Property Investors helps 18-year-old to become financially free

Property Investors helps 18-year-old to become financially free….

It’s only a few months since Tom Grierson left school, but he’s already earning more than some of his old teachers as a direct result of following the property strategies taught by Samuel Leeds. In the last year, Tom has implemented every creative method of making money in the housing market, bar developing, and he’s still only 18. That too is in his sights as he seeks to build wealth for his family so that, like him, they need never work.

Tom’s first deal is a rent-to-rent

It is hard to believe that a year ago Tom was still at school but now he is providing a roof over people’s heads and making enough through property to retire. Not that Tom is about to step down.

The teenager is a hard worker with big ambitions. It all started for him when he began watching Samuel Leeds’ videos in September 2020.

“I managed to get away for a holiday and I just started scrolling on YouTube. I came across Samuel’s videos and just binge-watched loads of them. I thought these are great. I didn’t know you could do all these different type of things with property,” Tom explains.

Aged just 17, he booked himself on to a free online Property Investors Crash Course in February 2021 and was instantly hooked. The course lasted 10 hours and he was ‘glued’ to every single second of the stream.

It introduced him to all the various strategies available to entrepreneurs, including rent-to-rent. Having studied more of Samuel’s videos on the subject, a fortnight later Tom secured his first rent-to-rent deal on a two-bedroom house in Huddersfield.

It was being advertised as a single let but Tom saw from the floorplan that it had a sitting room and a loft which could be converted into lettable rooms just by putting beds in them.

The house was being advertised for rent at £575 a month, but Tom calculated he could get £1,500 per month by turning it into a four-bed HMO. So, he brought in beds and bedside tables from Ikea and decorated the property himself. His total outlay, including paint and paintbrushes came to £1,000. This included the first month’s rent of £575 which he paid to the owner on the day he signed the contract.

“It took two weeks to fill the rooms from when I picked up the keys and it made itself back in two months.”

Tom avoided having to put down a deposit by setting out that he would have to paint and furnish four rooms, as well as put a carpet in the loft.

“I explained what I wanted to do and said all of that didn’t come cheap and they said yes, go for it.”

Tom had finally got the go ahead to rent out the house as a company let after receiving around 30 rejections previously from agents when he tried to get a rent-to-rent deal.

“I spent a lot of time phoning agents who said we don’t know what a company let is or a rent-to-rent. They would say: leave us alone and put the phone down, but I just kept going. The more times you ring the phone, the more likely you are to get a yes.

“I followed scripts or what I’d seen on Samuel’s videos of what he’d done and how to talk to the agent. That kept me going.”

Tom made sure he knew exactly what to say before he made a call and remained polite.

“It was fantastic when I eventually got a yes.”

‘I had to pinch myself when the money started coming in’

Tom’s mother, who is a landlady herself, was worried when she found out her son had rented a house after being on a Property Investors course. Her concern was that he might be unable to rent out the rooms and would be left with a liability on his hands.

“She’s quite an old-fashioned landlady. Her and my dad have done pretty well by buying properties, but only renting them out as single lets. She’d never heard of the concept of rent- to-rent.

“I told her I’d been on Samuel Leed’s online crash course and watched videos. It’s a really good idea for someone of my age who doesn’t have a lot of money or experience. I can make a few hundred pounds a month and I’ll also get the experience of being a landlord.

“She said: ‘I’ve never heard of this. I’ve been doing this for 20 years. I’ve got no idea what this is. Are you sure?’ I said yeah, we’ll figure it out.”

Tom received no financial support from his parents to get started. Instead, he used all the money he had saved from doing odd jobs while at school to fund his property activities.

He made use of OpenRent, SpareRoom and Facebook Marketplace to advertise his rooms for free.

“When the money first started coming in, I had to pinch myself. I’ve never heard of any other 18-year-old landlords. People were paying me to have a roof over their head. A year ago this was not the service I thought I’d be providing for people.”

After the success of his initial venture, Tom was eager to get another deal. He reinvested the money and paid for advanced training with Property Investors.

His second coup was to clinch a lease option agreement on a property which he had spotted on Rightmove. He found it by searching for the oldest listed properties.

