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Maximising Savings While Growing Your Property Portfolio · The Property Unleashed Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Best ways to start property investing when you have no money.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: So a lot of people say to me Mark, I want to get started, I want to build a property empire, I want to build a property business, but I have no money.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: And first and foremost, I will say that, yes, you will be told you can do no money down.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: You will be told you need a little money when it comes to property investing.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: But when it comes to any business, you do need to make sure that you have some money.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: We want to be able to sleep at night.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: We want to be able to make sure that we're going to do things correctly.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Now, whilst it doesn't have to be thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds, you will still need money for marketing.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: You will need money for setting up your businesses.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: You will need money for setting up, potentially, your properties.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: If you're looking at doing strategies like rent to rent, you might have to put a few quid into the property to bring it up to a better standard.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Now, the most I've ever spent on a rent-to-rent deal is £900.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: That's on HMO deals Service accommodation.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: I have put a little bit more money into, but that's because that's the nature of that business HMOs.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: It's normally a couple of hundred quid for some room dressings and things like that.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: You can do that very, very cost effectively if you go for pre-existing HMOs, already set up, already licensed, already operating, and look for investors who are savvy, who are putting money into their own assets and, of course, you can maintain it to a top standard.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: If you're looking at buying properties, you need deposits.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: You know you need a whole host of things, but it doesn't necessarily A have to be your money.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: You might be able to work with an investor, b joint venture partner.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: You know what's the difference?
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Well, one is an investor is better, realistically, than a joint venture partner, because an investor will lend you the money to buy the property.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Once you've refinanced the property, you pay them off, you pay them back, they've gone, whereas a joint venture normally is locked into the deal with you.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: It's like a binding contract, it's a bit like getting married.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: So you need to be careful when you're doing those sorts of deals that you understand the difference.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Joint venture partner you need to make sure that you know that person that you're getting into business with.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: But I'm going to cover basically a few top tips here of how you well, save money at the end of the day.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, people say to me I have no money to invest.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: How would you get started?
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: I would say start at the beginning.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Start by saving some money.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Okay, if your plan is to have financial freedom, is to gain financial security for your family, for your future, get you out of that day job.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: You need to be able to control and budget your money now.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Whether you have a lot of money or not is down to you, and there's certain things that you can do to start helping you in that sector.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: So one of those is to start creating your own budget.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: If you have a business, you have a budget.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: You know how much you can spend on systems.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: You know how much you can spend on systems.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: You know how much you can spend on staff.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: You know how much you can spend on marketing.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: You also know how much you need to be bringing in as well, to pay people.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: So you know and you budget for all of these things.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Start budgeting for your own home life.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Okay, right here, right now.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: So get yourself a spreadsheet, just get a pad and pen and start writing out a budget.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: How much can you afford to spend each week on groceries, on shopping, on utilities, on all of those sorts of things.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Okay, how much do you need to live Now, how much do you need to live at a bare minimum, and maybe how much do you need to live if it's comfortable?
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: And then just see if you can start to remove certain things on that budget as well, see if you can cut a few things back a few memberships, a few subscriptions.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Remember short-term pain for long-term gain.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: When I started in property, we cut back on everything.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: You know Sky Television.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: We still had Sky, but we cut it down to the basic package.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: We cut back on a lot of things.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Why?
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Because we didn't have a massive amount of money but we wanted to try and utilize any money that we did have in building our property business, keeping it as cost-effective as possible.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: I took voluntary redundancy so we didn't have a wage coming in, so we couldn't afford it.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: So we had to budget.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: But you need to track it.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: If you don't track it, you'll never know.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's all right, I think, I think we're OK.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: And those little plastic cards, or even your phone or your watch or whatever, you can just tap to pay for things.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Now it's easy to forget what you've spent.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: So make sure you have a budget and make sure you stick to that budget as well.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: You have some very strict rules and of course, you can even budget in a bit of fun money.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: You know, life at the end of the day is all about enjoying and having fun.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: No-transcript.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: The next one I would say is to cut back on unnecessary expenses.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Does your phone bill, or is your phone bill, 50, 60 quid?
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Does it have to be like that?
