Former world champion dancer becomes financially free after training with Property Investors

Former world champion dancer becomes financially free after training with Property Investor

From living in a tiny wooden house with primitive sanitation to becoming a world dance champion, Angelica Landin has elevated herself again to become financially free through property. Angelica attended the Property Investors Crash Course and then the Deal Finding Extravaganza, learning how to work smart in the housing market. Her portfolio includes a mixture of rent-to-rents and HMOs which are making a profit of around £2,500 a month – the equivalent of an average salary.

Education provides a route out of poverty for Angelica Landin

Angelica Landin grew up in a poor neighbourhood in the Mexican city of Tijuana, close to the border with the USA. Though just five miles away from California and the land of plenty, her environment couldn’t have been more different.

The streets were unpaved and living conditions were cramped. Angelica’s house had a floor space of just 13 sq.m and she had to share a double bed with her parents and little sister.

“We all had to sleep the other way around so we could all fit and we had a composting toilet with no water pipes or drains,” recalls Angelica. “It was a very different life, but the good thing was my mum was always challenging us and making us believe that this was something temporary. She gave us the best education she could for us to overcome that.”

This led Angelica to winning a scholarship to one of Mexico’s top private universities and then landing a sales job with a multi-national firm operating in the UK.

In 2010, she moved to London and had a good standard of living but five years later she decided to quit because she no longer wanted to work for a company.

Angelica says she has always been good with money and so she was saving a lot and investing while in employment. Just before she left her work, she bought two buy-to-let properties and refinanced one of them.

“It was not a great beginning because, although I came from a sales background where I negotiated and read people’s minds, I was in a rush to get my first property.

“I didn’t make a full analysis of the numbers. I more or less evaluated the area, but I didn’t negotiate well enough. I left a lot of money in the deal.

“I didn’t know how to maximise the investment either because I was renting it out as a single let, instead of applying for an HMO licence. I came to learn about that afterwards through my training with Property Investors. When I did eventually turn it into an HMO, suddenly I started to make more money, but I missed out on a lot of years of extra income.”

‘I was pursuing my passion, but it didn’t pay my bills’

Angelica met Property Investors’ founder Samuel Leeds in 2018 when she came along to the training firm’s two-day crash course. At the time she was teaching Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art which combines dance, acrobatics and music. She started learning it as a teenager in Mexico, training with her friends in the park, and then spent eight months in Brazil, immersing herself in the culture and discipline of the art form. She also trained in London with Professor Bombril, a leading Capoeira instructor who helped her on her way to becoming Female European Capoeira Champion in 2014 and world champion the following year. She regained her European title in 2018.

The 36-year-old athlete says that whilst Capoeira is her passion, when she we met Samuel, she was only just managing to pay her bills and having to work really hard to do that.

“It felt like a life-changing experience when I went to the Property Investors Crash Course. I received so much great content, not only about property but mindset too. I was literally running there on the second day!”

Angelica then signed up for the three-day Deal Finding Extravaganza which gave her the tools to develop her property investing. She learnt in depth about the strategies taught on the crash course and was able to study course materials, as well as put forward questions.

Armed with new knowledge and skills, Angelica was excited by the possibilities but says one of her biggest mistakes was to try to pursue all the different strategies at once.

“I formed a company with two friends, and we started doing lease option agreements like crazy. Then we thought should we also buy a property and do HMOs and serviced accommodation. We started doing everything and then nothing was really working.”

They told themselves they had to focus initially on one strategy and chose to buy HMOs after Angelica went on another Property Investors Crash Course as a refresher. When they found their focus, everything started to change.

Angelica chose Blackpool as her patch and bought her first family let there, along with an HMO. She had a third offer accepted to buy another property directly from the vendor and turned her two, original buy-to-lets into licensed HMOs.

Sourcing deals pays for training with Property Investors

The married mother-of-one also set up a separate rent-to-rent business focused on London. She has four rent-to-rents, three of which are joint ventures and is about to complete on a fifth one.

