Alex Bennett was an estate agent in Luton until he decided to quit his job and become a property entrepreneur. A year later the Samuel Leeds Academy trained investor has five rent-to-rents, three of which made a profit of more than £4,000 in one month. He has also earned £10,000 from packaging and selling deals and is looking to diversify with other strategies.
‘I thought I knew a lot about property until the crash course’
Alex had already been flipping houses for many years while working as an estate agent when he came across Samuel Leeds’ YouTube channel.
At the time he was interested in the idea of having an Airbnb and began researching how to launch one.
“Searching online Samuel just kept popping up all the time. I remember to this day I was walking the dog and just kept watching all these different videos that he’d posted.”
Keen to find out more, Alex tried to enrol on one of Samuel’s £1 crash courses. However, the ones local to him in London were all fully booked.
“I was like man, I need to get on one now. I can’t wait a few months,” he recalls.
So, he jumped in his car and headed to Leeds after discovering that was where the next available course was being held. It opened his eyes ‘big time,’ he says.
“As an estate agent you think you know a lot about property, but actually you don’t know that much. We obviously know about buying and selling and renting, but in terms of other strategies there was a lot I didn’t know about.
“After attending the crash course, I realised I could potentially leave my job at some point and create a full-time income from all these different strategies.”
The strategy which stood out for Alex was rent-to-rent. It appealed to him because he could replace his salary and walk away from his job.
Afterwards he came along to a Discovery Day at Samuel Leeds’ house and then signed up to the year-long academy programme.
One SA is called the Pink Panther Suite
As an estate agent for 13 years, Alex always worked on the sales side, although he had some knowledge of renting. He started out as a trainee negotiator with no previous sales experience.
Alex says he was scared to even answer the telephone at first but worked his way up to become a branch manager for one of the most successful estate agencies in Luton.
“That really helped me to this point now where I’ve gone from having no sales experience whatsoever, and scared to answer the phone, to going to landlords’ houses. It doesn’t matter who they are, how many people are there or what size of property it is, I’m not concerned any more. I know and believe in what I’m doing.”
Through his company, AB Accommodation, Alex provides furnished, short stay lets in the Luton area, renting out the properties from the owners.
“When we set out to do serviced accommodation, we wanted to provide a really good product that’s better than the competition – something that’s eye catching and slightly different to what you would normally see,” he explains.
“We’ve focused on interior design. If you’re looking to book a two-bedroom flat in Luton, when you’re on Airbnb or booking.com ours stand out from the crowd.”
One of his SAs is called the Pink Panther Suite, based on the fictional animated character.
“We had a bit of fun with it. We were looking online at different canvases and artwork, and we saw this Pink Panther one. I thought that looks quite cool and interesting, a bit of pink.
“Our main strategy in terms of serviced accommodation is to create something eye catching. We’ve got media walls, and a jukebox in one of them – just trying to think of different ways to stand out and deliver the best possible experience for the guests.”
It is a formula that has worked well so far, says Alex. “The occupancy has been amazing, a minimum of 85 to 90 per cent throughout the whole year in Luton.
“One property alone made £1,500 profit. We’ve got five properties now live. One has only been live as of this month (April 2024), but with three live we made over £4,000 profit in January.”
He advertises the accommodation as suitable for professionals and contractors who need somewhere to stay while on jobs. Luton has the advantage of being only half an hour away by train from St Pancras Station in London, he points out.
Unlike in the capital, there are also no restrictions on how long he can rent out the properties under his control.
‘I’ve flipped ten properties’
Working with his father-in-law, Alex became a prolific property developer over a ten-year period.
“I’ve flipped ten in total. That includes a detached house which we built. Some were large scale, some small scale.”
He describes it as his ‘bread and butter.’ “I want to continue doing that because I’ve got a great power team behind me. My father-in-law is the builder behind everything. We work well as a team.”
Five of his ‘flips’ were bungalows which were outdated with ‘avocado bathrooms.’ His tactic is to purchase rundown properties on a residential mortgage, requiring a minimal deposit. Alex then lives in the house while it is being refurbished and sells it for more than what he has spent on it, paying zero tax because it is a residential property.
He had completed eight such projects when an opportunity came up to buy a two-bedroom, detached bungalow with a large piece of land.
