“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” —Pablo Picasso

It's NEW YEARS EVE! Literally one of my most favourite days of the year ⭐⭐ Time to sit down and set your goals and work out a plan!! It's been my tradition for the last 8-9 years that New Years Eve I review the goals set the year ahead and begin goal setting. I say begin, as, I used to set all goals in one night. Now, I've realised its not so realistic for me to do that... So, today I will make a start and the first week of the NEW YEAR I will continue to refine the high level goals I have set.

For me the most effective way to plan my year is to set high level goals first to cover different areas of life - ie. business, health, lifestyle, family. For example, covering how many properties I would like to buy, what profit level I would like to achieve, what friends I would like to visit and parties I would like to throw and when, how many holidays I would like and where, healthy habits I need to include, etc.

I then separate these goals into what needs to be done each quarter. To improve motivation and to give space to add in goals as they come up I front load my year, aiming to achieve most goals before quarter 4. I then laser focus on a quarter at a time... breaking each quarter into 20 day sprints. This gives roughly a 10 day spill over period if things go a little astray. Building flexibility into the model.

I then set a habit of sitting down each Sunday to do a high level plan of the week ahead, looking in depth at what needs to be done in each day. I then plan each day as part of my Miracle Morning routine by splitting the day into 1 hour slots - usually giving 45mins to do a task and 15min break...

So, if you're a bit stuck or overwhelmed in goal setting. Try the above as a method to get you on your way. This approach really helps you react with flexibility as the year goes on while still keeping your high level goals in sight!

I hope you have an amazing day! Do you do have goal setting tips and tricks? I’d love to know! Drop me a comment below…

Ana ♡

Want to connect? Find me on insta @dr.anaattlee, or why not pop along to a meet up? If you think I can accelerate your journey to your goals get in touch or book a coaching session!

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” ~Buddha

As an academic (from environmental sciences) affirmations were not such a stretch for me… why? Well, as part of my PhD I studied a bit about what makes people volunteer for conservation and make a HUGE difference to the cause… and later I followed up with research that looked into how impacts could create real world impact. This in turn ended up with me (and my colleague) actually advising universities and governments across the globe on creating impact in a company that has now spun out and is run by Prof. Mark Reed - www.fasttrackimpact.org - check it out for awesomeness 💻🎯📈. The answer resoundingly showed that those that thought they could have a massive impact and do the things they were doing were the ones that actually did have impact. I was convinced - the evidence to me was clear, “whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t, you’re right”(said by Henry Ford). I mean, that is amazing all you need to do to change your life, or do something amazing is just believe you can! AFFIRMATIONS are the way! Well… for me anyway!! Sceptical? Try it!! What on earth have you to lose? But do try it properly and fully! Give yourself a 30 day challenge - start the day every day from this minute with affirmations - either the video I have included above or your own affirmations (I’ve given my ten below to get you started)…

Above is a video that I played daily when I began my property journey … and sometimes more than daily! So if you’re new to affirmations I suggest starting out with watching/listening to this video or something similar to help train your mind to visualise what you want to achieve.

As you progress you may want to create your own affirmations, to create personal affirmations take the following steps:

1. Identify your negative self-talk and beliefs.

2. Create affirmations out of those beliefs.

3. Begin using the new affirmations.

4. See the “magic” gradually unfold.

Over the last few months I’ve been on quite an affirmation kick . I’ve truly had so much going on, so needed to depend on the power of a healthy mind now more than ever to stay focused, optimistic, and filled with energy.

Below are the affirmations that I found really work for me! They form part of my miracle morning routine. I find that taking 5-10 mins in the quiet with a cup of coffee (optional coffee) to really feel them makes such a huge difference to the way my day goes! I do hope they have a similar impact for you!

– I am so grateful for this day

– I am so grateful for the family and friends in my life

– I am going to make this day the best day of my life

– I am able to achieve anything I want

- I live to my full potential

- I deserve success because I give so much value to the world

- I think big and dream big without reservation.

- I am making the world a better place by being a positive, powerful influence

- I am grateful for my financial success

- Today I will live this day as if it is my last day on the planet!

I hope you have an amazing day! Do you do affirmations? Are there any affirmations you find particularly powerful? I’d love to know! Drop me a comment below…

Ana ♡

Want to connect? Find me on insta @dr.anaattlee, or why not pop along to a meet up? If you think I can accelerate your journey to your goals get in touch or book a coaching session!

“Wake up! No one is going to save you. No one is going to take care of your family or your retirement. No one is going to make things work out for you. The only way to do so is to utilize every moment of every day at 10X levels.” Grant Cardone, 10X Rule

If you are serious about property you need to maximise the effort you put in! You can’t just sit around and wait for the right deals to come along, you need to go out there and see as many (of the right kind) of houses as possible! In order to carry out a buy, refurbish and refinance strategy where you can pull out most (if not all!) of your money - there are not a lot of properties like that. And, most likely you are starting from a position where you don’t have a lot of time to do viewings… So, here are some tips to make sure you maximise the potential deals that will come off as a result of your viewing day!