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Do you have to be on the top tariff?
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Are you actually using all your minutes?
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: If you do, I mean most of it's unlimited now anyway.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: But are you using everything to its full potential, or could you just cut back on things?
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Doesn't mean you have to get rid of them, but maybe you can just cut back on a few bits and bobs.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: And what I would say is, if you haven't done this for a while is, get yourself some bank statements, maybe print off or put on your computer the last six months back and really dial in to what you're spending your money on.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: What are you subscribed to?
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: It may be a couple of quid here, a couple of quid there.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Those will all mount up if you put them into a separate part, rather than paying other people for, potentially, systems or services that you're not even using.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: So make sure that you're looking at this.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Make sure also if you're having takeaways if you're if you just you know you get tired, we all get tired.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: I'll just get a takeaway tonight and then, all of a sudden, you've had two or three takeaways a week.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: That can soon mount up to a lot of money.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Can you cut back on that?
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Do you, on your lunch breaks, go and have a Starbucks or do you go and get a Subway or something?
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Could you actually make some sandwiches or something at home for you to be able to take and eat, just to bring it down?
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: You're not going to do this forever, but I'm just saying to you, if you can budget now, if you can cut back and you can take that money and put it into your own business or even into your own education, it's a massive, massive win for you.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: And you need to be able to do this, to show yourself that not only can you do this now in your own life, where you think you have no money, but also when you do start to make money.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Otherwise, you will lose it and spend it as quickly as you make it.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: So it's very, very important to get these habits in place right now.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: The next thing is look at your utilities.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: If you are a homeowner, if you live on your own, you live with your family already.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: There is some massive, massive energy saving tips that you can do.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Are you with the not the cheapest provider, but the best provider for you what you need and what you want?
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: We spoke about it with the phone bills and things, but your gas, electricity, potentially, your car insurances, any other insurances or covers that you have?
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Are you on the most efficient ones that you could be?
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Do you spend a little bit more now on light bulbs that are LED light bulbs, which should bring your energy bill down slightly, rather than just buying the cheap light bulbs that are costing you a fortune?
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Is there certain thermostats that you could just pay for once now that would help you moderate the heating in your property, in your own house not in your tenant's house, but in your own house to get your utility costs down and help you with all of this and, of course, reduce your waste in energy?
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Not only will you be helping the planet, but you'll also be helping your pocket as well.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: And of course, that brings us on to feeding yourself.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Do you know what I mean?
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: If you've got kids, if you've got a family around you and everything and times are hard, you need to make sure that you know the meals that you're having.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: We have a busy schedule in this household.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: I'm here, there and everywhere, my wife's here, there and everywhere, the kids are here, there and everywhere.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: So trying to pinpoint what we're going to eat when we're going to eat can be very, very tricky.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: I appreciate that and I appreciate that we all have moments like that as well.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: But one thing I will say to you is prep those meals where you can, or have a little whiteboard or something in your kitchen and just jot down what you are going to be eating.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: On those days you might be saying, oh Mark, that's boring.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: You know life's for living and things.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: Of course it is.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: But if you're going to have a takeaway, just mark down one takeaway.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Let's look forward to it, let's make that special, ok, rather than it's just another takeaway.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Just another takeaway, but only have one, rather than potentially three or four or something.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: But make sure that you're prepping your meals.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: You know what it is you're going to be eating before you get on that day, because you're more likely then to eat those meals and try and obviously make them as healthy as you can and enjoyable as you can healthy as you can and enjoyable as you can but budget down to what you're doing so you can get rid of that impulse buying, that impulse purchase of when you're thinking about what you're going to eat and your motivation is particularly low and you're thinking to yourself I can't be bothered to cook, I'm not going to do it, I'm just going to pick up the phone or the app and I'm going to get one of those.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Get rid of that, because by having a plan, sticking to it, you're ticking off your list that you know what you're doing, that you are a winner and, of course, that you can enjoy it.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: And then look for offers as well.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: There's always offers If you go through a few different websites and things.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: If you are going to eat out or get a takeaway or something, try and find, you know, some coupons or some vouchers or something that's a little bit more cost effective for you and take that money, because a lot of the time, the pennies and the pounds that we save we just blow on other things?
