester back in 2010… but I can assure you, I’m no Gambler… 

And had I known I would feature him in my blog a decade later, I would have taken much better photographs!!

Kellyann Martin is a UK-based property investor.

She has a book available for purchase on Amazon, click here to buy:

STARTING OUT IN PROPERTY…: What I Wish I’d Known At The Beginning! : Martin, Kellyann: Amazon.co.uk: Books

BLOCKBUSTERS…. How do you bust through those blocks?!?

For weeks and weeks I’ve had a block.

Not just a writer’s block, although that too has been an issue too as I’ve put off and put off writing a blog.

A mental block, if you will.

Some sort of life block, which is stopping me moving forward, and I can’t work out what it is – but it’s very frustrating.

If you remember that awesome TV game show Blockbusters, you’ll know how the contestants had to work their way across the board without getting blocked. They had a route in mind and a plan to get there, and when things went wrong, they had to work out a way around the blocked hexagons.

That’s how I feel.

Except I can’t work out what the blocks are.

I feel an enormous sense of frustration at not moving forward, and all year I’ve been trying to work out why this is happening, and what’s the solution to fix it.

I’m consciously aware that we’re nearly in June, and as we reach the halfway point of the year, it is blatant that I’m not yet halfway through my planned targets.

Very concerning, frustrating, demotivating, annoying and bewildering as to what’s going wrong, and why 2023 is not panning out as I’d planned.

I’ve never been in such a rut before, and it’s jarring.

I feel stagnant, still, stuck, and can’t work out how to move forward.

It’s been said that if you’re not growing, you’re dying, and that becomes glaringly apparent as the days tick on, and nothing of any real property progress has been achieved.

Yes, the housing market’s a struggle at the minute, and house prices have soared, which is very frustrating for me looking for a cheap, cheerful deal 😤

But I’m not overpaying for a property that’s not worth the price, so I’m having to sit on my hands until the mad buying frenzy calms down.

This is difficult, as I’m not the most patient of people.

What’s to be done?

How do I bust my blocks?!

How do I become a blockbuster?!?

Still scratching my head trying to work it out…

…Can I have an A please, Bob?!

We have this board game at my Air Cadet group.

Before we play it, I show them a video of the retro TV show with the music, teach them the hand moves dance for it, explain the immature nonsense of asking for a P please Bob, and them we play in two teams… and they get absolutely wildly and ridiculously giddy over it!

ITV, might be best to bring back this belter; Blockbusters is banging!

What I’ve Learnt from My House Getting Trashed

You might have seen on social media over the last couple of months that a tenant left one of my rental houses in a horrific state.

Despite the tenant only being in the property two years, and the first/only tenant since it was all newly refurbished, poor choices meant things spiralled out of control in their life, and the property suffered badly because of this deterioration.

This included: trashed and ruined carpets throughout, broken kitchen units, smashed windows, a kicked-in door, damage to the walls and electrical sockets, a garage filled with illegal waste removal items, plus a couple of tons of asbestos dumped on the drive.

I was left to deal with all this, along with the disposal of all the furniture, rubbish and items left in the house, which had been abandoned. Oh and I nearly forgot to mention getting rid of the cannabis farm that had been set up in the loft.

Deep joy, eh?

It took several months and many thousands of pounds to get it back to a lettable state. It caused me stress, headaches, drama, worry, sleepless nights, and money.

But still, I’m a strong believer in karma, so I’m not too worried about those people getting justice. Everyone gets exactly what they deserve in life; whether that’s good or bad is down to them!

And writing this blog is almost cathartic – because if we don’t learn anything from the harsh unpleasantries in life, we are destined to repeat our mistakes until we do learn the lesson!

So here we go:

Five things I’ve learned from my house getting trashed:

 1. Some people just don’t behave themselves.

No matter how nice or helpful or trusting you are of some people… some people just don’t give a shit about how much time, effort or money you’ve put into a property. It’s not theirs, so they’re not bothered if it gets trashed.

If you get an initial unusually cautious feeling in your stomach when meeting them… even if it’s only a teeny tiny gut reaction… listen to it, and don’t let your empathy in wanting to help someone overrule the concerns.

Even pink flags are closer to red flags than white ones!

So check, but verify.

Especially if you get *that* feeling, no matter how minute.

2. The council doesn’t give a shit about you.

Don’t think for a second the council want to help you as a private landlord.

They don’t.

And even if they say they do, they drag their feet, and you have to chase them for weeks and weeks to get them to do the thing they’re are supposed to do.