1. Make sure you view regularly - ideally every week or every other week

2. Book viewings, if possible during the week. This maximises the chance that the person showing you around actually knows a little about the property and its history

3. Find the properties you want to view and pre-qualify them! Go through rightmove and look for the grungy properties and see if there are ‘done-up’ properties that have sold on that street or in the nearby area for much more. Set up a spreadsheet and pop in a nominal refurb value i.e. £10k and then look at what properties in this area of a similar type are renting for. Play around with your spreadsheet! Add in a contingency fund to cover unexpected expenses and insurance (I do around 10%) and to cover a letting agents expenses (again about 10%), then see if the property will still cash flow if, for instance mortgage payments go up to 6%. Does this property look like it might work? Great! pop it on your ‘to view list’.

4. Organise the to view list, by area and by agent. Try to clump viewings by agent and then by area.

5. Create a viewing time sheet and organise your viewings into one per half hour. This gives you about 15 mins to view and 15 mins to get to the next viewing! Aim to book in viewings from 10:30am until it gets dark (you may be able to book viewings earlier but most agents wont start viewing until 10:30am.

6. Ring up/email estate agents to book in your viewings at the times requested.

7. FILL your viewing sheet up! Aim to get viewings into double figures every time you go. If an agent said one of the properties you wanted to view is no longer available go back to point 3 and see if there are any gems you may have missed. Perhaps a little further outside of your area.

8. Use a viewing checklist on the day and take lots of photos (see my previous blog) and take along some flyers to pop in houses that maybe look run down on the street you’re viewing (i.e. “want to sell your home? Call Ana on ….”)

9. Spend a little time on the street before each viewing - while you are checking out the roof - if a neighbour is about ask them a bit about the area and anything they know about the property.

I hope those tips were helpful! Do you have any to add to this list? Do you want to get started out with a buy to let portfolio? I’d love to know or help you out! Drop me a comment below…

Ana ♡

Want to connect? Find me on insta @dranaattlee, or why not pop along to a meet up? If you think I can accelerate your journey to your goals get in touch or book a coaching session!

Starting out in property can be daunting. So, you’ve taken your time working out what your strategy will be based on your money and time available, you’ve found your initial investment area. Now, for the most important bit - you have to find a power team!

Power teams can make or break a deal. Also, when looking for your power team keep in mind that “if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys”!

You need to have a strong team to make this work, for me this consists of:

1. Accountant

2. Solicitor

3. Builder

4. Surveyor

5. Insurance broker

6. Letting Agent

7. Sourcing Agent

8. Estate Agent

9. Coach/Mentor

Accountant

Look for an accountant who understands (and preferably has worked in) property. You perhaps need to speak with a few accountants to find someone who understands your situation and how you want to build your portfolio. I found my accountant through recommendation and instantly knew he was the right person to be working with. Working with my accountant as soon as I had decided to get into property helped me to understand the most tax efficient way to buy property and manage business from the start - it in fact super charged my investment journey! We have a great relationship, which has paid untold dividends in getting deals over the line.

Solicitor

I’ve worked with quite a few solicitors. Always go with recommendations from current clients. You are looking for a solicitor that understands your process and can work fast when the time is needed. Get a good few recommendations and interview a few solicitors - either via email or phone. Find out what their fees are, what mortgage boards they sit on (as there are often only a few lenders I can go to for my deals this is super important), and how fast they are able to complete paperwork in a normal purchase, as well as in case of a corporate sale which often has to be completed very quickly and you can be gazumped throughout the whole process. My solicitor 100% has my back on deals and she is excellent at negotiating with the other side when their requests become unreasonable or when I encounter a problem during the purchase.

Builder

I do LOADS of due diligence on builders (and even then I have still had/have problems)….So, I’ll probably do another blog just on working with builders! To find your builder, get recommendations from local letting agents and landlords, look online at websites that rate builders and google them and their business name to see what comes up in the search results. Then meet a few. Go on viewings with them and get to know them and see how well you may be able to work together. Talk to them about their work process and how they like to get paid. Ask them to put together a quote for the house you have viewed and also go and see at least one of their previous projects. Score builders on a system of how well you get on with them, how highly they are recommended, cost of quote, time to finish builds and the finish of their builds. Take a view - you’re probably not going to find the perfect builder - if you do pass him my number!

Surveyor

Again, I go for recommendations in order to find a surveyor. A good surveyor can save you a lot of money - by acting as a second level of checks on what refurb might be needed, and that you are buying the property at the right cost. A home buyers survey gives you a good idea of what refurb is immediately needed and what may be needed in the future. It gives you the current valuation of the property and the reinstatement cost (needed for insurance purposes). Of course, if you buy with a mortgage they will send their own surveyor, its up to you if you also want an extra survey done.

