Two Property Investors Academy students make over £14K in a week!!
Business partners Lewis Dawson and Mel Cox earned £14,500 in one week from packaging and selling deals to investors. It was during the pandemic that Lewis got started in property and then Mel, an ex-employee of his, joined him. They became members of Samuel Leeds’ academy and are now benefiting from using other strategies.
‘The network on the academy is incredible’
Lewis ran a marketing company for six years but always had a passion for property. When Covid came along, he started looking into investing in real estate.
He bought his first buy-to-let – a small flat in Newcastle-upon-Tyne where he is based – followed by a detached house which he lived in for a short period before renting it out.
After this, he purchased the estate of a deceased person with the intention of renovating it, using his many connections with builders in the area.
It was at that point that Lewis became aware of Samuel Leeds and the different methods available to him to maximise the profit on his investment. One option, he hadn’t considered before was renting rooms out individually, rather than having a single tenant.
Lewis was sent a link to Amelia Asante’s interview with Samuel which was filmed for his popular Winners on a Wednesday series on YouTube. He sent it to Mel, urging her to watch it and then booked himself on a Property Investors Crash Course in Leeds last December.
After attending the crash course, he made up his mind to go into property full time, giving Mel the choice to either stay in her job or join him.
Mel, who was working as his head of operations, was decisive in her response.
“I said, ‘Let’s take the risk and go into property. I quit my job and now I’m his business partner.”
About a month and a half ago she went into property full time too, from having had no knowledge or experience of it previously.
Lewis and Mel hit the ground running to get their business established.
From being on the Property Investors Academy, they learnt how to source and sell lucrative investment opportunities. As a result, they have just picked up a whopping £14,500 from fees in one week after selling four deals together, says Lewis.
They have also recently secured a rent-to-rent agreement and have another deal in the pipeline to buy a piece of land next to a caravan park. If they get planning permission, they will either build on the site to provide serviced accommodation or sell it off.
Potentially there is ‘big money’ in it for them but like with any development it is ‘slow money,’ because it takes time to go through the process.
Luckily, Lewis has the rental income from the houses he has bought which amounts to around £3,000 a month, plus they both have earned money from deal selling.
Lewis joined the academy just after completing the Property Investors Deal Selling Masterclass, while Mel signed up at the beginning of March.
They say becoming educated in property has accelerated their development.
Lewis describes the network on the academy as incredible.
“I had a few coaches who were very successful in my previous industry. I realised by coming to Samuel’s crash course and the first deal sourcing event that if you get in with the guys and girls who are doing what you want to do, you’re going to be able to progress way faster.
“Then, when we came back from the deal selling event, I booked us on as many networking events as possible. We met people in Birmingham, Newcastle and all across the north-east. That’s what made the biggest difference.
“Once people started seeing us doing well on our social media it gave a lot of people belief and it all just came from the network and the academy.”
Lewis cites the example of his buy, refurbish, refinance venture which came about through the connections he had built up with auction teams in the north-east. Two of these links were with men who used to work for his company. When they realised their former boss was in property, they started to offer him lots of deals.
One was for a property which failed to sell when it went under the hammer. Lewis was given the chance to purchase it. However, he only had one day to come to an agreement as it was being auctioned off again the next day.
He managed to secure the property for £71,000, spending just £5,000 on the refurbishment on top of that as he did a lot of the work himself.
His training gave him the knowledge he needed to then turn it into a four-bed HMO.
“I rented it out to three of my ex-employees which was handy and then we refinanced on it. It cost me about £30,000 all in with the deposit and refurb. I managed to pull out £33,000 from that deal and now it’s generating £1,400 a month.”
The house, which is ten minutes away from the centre of Newcastle, was valued at £115,000 once it had been improved. There was an added advantage as the money he pulled out was tax-free.
Their social media manager publicised the deal on TikTok. To their amazement, the post attracted a staggering one million views.
‘We sold three deals in a day!’
Lewis and Mel agree with their mentor that it is important to have people around you who are rooting for you and are like-minded.
“Environment is everything,” says Lewis. “That’s what I love about the courses as well because they come round so regularly. If you feel you’re hitting a bit of a lull you go to a course and you’re straight back up again.
“And you build that relationship up with people on the academy. It’s like going back and seeing friends again.”
