“I was inspired to come to Touchstone because even thorough I knew that I had all of the ingredients to be a successful investor, I lacked the confidence needed to put myself out there. 

“One thing I don’t lack is a passion for learning. Having started as a joiner, I taught myself plastering, plumbing and everything needed to refurbish a property (apart from gas and electrics – they need specialist qualifications). From there I started my own business refurbishing houses for other people and managing their projects end to end. My skills are my product – the customer already wants you to work on their house and the more you can do the better the rapport and the better it is for the customer. I got to the point where I wasn’t advertising anymore and got all my customers via word of mouth. I found working on peoples’ homes extremely rewarding – when you work on somebody’s home, you change their lives. There’s a lot of emotion attached to it.

“At some point, I began to realise that all of my work provided value for other people and that I wasn’t actually doing anything for myself. There is a shelf-life on a business based entirely on your own labour and I wanted to add assets that would create a legacy for my current and future family. 

“Even though I could do it for my business, was still lacking the self-assurance needed to hold my own talking to other people in the industry from an investor perspective. 

“One of Abi’s webinars got me moving. Her story was so relatable and hearing how she did it made me believe I could too, so I invested in the two-day property investment course. I got so much useful information from those two days that I created a file that I refer to often. When I finished the course, I regularly kept an eye on Rightmove, using the deal analysing materials to decide the viability of any properties that caught my eye. One lunchtime, I saw a grade two listed building up for auction for the seeming bargain price of £95,000. The property consisted of two flats and was just off Southport city centre -perfect for the rental market. I knew the street that it was on and knew that it was an affluent area. 

“Next, I did my research to see the prices of nearby properties on the market and what this one had previously sold for. 

“I also viewed the property and saw that it needed a lot of work – more than just DIY. Off-putting for some, but perfect for me with my unique skill-set. The gable end had collapsed, amongst other things that might put others off.

“Next, I used the Land registry to track down the owners – the best £3 I’ve ever spent. I discovered that it was owned by a London property company who had barely done anything to it in the time they had it. Tracking down their details, I emailed them to see if they would be willing to settle out of auction. From previous experience, I could easily budget the costs and had a great idea of the worth when finished and settled on offering £112,000 for it, budgeting for refurbishment costs of £30-35,000. I estimated it would be worth £230,000 when finished, but was happy that a second opinion from a letting agent predicted £250,000 if the spec was high.