Insurance Broker

Ask around and see what insurance broker other landlords are using. You can trail a few to see what quotes they get on buildings insurance, how fast they move and how they deal with more complex requests.

Letting Agent

A great letting agent is worth their weight in gold! I look for an agent that can handle pretty much all house issues without contacting me. Remember there are two ‘p’s in property - ‘people’ and ‘problems’ … do not get into property if you expect a fully passive income - there are always problems! So, start with this in mind and get letting agent recommendations, ideally you want them to be ARLA agents. You should ask for copies of their agreements and their ASTs, their process for finding and checking tenants, sign up fees to you, monthly management fees (and whether this is a proportion of rent collected or holds whether rent is collected or not), how they deal with minor issues i.e. deducting this from rent or holding cash on account. Speak with as many agents as possible and see who you click with… also it’s not a good idea to negotiate them down on their management fees (at least until you pass them lots of properties), as you want them to like you and do a good job! If you’re really not sure, trial a few letting agents … one for each new property you bring on board and make a decision after a year (check their procedures for cancelling a contract or how long your contract with them lasts).

Sourcing Agent

If you are cash rich but time poor, a great sourcing agent will get you to financial freedom at high speed! Again, go for recommendation when using a sourcing agent. Meet with your sourcing agent and see how well you click. Check they are compliant and part of an ombudsman redress scheme with liability insurance, ICO registration and HMRC anti money laundering. Remember, you must ALWAYS do your own due diligence on properties sent to you… run the numbers yourself, double check sold and let comparables and speak with letting agents in the area of the property to learn more about the property and the area. Find out how many properties your agent has sourced before, their experience in property and if you are doing a buy, refurbish and re-sell strategies find out about your agents knowledge of that cycle and re-valuation figures. Also, speak with them about whether they can manage the buying process for you, the refurbish/letting process and any extra fees for this.

Estate Agents

If you are hunting for your own deals, make friends with local estate agents. Make an effort to be friendly and get to know them, also aim to be memorable - for the right reasons! I recommend that when you start off in an area to block book viewings with certain estate agents until you get to know them. If you’re in the area pop by with chocolates, go to viewings that don’t necessarily match your strategy (they may just need to get viewing numbers up on a certain property and will appreciate you helping them with this. Be friendly and approachable throughout the buying process and thank them for their help during the process… as a side note I prefer working with estate agents than direct to vendor as they protect me and my time from the often crazy over expectations and paranoia of a vendor! When you’re offering on a property don’t offer too low as to be ridiculous, and always give an explanation for offering low … i.e. needs new boiler/damp etc. Always act in a way that means you are perceived as someone they would like to work with … especially if you are buying a property (so no bad mouthing other investors/agents, don’t gazump other investors - even on repo’s, don’t act heartless by wanting to kick out long term tenants from properties, and don’t randomly start offering lower on a property after your offer is accepted). My hope is that this is naturally you anyway!

Coach/Mentor

I would be literally be no where without having had a coach/mentor. They really help accelerate your journey. If you are looking for a coach/mentor look for recommendations and see who you click with. You MUST MUST do your due diligence! Check out everything you can about the person coaching you to make sure they are what they say they are (especially if they are coaching you on a specific strategy). You must work with them to help set and reach the goals that you want to achieve. Working with a coach, requires you to put in the work. So, if you’ve set goals together it’s up to you to go out and achieve those goals by next time you meet them - ideally exceeding the targets you’ve set yourself each time. Remember, it’s not a silver bullet! You need to put in the hard graft!!

Do you have any other tips to add to finding your power team? Let me know in the comments below!

Ana ♡

Want to connect? Find me on insta @dranaattlee, or why not pop along to a meet up? If you think I can accelerate your journey to your goals get in touch or book a coaching session!

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

― Anaïs Nin

It’s been a crazy 8 years since we started Seedball. Emily and I had just done the National Environment Research Councils Environmental Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (NERC EnvYES for short). It was a course/competition for PhD students and young researchers to learn the skills you need to start in business. Over the time of the training you came up with a business that solved a problem and basically did an MA in a weekend!! At the end of this time you present your findings to a panel of Angel Investors and then a winner is decided. We didn’t win, our idea was related to sustainable energy, but we did find out we LOVED business and we worked together incredibly well as a team. Shortly after we came up with the concept of Seedball - a simpler way to grow wildflowers from seed to help save bees! Over time we have grown Seedball without funding to a business that has a team of 14, a manufacturing unit, an assembly unit and being stocked in over 600 shops and garden centres across Europe. Seedball is a not for profit Community Interest Company that has already made a huge impact for wildlife (but thats another blog!).

