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Up until 2012, Iain was working in the corporate world running a marketing business, but then he made the decision to change the direction his life was going in.
With no capital and significant debts he started Rooms, his letting agency and property company which offers hands free property investment, property management, franchise opportunities in the lettings business, and houses his own investment portfolio.
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Investing Strategies
Iain’s main focus is on growing the franchise of his HMO letting agency – Rooms.life
Any profits from that are then available for him to grow his own HMO portfolio, which obviously feeds back into the letting agency in the way of management fees.
He’s also offering an end-to-end sourcing and project management service to hands-off investors, which allows him to offer services to a national clientele and create a further pipeline for the lettings business.
Biggest Success
The largest property that Iain now manages is one that he’s purchasing as a lease option. It didn’t require him to put any of his own money into it, it’s secured on a 10 year commercial lease with an option to buy it at the end, and it’s always fully tenanted due to the work he’s done transforming it into a luxury HMO.
Biggest Difficulty
Iain learnt a real lesson in focus on a large deal in London that he bought and intended to develop himself.
Unfortunately he got some poor opinions during the analysis phase and ended up with a much lower potential GDV than he’d initially expected and couldn’t raise any development finance on it.
Thankfully, he was able to secure planning permission and sell it on without losing any money, but it was a very close call and has taught him to have multiple exit routes on every deal.
What’s Your Favourite Book?
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The E-Myth – Michael E. Gerber
Negotiation Genius – Deepak Malhotra & Max Bozeman
Iain English’s Links & Resources
Rooms.life – Discover more about Iain’s HMO property management business and the franchise opportunities available in your area.
Email Iain – Got a question or looking for some advice? Get in touch with Iain here.