The first one she agreed is in her sole name. Angelica invested around £5,000 in furnishing the three-bedroom flat in Paddington and turned it into a four-bed apartment. It took her just three months to get back her money and she is still renting it out now. She pays the landlord an agreed monthly amount and keeps the profit from letting out the accommodation.

Angelica has also made £14,000 from packaging and selling property deals to investors. This has more than paid for her training with Property Investors, she says.

“When I go to see a property and it doesn’t quite work for me, I pass it on to an investor. I’ve sold four property deals so far.”

It was thanks to Samuel Leeds’ training and one of his free newsletters that she was in the money again when she was on the hunt for properties to buy in Blackpool. She had three out of 12 offers accepted and couldn’t decide which one was the best when making her second purchase. After reading Samuel’s advice on how to save tax and stamp duty on private properties she was able to make the right choice, making a tax saving of £3,000 into the bargain.

‘My experience of Samuel Leeds is all positive’

Angelica is annoyed when she sees videos from people warning others not to undertake training with Samuel Leeds. Often, they have failed themselves as property entrepreneurs or haven’t even done the training, but the vast majority are happy with Property Investors services, Samuel is keen to point out.

Angelica says: “If it didn’t work for you, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work. The problem might be you, not the training. If you have a bad experience, you shouldn’t make a public video which could put off other people who could potentially do well through the training.

“I came from a martial arts background where there is a lot of respect for your mentors and teachers. I am a Capoeira teacher, so my students offer that respect to me. I feel offended even when I see those videos because it’s disrespectful.

“My experience of Samuel is all positive and I will always be grateful for what I have learnt from him. Property is definitely something that is simple in terms of the steps you have to take but it’s not easy. You have to do a lot of work and implement what you are taught. It doesn’t happen straight away necessarily. It’s a process. I got my first deal in May 2019, eight months after attending the Deal Finding Extravaganza.”

Angelica still teaches Capoeira to children and adults but has had to compromise to concentrate on her property activities. She has instructors now to take her classes and only does a few herself online – her ‘toughest decision’ yet. She is also recruiting a VA to systemise the business and free up her time to embark on property developing.

Having the right mindset has been a massive contributor to her success, as well as taking action and ‘believing it will happen.’

Securing the first rent-to-rent deal was her hardest challenge because many landlords are unaware of the concept, she explains. They don’t realise they can be hands-off and get someone with passion and knowledge to run their properties.

“We got so many no’s, but it doesn’t matter. You just have to keep going. We got our first deal off a portfolio landlord. Every time she buys another property, she comes to us and asks if it would work for us.”

Angelica has also won the trust of another portfolio landlord who has more than 60 properties including a few that are worth several millions of pounds. Her property company has managed two of them and he has now also given her a building with three flats to manage.

Her biggest reason for going into property is her eight-month-old son Aaron. “I feel so happy and fulfilled with my life. I just want him to have a different opportunity and environment. He doesn’t realise that he has already been on more than 20 viewings!

“The other big reason is I want to inspire other people who have a hard life or limited conditions. I want to be an example that they can be a mother for their children, as my mum was with me. It doesn’t matter what the conditions are. You can do whatever you want.

“I didn’t let that part of my life when I was poor define who I am and who I want to become. It’s all about understanding who we are and that whatever we have is temporal. We are bigger than that.”

Angelica’s tips

You have to network, even if it’s uncomfortable because people will get to know your story and schemes and you can then collaborate and help each other. At the Deal Finding Extravaganza and the second crash course I made great friendships and contacts.

I take my son to the gym when it’s my turn to care for him. It costs £250 a month but I don’t mind because Aaron will have friends who come from wealthy families. It’s important to be around successful people.

Samuel Leeds’ verdict

“Angelica’s story is so powerful. She’s got big energy and the bigger your energy the bigger your bank account will be. What she has achieved so far is remarkable, especially considering where she came from. I’m sure her son will also be a massively successful and happy person too because of her great leadership.”

Get in touch with Angelica: http://intelligentsourcing.co.uk/