The Samuel Leeds Academy taught Leo Simpson everything he needed to know to become a professional property entrepreneur. It also helped him to recover his equilibrium after a family bereavement. Since then, the father-of-five has gone from one ambitious scheme to the next in his quest to give his children the best future he can. One of his plans is to convert an old bank into an aparthotel and he has made £36,000 in just six weeks from selling investment deals – not to mention raising more than £1m in investment finance.
‘We flipped a house and made £70,000’
Leo’s property journey began in 2017 when his wife purchased a house on a mortgage. They lived in it while they did it up and then sold it.
“We flipped it and made £70,000. So, I knew that there was money in property. I had my own businesses. I've been an entrepreneur for years. Then we bought a house on the Isle of Lewis. We put in an offer 35 per cent below market value and secured a property up there.”
The house was rundown, and unlike their initial venture this one was more complex.
“I didn't know how to do out properties. With the first one we did we just restored all the Victorian features and brought out what was already there. But this was a back to brick refurb.”
Searching online for advice, Leo came across Samuel Leeds’ YouTube channel and watched one of his videos on property investing. Afterwards Leo attended the £1 crash course and then joined the academy.
He had saved some money for the refurbishment of his house in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, but instead chose to spend it on his education.
It was a great decision, he says, because he made back the £12,000 academy fee very quickly.
“I put the money in thinking I’ll put this down, and learn how to save £12,000 on the
project refurb. That's how I justified it.”
It was one of the mentors who told him his mindset would change and he would make a lot more than just his money back. His prediction proved to be right.
“Two and a half years later I've got a new family, learnt a ton and I'm doing much bigger stuff now,” says Leo.
Bank apartment scheme is projected to make £30,000 a month profit
Apart from earning the equivalent of an average annual salary in six weeks through packaging and selling deals, Leo has raised more than £1m in finance.
The key to persuading investors to lend cash is to build your brand by putting yourself out there and gaining trust, he believes.
The first time he raised funds was when Samuel invited him to give some training on digital marketing on the weekly Mastermind Zoom call with academy students. At the time Leo had a digital marketing company and was well placed to give advice.
After the session a property investor contacted him.
“I raised almost six figures from speaking up on the Mastermind, showing I knew my stuff, and that I was an investable person.”
The businessman continued joining in the Monday night calls. “I had a thing about speaking up at every single Mastermind. Every time I'm at an event I stand up. It’s [about] getting your face out there.
“There are lots of people in the room with lots of money. If you're speaking up constantly, you're going to get noticed and they're going to start trusting you.”
Leo made sure he talked about his projects and was transparent, adopting the same approach with his first investor.
“He was asking me about what projects I had in the pipeline. I could tell that he was looking for something to invest in. Lots of people have money but they just want to JV (joint venture) with somebody. They want their hand held with something or they haven't got the time.”
Leo told him he had a property in need of a back to brick refurbishment and that he was trying to raise money to replace the roof on the porch after discovering dry rot.
They had an idea for a holiday complex, but eventually Leo flipped the house. It gave him confidence and a taste for more ambitious schemes. He bought some land in the same area and drew up plans for a holiday let. In the end, he sold the plot and made a profit, but decided to carry on seeking development opportunities.
The bank, which he is hoping to take control of on a lease option, is in Stroud in the Cotswolds and only about five minutes from his home. The proposed agreement will give him the exclusive right to buy the former bank any time in the next two years for £425,000.
As part of the arrangement, Leo will pay £10,000 a year to lease the building but will only buy it if he can obtain planning permission to redevelop it.
Two academy mentors suggested he pitch a lease option to the owners. The bank was originally up for sale for £525,000, but the price dropped after it had been on the market for eight months without a sale. Leo also negotiated the lease down from £39,000 a year.
Once the agreement is formally legalised, the entrepreneur can proceed with his plans to convert the rear of the premises into seven apartments to be run as an aparthotel.
There are two titles to the property which will allow him to sell the front part to raise the development finance.
“You’ve got to put down 20 to 30 per cent to raise the development finance. It’ll be a no money down deal.”
Leo adds: “It's all subject to planning, so it's all if, buts and maybes on the SA (serviced accommodation) side of things but we should be looking at profiting about £30,000 a month.”
By structuring the deal as a lease option, the risk element has been removed in so far as he is not left with a redundant bank which cannot be developed if planning consent is refused.
