The loss of her brother made Carly Hallsworth realise that life is for grabbing and if she wanted to get into property then it was time to act. Within 18 months of coming to a £1 Samuel Leeds crash course Carly and her partner Daley Jones were financially free. The couple got off to a flying start after securing a £40,000 booking for a penthouse across the water from Liverpool which they rent out as serviced accommodation. They also sell investment deals – including sourcing properties suitable for social housing.
Portfolio of five rent-to-rents attracts contractors and tourists
Before becoming full-time property entrepreneurs Carly and Daley worked for the electric car manufacturer Tesla. They joined in 2015 when it was just a start-up company, with less than 90 employees.
“It was really fun. It was a great beginning. There were four chargers in the UK when we started our job,” recalls Carly, and just three stores.
They were employed in sales and earned well, receiving bonuses through stocks and shares with Tesla which soared in value as the firm grew. To all intents and purposes, it was the perfect job.
For separate reasons, however, they both decided to give up their careers to go into business.
“Things have a life span. It was exciting while it lasted,” says Carly, but we had big changes in our life that then meant I could look at things in a different way and say: do you know what, you live one life. If I want to get into property why am I waiting?
“I lost my little brother at Christmas. That was three years ago almost. You get to a certain age and it’s not like the Disney books we’re all shown. That doesn’t mean it’s not okay. It just means if there’s something you want to do, you need to get on with it.”
She adds: “It hurts, of course, but everything has a positive and we grabbed the positive with two hands and [said] this is us now. There’s nothing stopping us. Let’s go for it.”
Daley had reached a similar crossroads in his life. “I always felt like I was stuck in the rat race. In the eight years of being in Tesla I built up such a variety of skills and different experiences I felt like I couldn’t grow any further. What I needed was a bigger challenge, so I could apply myself. I saw property as the challenge to go for.
“I always like to be hands-on and see things grow. I’m very much a fixer and a builder and what better thing to build than a career and a company with my partner.”
Daley and Carly came along to the crash course in February 2023 after watching Samuel Leeds’ YouTube videos about property investing.
Right from the start Carly was determined to succeed. “I was like this is it but we’re going all in. Like in a diet, I’m not just going to give up chocolate. I’m going to commit to everything and get the results I want.”
The pair signed up the academy two months later, taking their time to go through the courses properly and to attend all the live events.
“We took our time to understand which models and strategies we wanted to focus on. Then we took the massive leap of leaving our careers in October 2023,” Daley explains.
By then they had taken on another rent-to-serviced accommodation property which gave them an income while they continued to build up their portfolio.
It was Daley who found the penthouse on the Wirral. It was being advertised on the OpenRent website. So, he contacted the landlord and suggested setting up a rent-to-rent arrangement. At first the owner was hesitant, but then called Daley back a couple of days later to say he was interested.
They came up with an agreement whereby Daley and Carly pay the owner a guaranteed rent each month. They then rent it out for a higher amount, keeping the profit.
Daley describes it as a ‘duplex penthouse in a beautiful old building’ with views across the water to Liverpool.
The entrepreneurs chose the property because of its location next to an area undergoing major redevelopment over the next 30 years. They knew that contractors working on the scheme would need somewhere to stay, but that it would also attract other types of guests.
That gave them a backup. As it turned out, they picked up business straight away after Carly went to one of the building sites and handed out their fliers.
“The first people who stayed then went on to stay for 13 months,” says Daley. The booking was worth £40,000 and generated a profit of £23,000. That one booking alone paid for both of their academy memberships.
They now have five rent-to-rents in the Liverpool area which they have taken on through their company, Craydella Properties. Three are marketed with contractors in mind. The other two in the city centre are aimed at tourists. Carly and Daley also contacted local universities and medical schools. As a result, one of them is booked until the end of the year on month-long bookings.
Their properties on the outskirts of Liverpool tend to perform better because contractors stay their all year round – whereas occupancy levels in their city centre SAs fluctuate depending on the season.
Their different skills complement each other. Carly manages the serviced accommodation side of the business, although the workload is minimal, she says.
“It’s pretty systemised. There’s not a great deal to do. We use smart locks and things like that.”
Carly is the one who likes to create and design, while Daley ‘engineers.’ As he puts it: “Carly thinks of the idea. I make the idea happen.”
‘We sell one to two deals a month, charging £3,000 for each one’
Alongside their serviced accommodation business, Daley and Carly search for lucrative investment opportunities which they then package up and sell.
In a month they usually sell one to two deals, charging a commission of £3,000 for each one. There is an additional fee to pay if they manage the project and introduce the investor to mortgage brokers and lenders.
The couple set up three of their rent-to-rents while sourcing deals and have also managed a buy, refurbish, refinance project.
