Property Investors Academy student Charlotte Busby and her partner Shyheim Prince are literally living the high life. In the first four months since joining Samuel Leeds’ training establishment Charlotte has sold £35,000 worth of deals with Shy from deal selling – £12,000 of which came flooding in during a whirlwind 17 hours. Charlotte and Shy also have a rent-to-serviced accommodation property which last month (August 2022) made a profit of £1,600. On the back of their success, they have opened an office in a tower block in the centre of Birmingham from where they control their burgeoning business.
‘Failure was not an option’
With their profits already hitting the roof, and an office ‘in the sky’ in Broad Street, High Living Estates accurately reflects where Charlotte and Shy are right now in property.
Since linking up with Property Investors, they have seen their star rise under the guidance of Samuel Leeds and his coaches. They have also taken full advantage of the connections it has given them to build their company.
Theirs is the land of opportunity as they go in search of big and small deals and work towards their ultimate goal to become developers.
It took a leap of faith to get them to where they are now. They both gave up their jobs to go into property full-time. From the start Charlotte and Shy were confident they could make it as entrepreneurs after seeing others doing so well on Samuel’s Winners on a Wednesday YouTube series.
“I remember thinking if they can do it, why can’t we? Course we can and it went from there,” says Charlotte.
Shy was equally enthusiastic, having wanted to go into property since he was a ‘kid.’ He says they were driving around Edgbaston in Birmingham looking at houses – as they often do – when Charlotte announced that she was going to join the Property Investors Academy.
She hadn’t been to any of the courses before but after studying Samuel’s videos knew it was the right decision for her.
“It was £12,000 but I kept saying to Shy I know from this point our lives are going to change. I knew it because you see all the proof with Samuel’s videos.”
Charlotte, who has a legal background, was ‘technically’ working her dream job, while Shy was employed by a fashion label. Quitting their jobs was risky, they admit, recognising that it is not something their guru would advise. But it gave them the hunger to succeed, says Charlotte.
“We always wanted to live a lifestyle where we were happy and comfortable and to [build] generational wealth. Then when we realised with property, we could take it there. We had to take the risks. It was a no brainer for us.”
The possibility of it not working out for them was never on their horizon.
“I always say failure is not an option and if it doesn’t work, there’s a reason it hasn’t worked. Analyse why it hasn’t and go straight back to it,” says Shy.
After completing some online training, they both attended the Deal Selling Masterclass.
“As we’d already done the training, one of the mentors said to me have some deals ready if you’ve got any.
“It was just such good energy. We loved it and that was when we ended up selling our first deal on the first day,” recalls Charlotte.
The transaction involved a high spec, five-bed HMO and brought in a finder’s fee of £2,000, bolstering their belief that they could carve out a career for themselves in property.
“I’m very optimistic as well. I think that’s why we took that leap of just leaving our jobs because we’re very big on if you want to achieve something go full force and you’ll achieve it,” says Shy.
Land deal has an asking price of £3m
Charlotte and Shy also secured their rent-to-SA at the Deal Selling Masterclass through another academy member who invited them to joint venture with her.
The smart, terraced house is in the centre of Birmingham, which made the proposal an especially attractive one as their office is just a five-minute drive away. The pair went to view the house and agreed to take it on immediately.
They have been amazed by how much money it has already made. In August, the profit from renting out the furnished accommodation for short stays was £1,600 which is the equivalent of many people’s full-time salaries, Charlotte points out.
For Shy it felt surreal going from watching Samuel’s videos at work to now doing it for real every day.
They realised on the training that they could network while learning about how to find good deals and sell them, as well as how to become compliant and build up an investors’ list.
That meant getting comfortable with the uncomfortable, as Samuel Leeds encourages his students to become. For Charlotte particularly that was a challenge initially. At one point she stood up at one of the courses to talk about some deals which she was selling, even though naturally she would shy away from taking centre stage.
“One of the things that’s amazing about Samuel’s courses is that you have the opportunity to stand up and speak. I was a bit cheeky and said I’ve got two deals. I don’t like standing up and speaking but I did it.
“After that, when Samuel mentioned the success I’d had, and that I joined the academy blind, there was a queue of people waiting to get my contact details.
“I would say for people who are shy and don’t want to do something like that you just need to go for it.”
Together, they have now attended a host of networking events and messaged hundreds of people on LinkedIn to find buyers for their deals.