‘We managed to secure a £500,000 a year contract for social housing’
Leo never imagined buying a bank, but as soon as he started to ‘think bigger,’ his real estate business took off.
“You come into the academy. You're learning all these new strategies. As soon as I nailed down what I wanted to do, I started attracting people around me who wanted to do bigger stuff as well. This year we've just taken off.”
The lease option strategy is providing a rich seam for Leo as he continues to go from strength to strength.
He is in negotiation with a landlord in the Southampton area who wants to offload five of his properties.
“For personal reasons, the owner needs £300,000. “As long as we can get that £300,000 quickly then we can take potentially his whole portfolio off him and maybe buy one a year.”
Leo is hopeful after viewing the properties that he can get them on lease options.
The projected gross development value of each of the five properties is around £250,000, amounting to £1.25m in total.
It is a win-win situation for both Leo and the landlord. If the latter were to sell his portfolio in one go, he would be clobbered with capital gains tax. By releasing them in stages, he can save money.
Leo can agree to buy one a year over the next six or seven years, but then in the meantime use the cashflow from renting out some of the accommodation for social housing.
“Social housing is a priority for us with this portfolio. Then a couple of them will be HMOs.
“We've got some good relationships going on with social housing providers in Southampton. We were trying to help this guy who's got a terminal illness sell his £3m block of 24 flats in a prime location in Southampton. We managed to secure a £500,000 a year contract for social housing and he's getting £24,000 a month.”
As his fortunes have risen, one of the challenges for Leo and his business partner Adam Barker has been learning when to reject a deal.
“You’ve got to learn to say no because it's so tempting to say yes to everything. We get so many deals come across our table. Once you've had some successful projects, it's so hard to say no.”
However, they are aware of the danger of over leveraging themselves and need to assess whether the opportunity works ‘location and numbers wise.’
“Some of them we don't want to pass on, but we have to and that’s happening a lot.”
Their sourcing fee ranges from £3,000 for a rent-to-serviced accommodation deal to £5,000 for a typical buy, refurbish, refinance opportunity.
“My background has been in serviced accommodation for the past five years, so I get passed a lot of rent-to-SA deals,” Leo explains.
One bespoke client wants to buy ten houses. “We've found one. We're project managing it, so we're going to get an extra £5,000. It’s a £50,000 refurb, and we're getting ten per cent of that.
“We've got this exclusive relationship with him where we're his private property shopper. We've agreed that if we've got any that come along that we can't take on ourselves then we'll pass them on to him.”
Whilst deal sourcing is not their focus, it has proved to be extremely lucrative. The BRR deals they have packaged and sold have enabled the investors to pull out all their money.
Leo was able to tap into the academy network and take advantage of mentoring calls to get to a position where he is now financially free.
Having transferable skills in sales and marketing also helped. Leo says one of his Instagram reels received eight million views and he consistently attracts millions more on the platform.
“That's massive for getting investors because it's just about being trusted. The more exposure you've got, the more you're building your brand.”
‘All our dreams are coming true’
The hardest moment for Leo in his journey was when he found out during his training that his 48-year-old mother had passed away after being diagnosed with cancer.
“That was hard. She was too young to go. She was a beautiful woman.”
Leo went through a ‘rough patch,’ not wanting to attend networking events or take part in the Mastermind calls. He is grateful to Samuel and academy mentors for supporting him through his bereavement, constantly calling to check how he was.
“They really helped me get through it and get back out. I’ve become so resilient from that. I think I can go through anything and it's not going to stop me.
“I'm more determined now than ever to give my children the best future. It's
been hard for us as a family but property has definitely helped. It’s taken away that financial burden for us.”
Leo has now given up his digital marketing business to concentrate on his new career, while his wife has left her job. She is expecting their sixth child in six years.
While her husband is out looking for new deals and properties to buy, she is home schooling their children. Financial literacy will be one of the subjects on the curriculum and they plan to bring in private tutors.
“My life is absolutely transformed through property. All our dreams are coming true.”
“The fulfilment part for me and the purpose is the children, being a Christian and giving back,” concludes Leo.
Leo’s tips
- The key to raising finance is to build your brand by putting yourself out there and gaining trust.
Samuel Leeds
“I’m so glad Leo persevered because when he came back, he came back stronger. He’s done very well and it’s inspiring how he and his wife are working as a unit to give themselves a good life.”