There was only one lady at the council I was impressed with during all this fiasco, and she didn’t even work in any of the departments for housing, lettings, tenants or social services, but the environmental waste team. She worked harder than all the other civil servants I dealt with put together, and this issue wasn’t even her remit.

Also, the council actually provided me with this tenant to begin with, under a housing private landlord letting scheme. Let me be clear about why they do this: not only because they have a shortage of houses, but sometimes they are actually glad to have problem people off their books and onto yours. They are glad to have washed their hands of certain tenants, because now they become your problem, not theirs.

The insurance loss adjustor man told me this, which leads me onto our next point…

3. The insurance company doesn’t give a shit about you.

Listen carefully: Insurance loss adjustors are not your friend.

They might come and assess your house damage and smile and say nice reassuring things and pretend to be helpful, but they are not on your side. They are there to mitigate their loss.

In fact here’s an industry secret, told to me by an insurance broker: many loss adjustors actually get a bonus if they can manage to reduce your claim. ie – they get monetary bonuses for you not getting money from the insurance. That’s a sly little secret they keep quiet, isn’t it?!

Thus, my claim for malicious damage was pooh-poohed away as ‘tenant lifestyle choices’ and ‘wear and tear’, despite photographic evidence to the contrary. Oh, and if need be, they also pull out about a million tiny clauses from your policy, meaning unless you can manage pull some particular minute obscure piece of evidence out of your arse, the claim ‘cannot proceed without it’. ie: you get nothing.

4. People are wretches when a house is empty.

Fun and games whilst the property is empty sometimes… not all neighbours are nice ones. Apart from the asbestos dumping the tenant allowed, other lovely people also took the opportunity of an empty property to fly tip the drive. Several times.

One person lovingly handballed black bags of rubbish all the way to the front door’s path, and a horrible landlord developer decided to offload all their property refurbishment waste of rubble and plasterboard onto my land. Wretches.

Oh and then local naughty kids/teenagers set fire to said rubbish in the garden, meaning two nights running the fire brigade had to be called out to put out the arson fires… whilst hooded teenagers watched them undo their incendiary work. Lovely, eh?

This is what I did: asked the police to patrol the area more often. Allowed the council to put up a warning notice flytipping / CCTV sign. Locked the gate with a bike lock to deter more reversing vehicle flytips.

This is what I should have done: Put the actual camera up, fast. Get a timer switch much earlier so the lamps inside went on to make it look occupied at night. Got the mess of the trashed house sorted out quicker, and filled the house quicker.

Still, we live and learn; every day’s a school day, eh?

And sometimes no matter what you do, certain people will always behave like scumbags.

5. Don’t become jaded because of one bad experience, and continue to give people chances.

Final lesson… listen: one bad tenant does not mean all tenants are bad. In fact, since starting landlording in 2008, that’s the worst tenant experience I’ve had in all that time, so that’s not bad going in 14 years.

Statistically it had to happen at some point!

We can move past it now and just call it what it was: a bad time in the business.

Sometimes bad things happen so that better things can occur instead.

In this case, a new and very lovely tenant. In fact there were three lovely families who viewed the property on the same day that I would gladly have housed, all pleasant, polite, family-orientated, and genuinely nice and good people in need of accommodation.

I have a favourite phrase: don’t bleed all over someone who didn’t cut you.

This means you shouldn’t take things out on people when they didn’t cause you the distress in the first place. It’s not fair to them to do that.

Thus, a new tenant, a fresh start, with the same positive hopeful attitude towards them that all my new occupiers get.

We cannot tar all tenants with the same brush. I have many other lovely long-term tenants that always do the right thing, and for that I am very grateful.

So a snippet of bad luck, a stressful, horrendously difficult and unpleasant time, but now it’s time to learn from it and move onwards and upwards for the future.

I do hope you never have to go through such chaos, but at least we’ve learnt some lessons if you do.

And remember, when bad things happen, remind yourself: I’m too stubborn to let this take me down!

Thanks for reading, and my very best wishes,

Kellyann x x x

Kellyann Martin is a UK-based property investor.

She has a book available for purchase on Amazon, click here to buy:

STARTING OUT IN PROPERTY…: What I Wish I’d Known At The Beginning! : Martin, Kellyann: Amazon.co.uk: Books

Reality.

Having read this morning about yet another “property investor scammer” extorting millions from people, it’s important to recognise in this industry who’s a good guy – because sadly there are a lot of sharks.

So let me reintroduce myself.

I’m Kellyann, and I buy property using investment loans from private investors.

I have real tangible property assets, and a real company that really makes money.

I live in a real house I really own, and own my jazzy motor, jewellery and my other stuff outright – no leased items here for show off purposes!