“We’ve also reached out on a one-to-one [level]. As Samuel says, you never know who around you has got money to invest. A lot of our connections are from people who we’ve known for years,” Shy comments.
One of the investment propositions they are offering currently is on a three-acre plot of land which a friend is selling.
“The asking price is around £3m and that’s through someone I’ve known for the past seven years. I would never have thought that’s the position they were in,” he adds.
Their role is to be matchmakers. They appraise the site, look at the figures involved and then find an investor to buy the land. If successful, they pick up an introduction fee. Clients have a 14-day cooling off period during which they can change their mind and get a refund.
As a member of the Property Investors Academy Charlotte has access to contracts, along with unlimited mentoring. She and Shy have now sold a range of investment opportunities from small rent-to-rents right up to larger land and development deals.
In addition to LinkedIn which has put them in touch with business owners and land buyers, they have also used platforms like Facebook to find new customers.
Charlotte says: “We have investors messaging us, ‘Do you have something in Bristol, Birmingham?’ and then straight away, ‘Add me to your mailing list. We always get that. We go to networking events and meet people. Even our friends and family say, ‘Oh, I want to get involved. Can we have a meeting?’
They have already reached the stage where the demand is outstripping their supply. Co-deal sourcing has provided them with another way of doing business.
Charlotte defines it as bringing together two companies. One has the investor and the other the deal and then they split the finder’s fee when it is sold.
She adds: “At the moment our investor list is just growing more and more each day. We have investors who want deals up north or down south. Of course, we try our best to get to viewings, but co-deal sourcing is brilliant where for example someone’s not compliant. They find us a deal in Liverpool, and we’ve got an investor waiting for a deal in Liverpool. We collaborate and then we’ve both benefited amazingly from it.”
They also have investors looking for opportunities in the Scottish borders to purchase below market value properties with the potential to produce a healthy return. So again, teaming up with a co-deal sourcer is a good solution for them.
There are advantages too from being able to do business with other academy members because they have undergone the same training. Charlotte and Shy know, therefore, that they can trust them.
‘I had a wobble – then we sold three deals!’
Changing direction to become professionals in the property industry has not all been plain sailing. Charlotte confesses to having experienced a ‘wobble’ early on when they were still learning the ropes.
“It was in the first month. We’d sold the first deal and then we were waiting to get another one and we were trying really hard.
“Because we’d quit our jobs, I was getting stressed, thinking oh gosh, how are we going to pay our bills? We had some savings, so we were ok, but I had a bit of a cry. It was funny. I had that day, then that week we sold three deals. So, it was like I had a wobble for no reason, but it happens. It is difficult when you just take the risk and try to be a business owner.
“Shy corrects me sometimes. I say if and he says no, when.”
There is still seven months to do on the academy training. Then the duo will be hoping to move into property developing, using the income from their deal sourcing activities. They have already discussed a possible joint venture with two fellow students.
Charlotte says: “We’re going to visit their projects up north, so again it’s another example of how amazing the academy is to connect. If we want to do a large-scale development, there’s people on the academy we know we can go to straight away and they’re like, let’s go.”
Some of their clients have also indicated they are open to a JV in future.
The highlight of their journey so far came this month when they sold a clutch of deals in quick succession. Some they pulled off with others and some they sold themselves.
“We sold five in the space of a day or two. In 17 hours, we made £12,000.” Shy interjects that this was when they were having a tough week.
The speed of their progress has taken them both by surprise. One of their targets was to be interviewed by Samuel for Winners on a Wednesday this year. With that one ticked off already, they are grateful to their mentor for helping them achieve their ambitions.
Shy sums up the difference property has made to his life: “I was on £21K last year, so to see it going from £21K for the year to £35K in three months is insane. That’s just from deal selling. I can’t believe we’ve done it so quickly.”
Charlotte is grateful to Samuel for providing the academy. “It’s such a positive environment. Everyone has that energy that they can be a property millionaire.”
Charlotte and Shy’s tips
- It’s not going to be all smooth sailing. If it was easy everyone would be business owners. You have to keep pushing yourself.
- Resilience and education are so important if you are to succeed in property.
- Having belief is essential. Everything we want to achieve we know we can do.
Samuel Leeds’ verdict
“These guys are a great partnership. What they’ve achieved over the last few months is incredible. They’ve also got a rent-to-rent deal that’s bringing in a very good income. They’re a massive asset to the academy and I’m really proud of what they’ve done. I’m excited to see them continue to progress.”
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