“There was potential to build two [properties] or just super size the one that was on that bit of land. So, we built this big four-bed property.”
He adds: “The market was on the rise throughout the whole process and Covid was around, so things were delayed. But as things were being delayed the prices were going up and up.
“We developed that again, moved into it for a short while and then moved out. We just kept copying and pasting the same thing which worked well.”
The businessman believes it is an underrated strategy and recommends it to any young estate agent starting out on low pay who wants to generate a second income.
“You’re in the industry. You’ve got access to properties and know what houses are worth on particular roads. You can come across some sellers who are looking for a quick sale.
“If you’re young as an estate agent starting out, your pay is not the best and maybe you can get your parents to help you with the deposit or get some investors to jump onboard.”
Alex bought properties being advertised by his company while working as an estate agent, with his employer declaring an interest if there was a homeowner who needed to sell fast.
With the equity which Alex built over the years, he decided it was time to invest in his education after discovering Samuel Leeds.
The entrepreneur took the bold move of leaving his job before he had any deals on the table. A lot of people wouldn’t do it that way, he acknowledges, but he felt he had enough resources and the connections from being an estate agent to make a go of it.
“I had time on my hands where I could invest into the rent-to-rents to make them really nice, but I had a buffer to live off. Hence why I just went let’s go all in and just do it.”
Although he believed he could be successful, Alex admits he was under pressure to make it work.
“Going from a nice, comfortable income to zero was like wow, this has to work. Pressure is also in some sense good. You can’t sit around. You’ve got to be up every day and want it every day.”
Alongside his portfolio of rent-to-rents, Alex has also sold seven deals, working initially with experienced co-deal sourcers who have big lists of investors.
“For me it was a great learning experience. You can lean on them. You can do your own due diligence and look into a deal, but also get a second opinion on it from someone who’s done it multiple times. A lot of deal sourcers co-deal a lot of the time anyway.”
Alex has worked with several students who, like him, have appeared on Samuel Leeds’ popular YouTube show, Winners on a Wednesday. They split the proceeds from the sale of the deal which helps both parties.
One mistake he made at the beginning was to ‘go crazy’ hunting deals but then, when he found one, he had no investor to sell it to. A lot of his deals have come from agents.
He had already invested into another rent-to-rent when one property was offered to him. “I would have taken it on myself, but it was not the right time.”
Over time Alex has built up his own list of clients after attending networking events which he had never done previously.
“I wish I’d started earlier. I see young people in their early twenties, even less than 20, and I’m thinking fair play, you’re in the right room.”
Managing his time and how to structure his day have been key learning points for Alex over the last year.
Two of his friends have since joined the academy, including a manager at the estate agency where he worked.
“I was explaining all the strategies to him and what I’d learnt, and he said this is a whole new world to me. He went to the £1 crash course and saw there was a real future.”
After becoming a member of the academy, he took on three rent-to-rents in a short space of time. “He absolutely loves it. It’s the best thing he’s ever done.”
Alex has given him advice along the way, which he appreciates, and they call each other every day.
“Having him join has been really good. It’s nice to have someone who’s that close to you that you can enjoy the good things. Also, sometimes there are struggles and things you want to talk about. It’s great to have that person to talk to.”
Alex has ambitious plans for the coming months. He wants to scale his serviced accommodation business and to start managing other people’s SAs, as well as diversifying with HMOs and BRRs – in addition to flipping more properties.
As an estate agent, he had a nine-to-five job which was well paid. He managed an office and carried out two or three valuations a day. Now his weekends consist of looking after his children and attending to some work, but he enjoys it much more.
“It got to that point in my job where I loved the place, but it was the same four walls, the same sort of people, very comfortable. I needed to get out of that.”
Alex’s tips
- If you get a great deal, there are always going to be investors willing to invest into you and that deal.
- Concentrate just as much on finding investors as hunting deals. Otherwise you’re going to get a deal and have no one to sell it to.
Samuel Leeds verdict
“Alex has successfully made the transition from being an estate agent to becoming a property entrepreneur and financially free. He has found his USP because his properties have got themes and are going a bit viral on Instagram. They’re really popular. He has also given advice to a lot of people who are just getting started on their property journey with the academy.”