Every investor I’ve ever had has been paid back in full, with their agreed interest.

The only thing I owe money on are my house mortgages.

I’m a real person, an open, honest, fair Libra. And for the benefit of doubt, this is a real photo of me, taken at 10:23am today, hashtag no filter, using portrait mode.

Please be very clear who you are working and investing with.

Get to know them very well, their lives, their morals, their ethics, their integrity: everything.

If they can’t back up their claims with evidence, it’s very likely they are talking bullshit!

Don’t get scammed!

Kellyann Martin is a UK-based property investor.

She has a book available for purchase on Amazon, click here to buy:

STARTING OUT IN PROPERTY…: What I Wish I’d Known At The Beginning! : Martin, Kellyann: Amazon.co.uk: Books

LOOK AT WHAT YOU COULD HAVE WON!

In my property career I have a couple of regrets and disappointments over a couple of properties that I didn’t buy.

In fact, I have a folder, with a name inspired by Bullseye’s Jim Bowen, entitled LOOK AT WHAT YOU COULD HAVE WON!

This folder holds sales leaflets or details of around ten properties that I really really wanted, but didn’t end up getting, for a myriad of reasons.

This folder includes:

⁃ the house next door to my childhood home. Why didn’t I buy that?!? It was such a good price at the time! 🤦🏻‍♀️

⁃ An old hairdressers shop that I could have converted, but was too scared to. 🤦🏻‍♀️

⁃ A direct to vendor lead where she was about to be repossessed, in an estate where I have three others houses. 🤦🏻‍♀️

⁃ A really cheap flat next to a lovely church, one which the solicitor made an absolute balls of and caused me to lose the deal. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I occasionally look back in my LOOK AT WHAT YOU COULD HAVE WON folder to reflect on what went wrong with these deals, and what I could have done better.

Reasons, and more importantly, key learnings, include the following:

⁃ Having it drilled into me that every property deal should be an ‘all money out on refinance deal’. This cost me a lot of potentially good deals, because for far too long I believed that you shouldn’t end up leaving any money left in a deal. FOOLISH!

⁃ Faffing about, umming and ahhing, not making a decision quick enough. Success loves speed, and if you sit on the fence too long deciding, you get splinters in your arse!

⁃ Being a little bit too tight with my offers. Some of them eventually went for only 5-10 grand above what I’d offered. I’d have made that back within a year in rental income.

⁃ Hiring absolute garbage solicitors that didn’t know what they were doing. Incompetence on their part, really can, and did, ruin my deal.

⁃ Not knowing exactly what to do in a certain situation and then not asking for help.

⁃ Being too soft in thinking that because I hadn’t done a particular type of refurbishment before, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. I should have said yes anyway, and then learned how to do it on the way!

I’m a very low risk person, and hate being uncertain, not getting things rights, and even worse, the ultimate Yorkshire sin: potentially losing money.

But I have to take responsibility for all these actions – me not getting each of these particular deals is Entirely. My. Fault.

Hey ho, hindsight’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it?!?

Dude, that’s a real bummer #facepalm

Nobody’s perfect, and nobody knows it all. I’m continuously trying to learn.

But if you don’t learn from your mistakes, then making them was futile – because the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result.

Also pain is a much stronger driver than pleasure.

So I keep this folder to remind me of those painful disappointing lessons.

That feeling of regret spurs me on to LOOK AT WHAT YOU COULD HAVE WON! – to avoid doing those same silly things again!

# IF YOU’RE NOT EARNING, YOU’RE LEARNING

# Did anyone ever regret not winning that speedboat in Bullseye?!

Most of us live miles away from the sea!


 ———————————————

Kellyann is a property investment strategist from Leeds. 

In her work she creates wealth for private investors through refurbishing properties. 

Visit her website for more details:

INVESTMENT

 ———————————————

To learn about 

STARTING OUT IN PROPERTY… What I Wish I’d Known At The Beginning! 

…. buy Kellyann’s book from Amzaon here!

STARTING OUT IN PROPERTY…: What I Wish I’d Known At The Beginning! : Martin, Kellyann: Amazon.co.uk: Books

3 THINGS I HATE ABOUT PROPERTY…

But property’s awesome all the time, right?

Wrong!

And here’s my top three reasons why!

PROPERTY HATE NUMERO UNO: REPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE

Repairs and maintenance is my number one pet peeve in property – I just hate hate hate it when things break – and sometimes it’s not even the tenant’s fault.

Then you have to deal with the call from the tenant saying that something’s wrong, work out how to fix it, who to call to do so, have to faff about getting various quotes and solutions and appointments in order, and then finally set fire to my money to remedy the problem.