“The landlord had been trying to sell the property for a while, and it just wasn’t budging at all. He’d also been renting the property for the past few years. The training teaches you that’s the way you should look for properties – something that’s been on the market for a while and then it’s a bonus if it’s been rented out before as well.”

By having that information Tom knew that whilst the landlord wanted to sell, he did not need the money now because he was open to the idea of it being rented out.

Explaining the lease option strategy, Tom says: “You agree to buy the property for a fixed price now, but you don’t actually pay that. All you pay is on the option, which could be as little as £1, and you pay the landlord an agreed monthly fee.

“The property is worth around £200,000 and I agreed to buy it for £210,000 in 2028.”

In the meantime, he benefits from any capital appreciation and rent.

If it has not gone up in value, Tom can decide against exercising his right to buy it.

“He has to sell it if I want to buy it, but I’m not obliged to buy which is the beauty of the deal.”

That might seem unfair, Tom acknowledges. There are, however, clear advantages for the seller, he points out.

“The property is going to be completely off his hands for the next seven years. He’s never going to have any arrears and he’s not going to have to pay any major repairs. So, I’m completely taking care of the property for him.”

Potentially the owner also gets his original asking price and more.

Tom has furnished the property to a high standard and is now renting it out as serviced accommodation on Airbnb and Booking.com. It is available for short staycations, as well as for contractors and people in between house moves.

It would rent out for £700 per month if he had just one tenant, he says, which is the same amount he pays the landlord.

“Last month it grossed around £3,000 and netted £1,750. That’s after paying the cleaners and all the bills. For the rent-to-rent and lease option agreement I made a clean profit of £2,250 last month.”

One sourcing fee paid for deal selling course

Tom, who has become known as the ‘property guy’ in Huddersfield, has also made money from sourcing a deal and completed a buy, refurbish, refinance project with a joint venture partner.

“I put some money into that and a lot of sweat equity. That was a property that was bought for £60,000 cash. We spent £10,000 on it and it’s been revalued at £107,500. So, we can pull all our money out of that.”

An innate hunger to do more in property drives him on, even though he could sit around doing nothing all day while the rent money keeps coming in.

“I may have to answer a few emails and messages, but I just want to do more and be in a position where I can do developments or maybe scale and systemise a sourcing company.

“With my age, and the time I’ve got and the people I’ve met, I really think the world’s my oyster. I can put my mind into all the different strategies and put myself in a good position in 10 to 20 years’ time.”

His aim is to build an empire so that his children in future and their children don’t have to work for a living.

After being sceptical and then seeing her son create a passive income for himself, his mum is on board too now. She has joined the company’s development course as she seeks to broaden her business horizons.

Tom says that if a deal has fallen through, she has been there to pick him back up and both his parents have been ‘sensational’ in providing him with advice and support.

He is also grateful for the training and support which has come from the Samuel Leeds’ community. He was 18 when he paid £1,000 for a Property Investors online deal sourcing course which he got back with interest by selling a deal. Later, when he could afford it, he became a fully-fledged member of the academy.

The training has fulfilled all his hopes: “Everything has been so informative. It’s dotted every i and crossed every t. Without the training I wouldn’t be where I am now. I’d be at university with everyone else partying. Instead, I’m getting up at 6am to do viewings an hour away from where I live and making money.”

Tom’s tips

If you’re starting out with not much money, get educated. Go to a Property Investors Crash Course and look at what you might excel at. Then start calling agents and book viewings. As soon as you do that and get familiar with them, they’ll say: I’ve seen this. This might be good for you to start on.”

Don’t get disheartened early on. It will happen and you will make the money.

If you pick up the phone without any confidence, it’s really hard to get a conversation going with an agent. Make sure you know exactly what you’re going to say.

Samuel Leeds’ verdict

“I got my first house at 17. It’s a great buzz to see people winning in property. Tom’s put a lot of work in, so credit where credit is due. What he’s done is remarkable. A lot of 18-year-olds wouldn’t even dream of taking the kind of action he’s taken.

“It’s not been easy. Tom’s had lots of rejections but now he’s financially free and he’s achieved that so quicky. He’s basically done almost every strategy that there is in the property industry. His experience is through the roof and he’s making more money than some of his teachers when he was at school.”

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