So, here is what we’ve learnt about scaling our company…

1. HAVE A GREAT PRODUCT

It should go without saying but have a product that you love and you are proud of and you’re enthusiastic to watch the business grow and better able to handle the difficult times. yOur product has to solve a problem (and solve it well) and have a clear Unique Selling Point.

2. KISS (KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID)

Being successful in any entreprise is about simplifying things. We’ve consistently gone through everything about Seedball and made it simpler, creating easy to follow procedures and systems and keeping our message clear and concise. Everyone needs to understand your message, from your customers understanding what the product is and how it can help them, to your team understanding expectations and workflow.

The smaller we were the easier it was for everyone to understand each part of the business, as we’ve grown we’ve worked hard to simplify each persons role and how that links to the bigger picture. We found that this simplicity has kept customers and our invaluable team engaged in the business and our aims.

3. LOVE YOUR CUSTOMERS

Getting new customers is hard work. So we focus a lot on how to keep our customers happy, to be a part of our Seedball family and engaged in the information, advice and value that we provide them with. As a result we have a solid base of returning customers plus lots of word of mouth sales. This has been a natural fit for us, after all the aim of our business is to fill gardens easily with wildflowers to save bees. The happier our customers are, the more wildflowers there are in the world!

Ideas for new products have come from our customers, and we’ve responded to feedback as soon as possible. We initially started with very slow to grow perennial wildflowers which tend to improve in display year on year, over time have added in more annuals to ensure customers see a better display as soon as possible after planting. Expectations of customers for fast results is something we have to keep managing and so we take customer service and informing customers very seriously. And have always ensured the information we share is about helping customers also feel part of our larger vision to help wildlife in the garden.

4. HAPPY TEAM

As a business, we would be nothing without customers, we are also nothing without our team! One thing we’ve always done well (and this may be a result of doing PhDs) is to seek out people who know more than us, or are better than us. We’ve certainly done that with our team, who are amazing!

As we have never had investment, we have never really been able to pay a premium. But, we have always given as much as possible in pay and support. In our early days this meant making lunch for everyone. We’ve done things such as cover costs for people getting into work and have always been super flexible with team members, for example so they can come to work after dropping children at school and leave early to pick children up.

We’ve aimed for a happy atmosphere at Seedball and still continue a shared lunch break, evenings out and all to regular prosecco celebrations of each win. We aim to give everyone a chance to excel in what they do best in and to value everyone that works for us. Without them we’d be nothing!

4. STAY INVOLVED IN EVERYTHING

Now this can be a killer. As you scale it’s really tempting to sit back and let someone else take on a role and not really watch what they are doing. We have done this a few times and always to our detriment. Delegation is of course important, and empowerment of the team member to do their job. But, you still need to know whats going on, with everything!! It’s a fine line to tread, as you don’t want to disempower your team either… checking in regularly helps you be better at anticipating when things need to change and by planning for that eventuality. People often use the phrase "work on your business not in it"... but the time frame for this and how it evolves into this is specific to the business and context. This approach needs the right team, very careful management and precise systems - be wary of applying this phrase without careful consideration if this is the right time for both you and your business, and if you have the capacity to fully implement.

5. GET A MENTOR

We found this absolutely the most natural and comfortable thing to do. As a PhD student you have a supervisor who helps guide you through the process. Someone who has been there before and knows the ropes, potential pitfalls and steps to success. We found an amazing mentor really early on and have checked in with him regularly throughout our scale up.

We have found scaling an enjoyable experience as we’ve been able to leverage off the skills of those better than us!

6. KNOW YOUR NUMBERS

In business cash is king! You need to know real data for everything:

• Cash flow

• Profit/Loss

• Customer acquisition

• Customer retention

• What messages customers engage best with

• Conversion rates and causes

• Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats inetrnally and externally for your business

With regular solid monitoring and analysis of data (also known as Key Performance Indicators "KPI's") you can make informed decisions to help you grow… data is like your flashlight in what can otherwise become a very confusing muddle!

Have you scaled up a business? What are your learning points? I’d love to know!

Ana ♡

Want to connect? Find me on insta @dranaattlee, or why not pop along to a meet up? If you think I can accelerate your journey to your goals get in touch or book a coaching session!

You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” Zig Ziglar

Let me tell you a secret… I’m not actually that great at anything! But, I did manage to get a PhD, write tons of academic papers, advise government, train academics, start successful businesses, scale up a manufacturing business and have been part of nearly 150 property deals.

Of course, none of that would have been possible alone and none of that would have been possible without consistency… I have consistently been great at seeking out people who know more than me, and are better than me, and then working out what I need to do to be successful… and doing that… consistently!