Or even worse, sometimes it’s a product or service that needs addressing by a telephone call to the dreaded call centre or customer service department… where you waste endless hours of time to untrained people on the other end of the line, who can’t deal with it, aren’t competent, put you on hold forever, or just fob you off. There’s nothing more draining than a call centre department.

This week’s issue has been a young 14-month-old integrated Logik oven from Currys which has stopped working after minimal use. Currys customer service seemingly couldn’t give a shit about their faulty product, nor helping me fix it.

Here’s my advice: don’t ever buy a product from Currys – it’s a waste of your time and money buying their substandard products, then a waste of your time, effort, energy and patience trying to get them to do the right thing.

PROPERTY HATE PART 2: NAUGHTY TENANTS

Aha, I bet you thought this would be the first on the list, didn’t you?!?

Not me, because the majority of my tenants are great, nearly all of the time.

Occasionally though, one goes rogue, and starts acting in a naughty manner.

I have three key rules I tell all my tenants:

1. Respect the house and keep it tidy

2. Respect your neighbours (and housemates)

3. Pay your rent on time

…and it’s when one of these three rules is not followed that things go wrong, tenants do naughty things, I get irate, start dismembering their wayward corpses into pieces and setting them on fire etc etc…

I jest, of course…

But there have been instances where people have not paid their rent, given me a ream of bullshit about why not, told me barefaced lies to my face, behaved in ways which damaged the property, accidentally set fire to the kitchen, made an absolute tip of a pigsty to the house / their rooms, hoarding more things than I ever thought possible, not cleaning up after themselves in communal areas, carrying on and arguing so that the neighbours complain and the council send me whinging letters etc etc blah blah…

Thankfully, these things are not common ongoing occurrences, because naughty tenants don’t end up lasting long in my properties.

So yes, naughty tenants annoy me, because they are the exception to the norm in my portfolio.

But I must reiterate that on the whole my tenants are good people.

And when good people do the right thing, there’s nothing to worry about, is there?!

PROPERTY HATE 3: LE FINALE – EVERYTHING IS SO EXPENSIVE!!

I’ve already wittered on about the expense of repairs and maintenance, so I’ll not revisit that route… but EVERYTHING in property is just so bloody expensive!

This includes house purchase prices, the survey fees, the legal costs, the stamp duty land tax, refurbishment costs, gas and electric works, the insurances, the ongoing certificates and legislative measures.

It all costs a bomb, and that bomb frequently explodes in my purse and bank balance!

You know I’m Yorkshire, and you know that for me every pound is a prisoner.

It is always a sad day when money has to be traumatically prised from my parsimonious whimpering fingers to pay for necessary costs!

WHICH IN PROPERTY IS NEARLY ALL THE TIME!!! 

*cries*

So there we have it, the 3 things I hate most about property.

But hang on, let’s not be a negative Nellie.

Because although there are many thunderstorms and showers in property, there are plenty of sunshine-y moments too!

Such as:

  • Providing housing for people
  • Acquiring assets
  • Long term pension pot plan
  • Majority of property portfolio work is now passive
  • Time freedom and independence
  • Gives me a salary!

Can’t have all these nice smooth bits, without a bit of rough too, eh?!

That’s life for you!

Proper-teee…dious at times though!

Kellyann Martin is a UK-based property investor.

She has a book available for purchase on Amazon, click here to buy:

STARTING OUT IN PROPERTY…: What I Wish I’d Known At The Beginning! : Martin, Kellyann: Amazon.co.uk: Books

𝗢𝗸 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀, 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝗶𝗴 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁… 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸!

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𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗪𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗜’𝗱 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗔𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴!”

…is now available to purchase on Amazon.

𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞 𝗙𝗢𝗥?

People new to property and who are looking to buy their first residential house(s) to make rental income.

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗪𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗬 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗡?

Things I wish I’d known at the start of my own property journey – many things that would have made the process so much easier, faster, and less stressful.

𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗣?

I would be most grateful if you would 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 to help reach my target audience, and I thank you kindly in advance for your support! 🥰

Link to buy here:

Help new property investors learn from my experience… in order to make their experience much more pleasant!

Private Investors… What’s In It For You?

You might know that I help people build wealth passively, through the vehicle of property.

But have you ever wondered why people invest?

Why would people with funds want to work with me?

In this blog I’ll be exploring the reasons of what’s in it for them as private investors.

First of all, a key reason people choose to invest is that it gives them somewhere safe to invest their funds.

They realise that property is a good solid asset, and is unlikely to be stolen or magically disappear or reduce in value, like stocks, shares and other volatile online investment vehicles.

