Soldier joins ranks of Property Investors’ students who have become financially free!

Soldier joins ranks of Property Investors’ students who have become financially free!

Soldier Nik Dhimal turned up at the Property Investors Crash Course with just £10 in his pocket. A year later and the 22-year-old is making a profit of around £2,500 a month from rent-to-rent deals after signing up for further online training with the company. Nik has even set up a small team of managers to help him run his business – all while holding down a demanding full-time job in the British Army.

Nik takes a gamble to get his first rent-to-rent

Originally from Nepal, Nik came to the UK in 2017 when he enlisted as a soldier. Since then he has completed tours in Kenya and Afghanistan.

It was not long after returning from Afghanistan that the young soldier became interested in property. Nik was browsing videos when he came across Samuel Leeds’ Financial Freedom Challenge in Blackpool. Wanting to find out more, he watched a few of Samuel’s other videos and then enrolled on the two-day Property Investors Crash Course in December 2019.

At that point Nik had just £10 to his name because he was helping his family in Nepal to repay a business loan which had drained his earnings.

Despite this, he remained positive. “The way I put it, even in my worst situation I was doing my best. Financially I was struggling but I was learning about property and self-developing.

“Straight from that course I was a different guy. Before that I’d only got puzzle pieces from watching the videos. After the course Samuel helped me set the pieces and make a good picture from the puzzle. I got the tools and the strategy. I also had like-minded people around me. We motivated each other to go for our dream.”

Nik thoroughly researched his subject. He read Samuel’s books and watched his videos about rent-to-rent deals on HMOs (house shares). He also studied Samuel’s interviews with successful Property Investors’ students for his Winners on a Wednesday YouTube series – focusing in particular on entrepreneurs with HMO portfolios.

“I watched those videos again and again to find out how I could get my first property,” Nik recalls.

Then he started calling agents and going on viewings. Initially, he received rejections, but success came when he watched one of Samuel’s videos again and found a script which he was using in his pitches. Nik used that to obtain a rent-to-rent deal on a property in London. The only problem was he had no money to pay the deposit or first month’s rent, so he took out a loan for £9,000.

“Friends told me not to do it because it was too risky, but I really wanted to start this property journey.”

As he was new to the business, Nik had to use all his skills of persuasion to get the deal over the line. “I had three or four meetings with the agent before managing to convince him to give me the property. I’d done some sales training in how to persuade people and what kind of words to use. I also mentioned that I would take care of the property and inspections.”

It was no mean feat considering that English was his second language and that he was still only 21 at the time. Right up to the completion of the deal the agent was still having doubts, but it went ahead in January 2020. The agreement was that he would pay the landlord a guaranteed monthly rent of £2,200 and then rent out the accommodation at a higher rate. Within a week he had found tenants for all the rooms. The agent was so impressed that he offered Nik a job.

“I was getting £4,000 from this property in Uxbridge and my profit after all my costs was £950 a month.”

But then the Covid-19 pandemic hit and the tenants in two rooms moved out because they couldn’t afford the rent. Suddenly Nik was faced with a crisis. He solved it by offering weekly and monthly short-term lets and found new tenants after advertising the rooms on SpareRoom. It enabled him to pay the rent and the bills, so that he was breaking even at least.

Nik admits he had a ‘little voice’ in his head telling him that what he was doing was too risky, and he worried about not being able to pay the rent.

“It was my wife who said don’t worry, just give it a go. You came this far, don’t give up, so I continued.”

The cashflow soon returned and within two months he had secured two more rent-to-rent deals. He managed to let all the rooms in a fortnight and in October 2020 took on another property. All four properties are in London and were negotiated with different landlords and agents.

“I got a good reference from the first property because I was paying the rent, even during Covid, and from there I got another property.

“From the four properties I’m making a minimum of £600 and a maximum of £900 per month per property, so that’s about £2,500 profit after costs per month.”

Property Investors’ online training is ‘wonderful’

Nik signed up for the Samuel 365 programme and the Deal Finding Extravaganza, both of which are online, to increase his knowledge of the housing market. He describes the training as ‘absolutely wonderful.’

“You have a one-to-one with a mentor and you have online courses, as well as a few other options depending what you’re looking for in property. I’ve also been on a webinar with Samuel. Overall, it’s like a candy shop for me with all these strategies that you can pick.”

Hard work has also been a factor in his success. Mostly, he works regular hours from 9am to 5pm, but has to be ready to be called up at any time for duty. Juggling the demands of his work and property investing has, therefore, been challenging.

Initially, he and his wife were driving from their home in Wales to London every weekend to check on his properties. Now two managers, who were previously his tenants, assist him.

“They said they didn’t want an income. They just wanted to work with me to learn about property. I said OK but you need to have the same working spirit that I have,” Nik explains.

One of the managers looks after the maintenance of his rent-to-rent properties and goes on viewings, while the other one is responsible for referencing tenants and checking documents. This is freeing up Nik’s time to look for new deals. By March 2021, his goal is to have 10 rent-to-rent properties which will be managed by his team, allowing him to take on buy, refurbish, refinance and rent projects.

His reason for going into property, he says, stems from seeing his family’s business in Nepal struggling after his father and brother took out a huge loan to take it to the next level.

“Unfortunately, they weren’t able to take that business to a new level and were struggling to pay the loan.”

Helping them with the repayments left Nik in financial difficulties too. “I know how that feels and I never want to be in that same situation again in my whole life. That’s what motivated me.”

When Nik borrowed money himself to get started in property, it was tough mentally, but he watched motivational videos on how to control his mind and take a risk. In doing so he also ignored the advice of some of his army colleagues.

“They said I should just focus on my job, but I was unhappy. I was looking for something more to help my family. There is a risk in everything, so I thought I’ll take this risk and whatever happens that’s it.”

Nik’s tips

The secret to my success is being hungry for goals. You need to set a target and just follow it.

If you’re just starting out in property and haven’t got a lot of money, the main thing is to surround yourself with like-minded people.

The Property Investors Crash Course is also online. Just go over there and log in. You’ll find out a lot about property and get clear tools and a strategy for what to do next in your property journey.

Samuel Leeds’ verdict

“I’m incredibly impressed by what Nik has achieved so far. He had just about every excuse going for him not to succeed in property, but didn’t give up, even during the pandemic. He showed patience and adapted his strategy with his first property to make it profitable again. That gave him confidence to get another three properties and he is now financially independent.

“The fact he’s got his wife behind him, encouraging him, is such a massive blessing as well. I’ve no doubt that by 30 Nik is going to be a millionaire, if not way before then.”

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