Being successful in life, it seems to me, is not about great leaps of genius but about consistent (often mundane) small steps and habits we can all do every day. Each of these steps are so easy, that they would be simple enough to skip entirely… waking up late once wont hurt right? Not going to my investment area this week wont hurt, right? Wrong!! These small things are the only things that matter. Being successful is the result of these small steps.

There are no secrets to success. No shortcut. Of course over night successes happen and you hear all the time about people who have just started out in business/property making a fortune seemingly over-night. For the majority of us that is just not going to happen! The secret is consistent grind. Nothing sexy, just getting up and showing up and doing what you say you are going to do, day after day, week after week!

Consistency isn’t the easiest way to success, but it is the most sure one.

You can build your consistency muscle, as believe me it’s not easy to be suddenly consistent. I had to. Start small and habit stack. For example:

1.   I always get up when I have decided to – I’m recently trialing a 4am start but generally I get up at 5am Mon-Fri

2.   I consistently go to the gym

3.   I consistently have the same process for checking in on emails and social media (by a certain time).

4.   I consistently view houses on the same day

5.   Run numbers on the same day

6.   Re-offer on houses the same day

7.   Book trains the same day etc etc.

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Progress and success is also not linear… so expect to be grinding away thanklessly for some time! And also expect that some times you may actually feel like you are worse off than you were… keep going!!!

You may find it useful to share some of your routine on social media, in this way it holds you accountable and also has the added bonus of showing everyone how consistent you are (unexpectedly attracting angel finance and JV finance offers in DM!!).

Have a great day! And let me know what habits your going to stack consistently!

Ana ♡

Want to connect? Find me on insta @dranaattlee, or why not pop along to a meet up? If you think I can accelerate your journey to your goals get in touch or book a coaching session!

After getting together a rent to rent portfolio to secure positive cashflow. I then began sourcing (deal packaging) properties. It actually began by accident… I was simply looking for myself and had a JV that fell through and rather than lose the deal I passed the property on to another investor friend who could benefit from it.

To everyone who is out there thinking of sourcing as a get rich quick scheme…. it’s not! It’s hard, hard work. Here are some of my top take homes from sourcing…

1. Be compliant!! Get registered with the property ombudsman, get ico registered and get insured. In general be aware of all the rules that govern you when sourcing properties.

2. Give as much information as possible to clients about the deal but give them space and time to do their own full due diligence.

3. Protect yourself from your client… early on I had clients trying to take my power team from me and take away the deals. In the end I decided to only work with a small group of clients whom I trusted (and this still happened!!)

4. Get paid your sourcing fee via your solicitor.

5. Keep records and a CRM system (I keep all pictures, excel sheet and notes online).

6. Be aware that it may take months for a property deal to go through conveyancing (keep an eye on cash flow for this business as there are many many reasons a property deal can fall out of bed)… in the meantime you should be out looking for and sourcing other properties.

7. Team up… I’ve worked both alone and part of a team sourcing property. Being part of a team and splitting sourcing fees helps accelerate this business and gives you someone else to talk to about any issues.

8. Have systems!! At one point I was sourcing 10 properties a month. You need strong systems to be able to keep on top of this...

9. Once you have viewed enough properties and are re-offering on properties, consider sourcing to demand. At my most prolific sourcing point I was re-offering on around 100 properties!

10. Have an amazing power team and take care of them.

11. Be aware you can’t control everything so don’t over-promise. I am a HUGE people pleaser and have found the emotional side of sourcing the most rewarding (how amazing to see people becoming financially independent because of you?!) and also very taxing (for me each refurb, each letting, and each re-valuation was like going through my own). Property is an absolute roller coaster ride, and for me sourcing was like hitching a rid on everyone else’s rollercoasters as well!

12. Be real with clients… let them know how far along in your property journey you are and what knowledge you have.

13. You can earn a lot and learn a lot…. consistency is key!! After one year I managed to pay off all my training fees and have a pot to begin investing.

    Are you interested in sourcing? Are you a sourcing agent and want to add more tips in here? I’d love to know! Drop me a comment below…

    Ana ♡

    Want to connect? Find me on insta @dranaattlee, or why not pop along to a meet up? If you think I can accelerate your journey to your goals get in touch or book a coaching session!

Interested in this strategy?? Do grab Jacquie Edwards Books on Rent to Rent!

"Do not wait; the time will never be just right. Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along. Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." Francis of Assisi

I started out in property with no money (also no time! ha!) ... my first strategy was to create cash flow so I began with a rent to rent portfolio. This strategy is simply looking for properties on the market that are currently being marketed as single lets but have potential to be made into HMOs by renting out each room individually.