“We’re a mixed bag. We’re not just deal sellers and rent-to-renters,” Carly points out.
They both enjoy diversifying and building up multiple income streams. A spin-off of this approach is that they understand a variety of strategies which benefits their clients.
When assessing a buy, refurbish, refinance, rent proposition, their calculations take account of high interest rates. If the rent is unlikely to cover the mortgage payments, they move on.
“We don’t over complicate things. We try to keep property as simple as possible. The investors want to invest in things that are going to make them money without any complications and that is what we focus on,” says Daley.
One of their finds produced a handsome profit for the investor. Carly describes how they negotiated a ‘great price’ for a three-bedroom property which was ‘an absolute mess.’ Then they brought in builders from the academy to refurbish it.
“That was a six-week turnaround and then our investor was able to take it back to market with about £55,000 profit. Everything was pre-checked.”
Their training taught them how to find social housing providers. Daley says: “You have to start by picking an area you want your properties in.
“We’re in the northwest. There are loads of providers there, so you can give them a call and tell them what you’re doing: we want to contribute to sourcing the number of beds that they require for their tenants. Then we say to the investor we’ve got a provider in a particular area. They want to pay so much per room or per property.”
The investor buys the property, which they have found, and the social housing company generally signs a lease of just under seven years, often renewing it the moment it ends. Rent reviews are also built into the contract.
“The rents went up in April (2024). They’re probably not going to get reviewed for another two or three years, so now you’re in. You’re already at that higher rent. You’ve got three years where you know what you’re getting and in future it should go up.
“It won’t drop. It may stay the same, but it’s got a chance of increasing,” Carly says.
The next step for them is to accumulate their owns assets. They are buying a three-bedroom house in Ellesmere Port which they secured for £85,000. The plan is to renovate the house and then either flip it or remortgage it and rent it out as serviced accommodation.
The budget for the refurbishment is £35,000, but they hope to do a lot of the work themselves to reduce the cost. The projected end value is about £180,000.
Some friends are helping to fund the deal after Daley and Carly ‘blew their minds’ about what they had learnt on the academy when they all got together for a summer barbecue.
It became apparent that their friends were keen to get involved in property but didn’t know how to begin. Daley suggested they jump on board with them if a good investment property became available.
“I came across this one in Ellesmere Port and we were going to sell it on but then we thought hold on, what about our friends. Let’s give them a call,” Daley remembers. “So, we told them about the deal and said would you be interested in doing a joint venture with us. You put up £100,000 and we’ll give you a fixed per cent return.”
The figure agreed on was 15 per cent, with Daley and Carly contributing £20,000.
Their property business has given them an ideal work/life balance. They now have far more time to spend with their family and friends. Daley says they have not missed a single family event since becoming self-employed.
“We used to miss all of them, and time is the reason we do this,” Carly reveals. “There are days where I think we’ve worked 24 hours out of 24. That comes with it, but it is on our terms.
“We say right, it’s going to be a really heavy Monday to Friday because we’re going away all weekend with the family.”
Daley agrees. He used to feel unable to accept invitations from family or friends because he was stuck at work and had no holidays left, whereas now they say, ‘yes absolutely.’
On a professional level he is also far happier. He enjoys chatting with investors, finding out what their goals are and helping them on their journey.
Carly feels the same. “You meet people from everywhere in the world, accidental landlords who’ve inherited a property or people who are property focused and that’s all they’ve ever wanted. It’s nice to get somebody’s back story.”
She has also developed an unexpected sideline, using her skills as a trained photographer.
“Somebody in the academy got let down by a photographer and I helped her out in Liverpool. Now I’ve shot 50 odd properties this year.”
She feels they have grown as individuals by being out of their comfort zone a lot. David too believes his mindset has improved since being in property and out of the rat race.
“I feel like I’ve got a direction now. We’ve got goals that we are both achieving together.”
He adds: “It’s been incredible being on the academy and working with Samuel. We want to have a portfolio that we can pass on to generations and we now know how to do that.”
Carly and Daley’s tips
- Invest in your education. Then take time to understand which business model you want to pursue. Don’t chase too many shiny pennies.
- Find what you’re passionate about and stay focused.
- With serviced accommodation you need to know your target audience.
- Money can’t always keep pushing you forward. You need a deep meaning as well.
Samuel Leeds' verdict
“Carly and Daley were doing well in their careers. If you apply that same discipline, work ethic and passion, you can succeed at just about anything.
“When you’ve got a good grasp of property after educating yourself, as Carly and Daley have, in terms of how it all works with tenants, the legalities, the surveys, negotiation, inflation, refinance, and taxes… it is a superpower which you have forever!”