Mel and Lewis have a list of investors who they have found through their contacts on the Property Investors Academy and going to networking events.
“To start with you don’t have any investors and you have a couple of deals come through. Then you have loads of investors and no deals. Now we get thrown deals all the time but haven’t got enough investors for the deals. So, we can always do with more investors,” Lewis is keen to point out.
Mel, who is based in Sunderland, says they have a good relationship with estate agents and obtain a lot of off market deals.
Lewis describes her as the superstar when it comes to organisation.
“I’m on the ground, going to the viewings and spending time with the builders. Mel puts everything in place and tells me where I can and can’t go.”
He regularly views properties for fellow academy members who live too far away to do it themselves. Other investors haven’t got the time or know-how to find a deal. Part of the service Lewis and Mel offer includes negotiating a good price on a property.
Being a deal sourcer has had its problems. One morning they woke up to the realisation that they had sold three deals in a day which caused them an administrative headache. Teamwork helped them solve the issue, says Mel.
“We were like how do we handle this? I was typing up all the contracts and sending them out to each investor. Lewis was talking to the estate agent. It is very stressful, but the rewards afterwards outweigh this.”
Lewis says they were under pressure to get everything in order quickly as the investors had already paid them their fees. They were also keen to provide a good customer service experience to encourage the investors to use their services again.
Mel and Lewis also discovered that clients can be reluctant to part with their money. So now they ask for a finder’s fee before giving out all the information they have about a deal. Mel says they have trained their investors to know that unless they pay upfront, the deal will be offered to the next customer who shows an interest and puts their money on the table.
One customer lost out on a deal because he didn’t pay the fee straight away. He soon came back to them for another deal which they had emailed out to their list.
All their investors are offered a 14-day cooling off period to consider whether they still want to go ahead.
Mel and Lewis were taught on the academy the need to get paid before the completion of a property sale to reflect the hard work they have put into finding the deal.
“We’ve made the mistakes. We trusted investors when we maybe shouldn’t have done and we’ve learnt that lesson,” Lewis admits.
They both wax lyrical about their training, believing it has been fundamental to their success. Lewis says he loved the Deal Selling Masterclass.
“It gets you on the phone. We’re quite comfortable with that anyway because Mel’s always been on the phone, and I’ve always been face-to-face with customers. But it is so streamlined. You go from having a lead to being taught how you package that and get it ready for an investor. It’s amazing.”
Mel’s goal was to earn as much as she used to in her old job within six months.
“We’ve just made half my yearly salary in a week. I couldn’t believe it when it was actually in the account. I’ve never seen that much money!
“It’s who you know and what you know but without the academy and the network we would have never been able to get where we are today.”
They have now set themselves a target to clinch some rent-to-serviced accommodation deals in Europe. They were due to fly out to Portugal to view properties when Samuel gave them their moment in the spotlight by interviewing them for Winners on a Wednesday.
It is this ambition which keeps them motivated. Lewis also wants to be able to help his family, including his father who worked as a bricklayer until he was 70.
“That’s where I get the passion from. Also, I want to be on a beach somewhere making money while I’m sleeping.”
Lewis and Mel’s tips
- Mel: Get educated and network. Samuel’s energy is amazing. When you come to an event you feel super re-charged. You’ve got that constant support and the mentoring calls. It’s great having that network there.
- Lewis: Your network is your net worth. Samuel has got so much on and yet he’s still on the calls every Monday night. That’s massive, as is the team he has created.
Samuel Leeds’ verdict
“It’s good to also work with people who are already having a bit of success in property, like Lewis was. They’re already going to do well on their own, but what we can do is help them grow faster and bigger and have fun doing it. Both Lewis and Mel have worked extremely hard and deserve their success.”
Instagram https://instagram.com/platinumpropert…
Tik tok https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMLCy6RNu/
Investor link https://mailchi.mp/bb9a6a02dace/prope…
Website www.platinumpropertydevelopments.co.uk
Share this video: https://youtu.be/QzyKWRCDMwE
🎥 How to build a property portfolio from scratch in 7 DAYS: https://youtu.be/RWEkj1y8XKs
📖 My favourite book: https://amzn.to/39VcYLa
❓ Have a question about property? Join my Property Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/77861…
🗣️FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samuelleeds…
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/77861…
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialSamu…
Twitter: https://twitter.com/samuel_leeds
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuel-le…