You pay the landlord a guaranteed rent for a set amount of time and you manage the property and any problems that arise. You then, are effectively the managing agent for that property, taking over furnishing the property, tenant finding and tenant management of the property. Do all of this to an extremely high standard and its a great strategy as everyone is happy. You, as a new investor, learn about staging properties and all the legalities of letting a property (perfect for your future dealings with letting agents!) and you make a healthy cashflow…. anywhere between £500-£1k pcm. In my experience it is a quick way to get started, but not a stress free one as the learning curve is steep (see also my post on HMO investing) … not only do you deal with legalities and being out of your comfort zone, it also takes, in my opinion, about 3 months for tenants to settle in properly (in this time there can be bickering amongst tenants and incessant requests for extras, plus many things seem to get broken! Then it takes about 9-12months for things like cashflow to settle into a recognisable state. For this reason I recommend keeping aside 1 rooms rent from as soon as possible to cover voids and build that up to a cash reserve of the full rent you will be paying to the landlord.

For me - I decided to start in rent to rent in November and by January I had my first two properties cashflowing and one more in the set up process! By February I was earning more than I had ever done! So, here are some simple tips to get you started :

1. You need to be prepared to view a lot of properties! Get your comfy shoes on and realise you will learn what you need to say to landlords over time… you dont need to get it right straight away. But, you do need to start to get it right.,

2. Learn your legals!! Become an NLA registered landlord

3. Go out and view rooms in the area you’d like to do rent to rent in… book viewings (at least 5) from spareroom and get to know your market this for me was the single most uncomfortable step but one that cant be missed!

4. Look on open rent and gumtree for properties that would be suitable to rent. Go and view as many as possible.

5. Don’t bother negotiating the rent… but work out how you can make this win win for both you and the landlord

6. Stage your property well!

7. Make sure you know how you will be dealing with cleaning and maintenance - task rabbit was my friend!

8. Advertise and advertise well - do your listing for your market! I went for a high end HMO market so I made my listing look like a serviced accommodation ad… in fact my rent to rent HMOs were almost a hybrid between serviced accommodation and HMO.

9. Have the most personable person you know do the viewings … I am a HUGE people person so I did my own viewings

10. Have systems!!!

11. Make sure the rent for each landlord comes out on the same day near the end of the month and your tenant rents come in at the same day at the start of the mont

12. WATCH your cashflow!!

I hope those tips were helpful! What’s your strategy? Do you want to get started out with a rent to rent portfolio? I’d love to know or help you out! Drop me a comment below…

Ana ♡

Want to connect? Find me on insta @dranaattlee, or why not pop along to a meet up? If you think I can accelerate your journey to your goals get in touch or book a coaching session!

Sooooo… before I start this I think you know what Im going to say… maybe you follow me on insta and you can see what time I get up and a little insight into what I do in the morning. But, before I start with my routine I really want to stress that morning routines are not a one size fits all, nor is sleep. Some people are early birds, some night owls… some need a lot of sleep some need not too much. And, well, some of us are parents!

For me the way I start my morning literally can make or break my day! My morning routine starts at 5am. Getting up at this time sets the bar for what I expect of myself, and over time has increased my confidence (afterall if you let yourself down on promises you make how can you expect others to trust you).

Getting up at 5am gives me at least an hour before the rest of the house is up to get some quiet reflection done, write and respond to emails and check in with social media and then I get some exercise in. Essentially what I do is an adaptation of a Miracle Morning S.A.V.E.R.S. routine. Although for me it’s S.A.V.R.S.E. as that works best to make sure all quiet reflective work is out of the way before the danger-zone of kids waking up happens! The routine takes about an hour… ideally 10mins given for each of the sections but this can be reduced to a couple of mins each if needed!

What’s your morning routine? Do you have any tips for me to improve mine? I’d love to know! Drop me a comment below…

Ana ♡

Want to connect? Find me on insta @dranaattlee, or why not pop along to a meet up? If you think I can accelerate your journey to your goals get in touch or book a coaching session!

Having a Property Strategy is vital when starting to invest in property. You need to select this strategy based on two main factors:

1. How much money do you have?

2. How much time do you have?

3. How much experience do you have?

When I started out in property I had no money (I’d given up working in academia and invested what little I had into starting www.seedball.co.uk), no time (we already had two year old twins and a new business), and also no experience (apart from watching a few youtube videos)! This, you would think, was probably not the best starting point for a career in property. I also had not had a credit card so no real credit score, not got a high wage (in fact I was self employed so wasn’t even taking a wage) plus I’d borrowed money to do my property training… so I started out actually in debt…

Nothing however, is impossible to achieve if you have the right mindset! I had a number of ‘whys’ (having both push and pull ‘whys’ can be a great advantage:

1. I now had a family to provide an amazing life for, but I had no income and was literally living off Tesco 20p spaghetti.

2. I had started to develop painful arthritis and during my training I had to wear wrist supports to write and could hardly dress myself in the days after training courses, and had to send voice notes instead of written text messages or emails, as I had written so much. This meant that my bridges back to academia were burnt, my chance of making a success with a manufacturing business like Seedball were low, and I had to quickly find a way to make money that literally just involved me speaking!!