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Why?
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: Because we haven't actually put it anywhere.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: So have somewhere to start putting this pot of money that you're going to save up for yourself, as I say, for your own education.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: I have a pot of money that I put aside when I do things, when I take deals on, when I make money, when we make profit.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: That is just for my own education.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: So if I see something or I want to learn something new, it's not a case of, oh, can I afford it.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: It's a case of If I've got that money in that pot, that is exactly what that's for.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: So if you're just starting out and you're thinking to yourself I want to get educated, I want to surround myself with like-minded people, start building your own education pot, your own investing pot, and just put whatever you can, whatever you're saving, into that pot.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: There are some people out there that say to me I have nothing at the end of the month.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: In fact, I have less than nothing.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Well, you need to do this more than anybody else.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Let me just say that again, because you have.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: It's your responsibility at the end of the day.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: I find it absolutely crazy, but I also know that it can be very difficult to do as well.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: When you're so, so bogged down in the weeds of life, everything costs fortune and you're not earning a great deal of money or anything like that.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: I get you, I understand, ok, completely where you're not earning a great deal of money or anything like that.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: I get you, I understand, okay, completely where you're coming from.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: But just start.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Don't have to do all of this, by the way, not at once.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Just take something that you think to yourself.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Do you know what?
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: We used to be terrible with takeaways Okay, just ordering takeaways, because we couldn't be bothered, just get a takeaway, we'll just get a KFC tonight, we'll have this.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Do this, couldn't be bothered, just get a takeaway, we'll just, we'll just get a kfc tonight, we'll have this to this.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: So we'll have this today.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Not only is it obviously not good for your weight waistline, for your uh, for your health, it obviously costs money as well.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: It costs quite a lot of money, but it's just easy, isn't it?
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: And we don't care.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: But what I'm trying to say to you is have that discipline now.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: We try and put that discipline.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: Even though we're doing okay, we still try, try and sometimes, and sometimes we fail, as we all do, but we get back on the horse the next day.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: We try not to have two bad days in a row, but we will try and do that, okay.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: And lastly, as we wrap this one up, what I would say is take the emotion, take the work ethic and everything out of what you're doing and automate it, so the money that you will be saving, have that automatically when you get paid or when money comes through to you going into a separate account a little savings account maybe, something that's a bit better, higher yielding than your average current account but just have it automatically go over.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: Okay, you're not going to touch it, that's just going to sit there and set yourself a target.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: So I speak to some people that want to get started in property, don't know what they're going to be doing, they want to invest in themselves, they want to learn, and I always say to them go back and build up a pot of money so that you can get started on this with money.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: You can never start any business with no money.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Now, of course, you can borrow money to do so as well if you want, but that's entirely up to you.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying go out there and borrow money.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: What I'm saying is do this in a safe way.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Okay, set yourself up for success.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Start these actions now, and it actually becomes a little bit addictive.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: You'll get addicted to seeing that pot going up and even if it's just, you know, 10, 20 pounds a month something really low like that, give yourself a pat on the back if you manage to achieve it.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: If you're not managing to save anything now, then that can do it.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: Some people will be in debt as well.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: So start having a pot for debt.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: You're going to say, well, I see that money going in there, but it's not.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: It's clearing you out of this debt, it's moving you in the right direction.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: What do we want?
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: We want our accounts to be doing that, not going down.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: We want them to be going up, up, up, up and up.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Sometimes, where we start here, we're a lot further down, we're a lot below, we're in debt.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: So we've got to get ourselves up to an even keel.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: But just prove to yourself that you can do so.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Take the actions, take the right steps and just do the exercise.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: Just go through initially, if nothing else, if you only take one thing away from this episode is to go away, check your bank statement and start seeing what you can cut back on.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: I bet you can save probably nearly £100 on just subscriptions and silly little things on its own, and that in turn will make you want to put that money to one side for your future.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: I hope this helps you and I look forward to helping you in future episodes as well.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: If you need any help, then feel free to reach out to us on social media or check out thepropertyunleashedcom, and I'll see you there.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Bye for now.