TOM'S STORY
From humble beginnings where Tom worked in his dream job as a Video Editor in the Television Industry he has since entered the world of entrepreneurship, working his way up within the finance and investment industry and building a property empire in the millions, designing bespoke lending products and moulding existing property investment strategies around his own investment criteria.
WHERE IT ALL STARTED
From an early age, I always had a passion for Television Production. In my early teens I'd be creating skateboarding videos with my friends with the hope that one day, I would be travelling the world producing videos for a living. After leaving University, with nothing more than 3 years of theory education, I was finding it impossible to get the job I wanted and so, like many, I had to work in the hospitality industry while I continued my dream of working in TV. It took me 5 years since leaving Uni before I landed a full time role as a Junior Video Editor for a Sky TV Channel. Unfortunately though, it didn't last long, as 18 months later, the channel went into administration and I was left looking for a job again. This time though, with some good multi skilled experience behind me, I was able to arrange more than 20 job interviews within a few weeks and subsequently being offered a job as a Camera Operator and Broadcast Video Editor for a Production Company who specialise in Live Motorsport Coverage. Finally, the hard work had paid off!
THE FLICK OF THE SWITCH
I spent a good 5 years working for the Production Company where I experienced some wonderful times, travelling to the States and Asia, having my name on TV credits daily, across the world, but I started to feel as though something was missing. Why was I traveling so much and then coming home to gas bills that I couldn't afford? I had struggled for years to get into this position and now I was questioning the entire thing. Was this really it for the rest of my life? I had a fantastic position within a reputable company but was I meant to accept that and struggle financially forever?
A NEW DAWN
The time came to set my sites on a new, bigger goal. I could not and did not want to spend the rest of my life working for somebody else, while struggling to make ends meet. This is when I found the world of Property Investing and Entrepreneurship.
Remember that it took me 5 years after leaving University, to get my first full time position in TV. Well that's called persistence, determination and belief. I took those same ethics and decided to start a new path...
THE HURDLES
Entrepreneurs love a challenge and to solve problems. If you don't have problems, then you aren't moving forward! There are too many hurdles to mention in this brief bio, so I suppose they'll be revealed in detail in one of my future book releases. But like many, my main issue was that I was starting off with £0. My bank account was empty and I wanted to build a portfolio. Of course, we are told to raise finance from other investors and get creative, but how do we get creative in an industry where everyone seems to be doing the same thing? The way I saw it was that too many people were teaching, raising private finance for and investing in 2/3 bed houses, refurbishing them, renting them out and then refinancing. Yes, this strategy has it's place, it's a fantastic way to invest in property, but how was I going to stand out in such a competitive market? How was I going to find deals and raise finance, in a world where every man and his dog are buying small houses to renovate? I needed to think differently, think outside the box, think BIGGER!
THINKING BIG
Of course, I was starting with no money, so it made no difference for me to look at 2 bedroom houses worth £60,000 or multi million pound properties, I couldn't afford either.
I then started to think about a strategy that I'd heard about, where, if you buy a property at a large enough discount, the lenders will lend against the actual value of the property rather than the discounted purchase price, thus there is a possibility that they would lend up to 100% and this would mean that you wouldn't need a deposit. Naturally though, I was starting to think big! I had been admiring the large apartment buildings and wondering how I can invest in one of those. Surely if I can buy one of them, with 100% lending, this is something outside of the box that no other investor was doing and therefore, it'd increase my chances of raising any additional finance required.
THE SOLUTION
Taking into account that I knew I wanted to invest in larger apartment blocks, I knew that lenders were willing to lend up to 100% if I bought at a big enough discount and I knew that no one else was doing this. So, after speaking with A LOT of narrow-minded brokers, who like to do everything by the book and told me many times that lenders 'do it this way', rather than trying to help me find a solution. I managed to find a broker who accepted the challenge of finding a lender to support my crazy idea.
The pitch was 'simple'. We would find apartment blocks and buy them as a single acquisition, where we'd be buying at a discount as we'd be buying in bulk. However, we would then split the titles in order to create the additional value and the lenders would lend against the higher split value, rather than the lower purchase price, on completion. Therefore giving us the potential of 100% lending on Day1!
IMPLEMENT!
A few weeks later, my broker came back to me with some AMAZING NEWS! He had secured a lender who were willing to support my idea and we could get started immediately.
As they say, 'the rest was history'. But for me... I'm just getting started!
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