3. I wanted to do something big with my life! I pushed myself to get a PhD (despite not even doing A levels) in order to make a difference in conservation for the world. I worked hard after my PhD working with government and training academics to make a difference. Eventually leaving academia and training to start Seedball as a way to generate enough money to buy nature reserves. With property I could accelerate this path and achieve my goal!

To make this work I knew I had to do whatever it takes, and that it might take me longer than most to get anywhere!

First, I started to build my credit, then I began to build my power team and found myself an amazing accountant. I then started a business and used the name of a street that I wanted to move to as inspiration (we were currently living in a two bed flat with a cat, dog and two toddlers)… I then got myself a coach and began a rent to rent portfolio. Rent to rent is a fantastic strategy when starting out with little or no cash and looking to create an income. I used the income from the rent to rent portfolio to employ our first Seedball staff member.

I then used the spare income (yes! finally spare income!!!) for travel and subsidence and set about finding my investment area in the North of England and doing tons of research! My next strategy would be sourcing property (or deal packaging). Sourcing property meant that I could for a fee find run down BMV deals for other investors and guide them through the purchase process from solicitor and surveyor to refurbishing and letting. I created an amazing power team and repaid my debts from taking property training.

It was now time to move to buy to let investing! I still focus predominantly on this strategy and have built my expertise here, in finding grotty houses and below market value, refurbishing them, letting them out and refinancing them to pull money out and go again. Having built a solid base of cash flowing Buy To Lets my current strategy has added in HMO investment and minor developments.

What’s your strategy? Do you have any tips for me as I move toward bigger developments? I’d love to know! Drop me a comment below…

Ana ♡

Want to connect? Find me on insta @dranaattlee, or why not pop along to a meet up? If you think I can accelerate your journey to your goals get in touch or book a coaching session!

Buy to let’s are the bottom of the investment pyramid. They form a solid foundation from which you build to bigger (and possibly more exciting things! Despite what you may have read buy to let investing is not dead in the UK, and there are lots of great deals out there and good to be done. Yes, good!

Contrary to popular opinion, not everyone aspires to own their own home… and with less social housing than ever good landlords are gold dust.

If you want to get into buy to let investing you can either buy a property that doesn’t need doing up or you can do what I have done which is to buy grotty houses that require renovation and refurbishment to bring them up to market value. I then refinance these properties to market value after 6-12months in order to pull out money to buy again. Here are my tips:

1. Buy to demand!! Check there is demand in the area you are buying before you buy!

2. Do your due diligence…check sold comparables within 1/4 mile and sold in the last few months on rightmove, then use hometrack to estimate end value, cross check values on zoopla and mouseprice. Check, check and double check your numbers.

3. Get a survey before buying … it helps to avoid surprises (although not always!!)

4. Be ethical - don’t gazump people when they have offered on repo’s and don’t kick tenants out of their houses … there’s abundance out there and to me it’s just good karma!

5. Don’t be over optimistic on what value you will achieve … plan for a worst case, min case and best case!

6. Get a few quotes from builders on what work will be needed. Dont necessarily go with the cheapest quote. Choose your builder wisely, get a few recommendations, check them out on line and finally go with who you think you will work best with (despite doing this I have still been caught out a few times). A builder will make or break your deal.

7. Surveyors have all the power. If they are having a bad day, they will give you a lower valuation and there is not much you can do about it!

8. Prepare revaluation pack showing the surveyor what works have been done and what you think the end value is… pass to surveyor and back away meekly!

9. Consider getting two valuations done at the same time, then if one doesn’t come in as expected you have a fall back.

10. Get the right tenant in… make sure you are comfortable with who the letting agent chooses.

11. Be nice to your tenant! You are providing a home for them. Change your mindset - these are not your properties. They are other peoples homes! I want my tenants to stay forever. So far so good! I attend to problems quickly and efficiently. Tenants can have pets, smoke and put up pictures, they can also decorate - because it is their home!

12. Know the legalities of letting - you are responsible for tons! Go and become an NLA accredited landlord.

13. Get an amazing accountant - they can help you decide to buy in your own name or a company. I have done both.

14. You don’t need loads of money to get started in property! Look for houses around £50k… my broker even found mortgages the other day for properties around £35k! At 75% LTV you only need 25% for the deposit and a bit extra for fees!

15. Go for 75% LTV so you leave some equity in…

16. Get an amazing power team!

17. Have a spreadsheet - run your numbers and take into account all costs of buying. Then stress test your purchase on what happens if mortgages raise to 6% - I never buy properties that don’t cashflow over £100 on a 6% stress test.

18. Be prepared when letting to dss tenants that payments from the council or universal credit take time to come through… don’t start evicting good tenants because the government is not paying correctly or on time. I have waited a long long time for payments to come through and have had some very upset (wonderful) tenants worrying I would kick them out…

19. Balance your portfolio - I dont like to buy in only one post code or area, I also balance tenant types to protect cash flow.