Property is a safe investment option, because it’s a tangible asset which really exists.

That’s why we have the phrase “Safe as Houses”! 🏠

Another great reason people choose to work with me is that they know it involves socially responsible investing.

They’re not putting their money into dubious activities, products or gambling – they are directly benefitting local families by providing housing.

There’s nothing more socially responsible than helping low-income families get a safe, secure home to comfortably bring their kids up in.

Here’s another key reason that I know many people want to invest with me: it gives them the chance to help me help others.

Not only does it help provide housing for people, it helps me build my own future, and it helps them build their own wealth!

It’s nice to be nice, it gives you a good feeling inside. It is often said that we rise by lifting others, and that helping others is the secret sauce to a happy life.

I fully believe this, in fact I even wrote a blog on the subject – do click here to have a read!

The Benefits of Helping Others

At present in Britain, there is a severe housing shortage. Every year we need an extra 300,000 homes in addition to the new ones that have been built, just to keep up with demand.

Investing with me gives you the knowledge that you’re helping create much-needed homes.

Demand vastly outstrips supply, which means your investment funds are providing a much-needed commodity.

There’ll always be a need for housing, meaning there’ll always be investment required to fund this, meaning you will be financially rewarded for the value you provide through investment funding.

Finally, a good draw for private investors is that they have the opportunity to make far more interest on their funds than they would by having it sat in the bank.

If you have £20,000 idly sitting in your high street bank, at current Bank of England interest rates, you are only likely to make around 25p interest per month.

Whereas if you put that £20,000 into one of my property projects, you are guaranteed a minimum of 6% per annum, which means you would receive £1200 interest per annum – which equals £100 a month in interest!

That’s a much better return than 25 pence, isn’t it?!?

How can I afford to give you such a high return?

Well, that’s because of the magic of uplifting the values of property development.

There’s always enough money in the deal to enable me to do this, and you deserve a great return for your trust in me and helping me deliver these projects.

Win-win for all!

You help me provide housing, and I help you grow your wealth passively within short periods of time.

It’s a great feeling to give someone back a large chunk of money in interest, knowing you have effectively beaten the banks!

So there we have it: a range of reasons explored as to what’s in it for private investors who choose to invest in my property project opportunities. 

If you would like to discuss becoming an investment partner to gain these benefits, do book in to have a call with me, by clicking the link below.

Book a call with Kellyann to discuss investment here…

 The Benefits of Renting to Tenants on Benefits!

 The Benefits of Renting to Tenants on Benefits!

You might know that I have a property rental portfolio here in Leeds.

What you might not know is that half of my single let rentals are occupied by tenants on benefits.

Now whilst benefits tenants often get a bad reputation, many low-income families are just like you and me: decent, pleasant people, that have found themselves in a certain situation.

Being on benefits does not mean that you are a write-off, or a bad person. It does not mean you are scum, a degenerate, a waster, or any of the other negative connotations the media try to impose on us.

Of course, there are some people who aren’t as savoury as we would hope, throughout all areas of life – but we cannot tar everyone with the same brush.

Not all benefits tenants are bad ones, in the same surprising way that not all high paid ‘professional tenants’ look after the property and pay their rent – as some of my landlord friends will vouch for! 😱

As with anybody, carefully check out your prospective tenants, and be convinced that they are a good choice.

So here’s my reasons for the benefits of renting to tenants on benefits:

✳️ They are usually families, looking for a long term home, which means they stay longer.

✳️ There are lots of them looking for housing, as the council has a severe shortage of available local housing authority accommodation.

✳️ Often the council will provide a deposit for them or a scheme whereby they will fix damaged items

✳️ You can request for the rent to be paid directly to yourself as landlord. This massively reduces the risk of rent not getting paid.

✳️ You are helping vulnerable families by giving them a chance to build themselves a secure lifestyle, and a steady foundation for their children to progress in the future…

… because that’s exactly what happened to me.

I’m the product of a single parent on benefits. And although we were poor, our council house was immaculate, and we tried hard to improve our situation.

I’m not scum, a reprobate, a degenerate, a lowlife, or any of those things.

I’m a good person, just like my tenants are.

I was a kid who had a good grounding to want to do better than the situation I found myself in.

A couple of these kids in my class are from benefits families, can you tell which? 
Of course you can’t – but all kids deserve a decent start in life!

I appreciate everything, because I still remember what it means to have nothing.

And that’s exactly why I choose to rent to low income families – because I’ve been there, and know how important is it for someone to just give you a chance and believe in you.

So as there’s over 3 million people claiming housing benefit in Britain… why not consider renting to them?!?