What’s your strategy? Do you have any tips for buy to let investing? I’d love to know! Drop me a comment below…

Ana ♡

Want to connect? Find me on insta @dr.anaattlee, or why not pop along to a meet up? If you think I can accelerate your journey to your goals get in touch or book a coaching session!

rocking the clipboard !

If you want to start investing in property – it’s essential you know what you’re looking for. Make sure you start out with an idea of your financial position and what you can afford, you’ve got a goal in mind and a property strategy sorted.

Now it’s time to view properties. Property, I’ve found, is a numbers game. You need to get out there and view as many as possible. Once you’ve viewed you need to run your numbers and put your offers in, then you need to follow up on those offers regularly.

So, you’ve trawled rightmove, you’ve pre run numbers and now you’ve packed your day out with as many viewings as possible. Once you’re on your viewing…

1.     Take photos – one of each front door and if possible make sure you have a door number included in the picture (it will help you keep track of your viewings). Then take a picture (ideally multiple) relating to each item on the viewing checklist.

2.     I’ve attached my property-viewing checklist for you to follow. I still print these off, one per property and head to each viewing checklist and clipboard in hand.

Having a checklist really  upped my property game and meant that I could keep excellent track of the 12-18 properties I view each day.

1.     Before you go to a viewing meet with some builders, go through the checklist with them and get a rough estimate for what each item will cost … e.g. cost of rewire, cost of new kitchen/bathroom.

2.     Having a copy to hand will make sure you are systematic in your viewings and the questions you ask to an estate agent/vendor.

3.     Having a paper copy checklist for each property will help to jog your memory after a full days viewings and you can cross reference your checklist with photos to make sure you haven’t missed anything. You can then estimate your build cost to be able to put in your initial offer before getting a builder to quote. My build estimates are now nearly always the same as my long term builders quotes!

4.     Keeping a paper copy, along with your photos and the excel spreadsheet that you calculate offer from also helps with cross referencing later, as you’ll find some properties deals will come off many months after you initially viewed.

Of course over time you will adapt this to suit your own needs and strategy.

Good luck property hunting!

Ana ♡

Want to connect? Find me on insta @dr.anaattlee, or why not pop along to a meet up? If you think I can accelerate your journey to your goals get in touch or book a coaching session!

So, I’ve recently moved into HMO investing and have now have a portfolio of HMOs, or houses in multiple occupancy. In short each room is rented out and the property has shared communal space. The refurb spec involves greater rules and regulations related to room size and fire safety etc.

Now, even though I’ say I’ve recently moved to HMO investing. Technically, I’ve sort of come full circle as this is where I started with rent to rents… And, I’ve done the same thing as I did with my rent to rent portfolio - gone all in from the start. I literally seem to have no concept of easing my way into a strategy. No! It’s all in at the deep end!

So, I am prepared now mentally for what’d about to transpire! And, that it is not going to be plain sailing!

I’m anticipating refurbs for these properties to take longer than usual, and the first 3 months after tenanting each property to be a pain in the arse with a general 9 – 12 months of ‘teething period’ . Bills will be all over the place, and tenants settling in tends to throw up lots of random issues. At least this time I am not the agent! So, some of the stress I experienced with my rent to rent portfolio,I’m hoping to be side tracked via my agent (wishful thinking??!)

So… this time round I’m planing on:

1. Creating key performance indicators that you regularly assess, such as cashflow, profit and loss, occupancy rates, time on the market before rooms are filled, your monthly cost of advertising, your time input, monthly maintenance costs and yield. I’m systemising all of this from the start.

2. Each time I go to re-advertise a room I’m going to consider adding a few pounds to the price of the room. In part this is because for half of my portfolio I bought these pre-tenanted and the room rates were low. I also know that I LOVE to give good service, I love to go over and above whats expected… but, I do sometimes let this leak into offering too much for too little. This time I want prices to reflect my service.

3. I will be assessing regular outgoings such as utility bills, insurance, broadband and mortgage costs and aiming to reduce bills, even by 5–10% per annum to improve cash flow and profits and leave that extra buffer which may go to award providing the service level mentioned above. It’s something we applied in Seedball and I definitely need to make sure this is implemented in my property business - grow the top line and shrink costs = grow profit and healthy cashflow!

4. I’m going to keep an eye on meter readings - costs of gas and electricity can be crazy in HMOs.

What’s your strategy? Do you have any tips for me to improve how I run my HMO portfolio? I’d love to know! Drop me a comment below…

Ana ♡

Want to connect? Find me on insta @dr.anaattlee, or why not pop along to a meet up? If you think I can accelerate your journey to your goals get in touch or book a coaching session!