As students of Samuel Leeds go, Mohammed Ullah is up there with the most dedicated of followers. The former taxi driver who ran his own company has attended around 30 of the Property Investors founder’s crash courses, ever eager to pick up new tips from ‘the master.’ Mohammed also joined Samuel’s academy and has gone on to become a highly successful deal sourcer. One of his deals netted him £10,000 and he regularly earns commissions of £3,000 to £5,000 from selling property investment opportunities.
‘The sky’s the limit in property’
It costs just £1 to register for a Property Investors Crash Course, and it packs a whole lot of value, says Mohammed.
“The energy and the training you get for that is very good. Every time I go, I learn something new.”
He admires Samuel Leeds for the effort he puts into helping other people to emulate him, both through his events and his YouTube videos.
“Anybody who’s watched a Samuel Leeds video has taken in something. A little seed’s been planted in the back of their heads,” adds Mohammed. “It’s down to them what happens with that seed. Samuel keeps giving valuable content, going up and down the country to help people learn and make their lives financially free.”
Mohammed is a great believer in personal development. “Learning never ends. It doesn’t matter how old you are. You can still learn.’
It was at a business conference that he first met Samuel. They connected and have worked together ever since.
Mohammed had a taxi company, as well as restaurants and takeaways. He was a self-confessed workaholic, working ‘24/7 365.’ It all came ‘crashing down’ in 2017 when competitors, including Uber, came on the scene and he decided to close his business.
“I call all this a blessing in disguise. My daughter was born at the time as well. It was time to learn something new and do something different. Samuel’s energy and the things he was saying out there really brought me back to life.
“When you learn the property entrepreneurship business, the sky’s the limit. The people, the environment that Samuel created was just absolutely brilliant for me.”
Nevertheless, it took Mohammed a few months to sell his first deal to an investor, prompting him to bemoan his lot.
“A big thing was my own frame of mind and where I was at. When you’ve worked 10 to 12 years of your life hardcore at something and all of a sudden you have to dismantle everything you’ve done, it has an effect on your head and the things that you’re saying.
“You’re going to get that anger out and you carry that anger with you. When you do that, you’re thinking negatively of everything that comes around you. At the time I was in a very low place mentally.”
It is easy to moan, he believes, as 90 per cent of what appears on social media and in the news is negative.
“Entrepreneurs are programmed not to take it in. I don’t take that in. I train my brain to gain, and I’ve got to see the positive in everything.”
It was making that switch which helped him overcome his initial struggles. After he left the Property Investors Academy, he carried on learning. He joined groups on social media to build his contacts. Slowly his confidence grew, and the deals started coming his way.
‘This stuff really works.’
These days Mohammed is a full-time, professional property investor, with his own company again, although he calls it his retirement job.
He defines his role as someone who finds a deal, ‘runs the numbers’ and does the due diligence, checking comparable properties in the area to make sure it is a viable proposition. He then packages it up ready for an investor to buy.
His job also involves sifting through the hundreds of thousands of listings on sites like Rightmove to identify a good deal, driving to viewings, negotiating the price, liaising with the agent, and putting together a management company.
The deal that earned Mohammed a fee of £10,000 was for four serviced accommodation units in one block.
“When we got paid that amount, and it was in the bank I was like, ‘Whoa. This stuff really works. Most people don’t earn that in a month, and yet you can make that just from one
good deal. You’ve got to have that mindset and training and understand the industry.”
All his customers have a 14-day cooling off period when they can do their own checks and have a survey done. If they are unhappy for any reason, their money will be refunded.
One of his investors chose not to go ahead because the property was in a bad neighbourhood. Mohammed makes the point that houses are still rented in such areas. Six months later, he says, the investor took another property from his list but missed out on the rent that would have accrued on the other one in that time.
“Now we’ve got so many co-sourcers and agents calling us up, asking if we want this or that. We’ve built that network. To do that takes time and energy – and training. It’s important to know what you’re talking about.”
Mohammed paid £12,000 to become a member of the Property Investors Academy which gave him access to a year-long programme of courses on different investment strategies. He also received mentoring from a team of coaches.
He describes the academy as brilliant, saying he learnt how to do due diligence, read contracts and develop himself personally.
“If you’re going to be a millionaire you’ve got to know how a millionaire will operate and how you are going to handle everything. You’ve got to understand the business world and keep in touch with the market changes.”
The businessman already had a few properties when he came on the Property Investors Academy.
“These were without education properties, so I had the money and just put it into the property and let it grow. When you work out your ROI (return on investment) and learn how to do things properly it’s a different story altogether.
“It’s about if I didn’t go for that and went for something like this then I would get more money back on what I’m spending.”
BRR project is set to make £100K
Recently Mohammed branched out into offering his own accommodation. It came about by accident after he negotiated a deal on a house in Wigan. For the first time he was able to use all the strategies, which he had been taught about, bar lease options.
An investor from the Netherlands was originally going to buy the property, but then pulled out at the last minute. All the loan agreements were in place and Mohammed had exchanged contracts for the investor.
Trained as an entrepreneur to solve problems, he went in search of the owner of the property to request a two-week extension to allow him to complete the sale.
“I knew he lived on this road a few doors down. So, I knocked on three doors and I found him. I said, “Dave, I’m in a bit of a pickle here. I need a two-week extension.”
He agreed straight away and so Mohammed tackled the next issue which was to raise the finance to buy the house. After calling the investors on his list, two of them put some of their funds into the project.
“I broke it down. I was aiming to raise about £45,000. I got £10,000 off one person and then even the owner of the house invested £30,000 into it for the refurbishment after we went for a meal and chatted about what I was doing.”
In return, Mohammed paid him a fixed rate of interest and they have since become friends. The purchase price was £105,000 and Mohammed agreed to pay a builder around £37,000 to turn it into a four-bedroom family home complete with an island kitchen.
However, when the property was stripped bare, he saw the potential to convert the space into a six-bedroom HMO. Even with saving money on the island unit, the cost came in at £52,995 which included installing en suites and fire doors.
Realising he still needed more cash to furnish and fit out the house, Mohammed took out a loan of £13,000 with a credit card company after applying for it online. Following the completion of the work, Mohammed was given a bricks and mortar valuation of £210,00. This was substantially higher than the residential value of £190,000 quoted by estate agents. It was also more than his own prediction of £198,000.
The valuationdid not take into account the intended commercial use of the building. One surveyor told him it would be worth anything from £240,000 to £280,000. Mohammed plans to challenge the original figure before refinancing the mortgage on the property.
Even if he obtained a mortgage based on the £210,000 valuation, it would give him a profit of about £100,000 and enable him to pull out £157,000 for further investments, he says.
Having planned to rent out the rooms individually, Mohammed is now intending to offer serviced accommodation as this is likely to be far more lucrative.
“With a HMO, I’m going to be netting anything from £1,500 to £1,800 a month. Whereas if I go down the serviced accommodation route our projections are saying that we’ll net £2,500 a month on 50 per cent occupancy.”
This is in addition to pulling out all his money to do the same kind of project all over again. It leaves him effectively with a free house, as well as a healthy rental income. Even with 25 years of business experience behind him, Mohammed says he has learnt so much.
Being a deal sourcer opens him up to joint ventures and allows him to keep the ‘cherry deals’ to himself. In hindsight, he acknowledges that the Wigan scheme was one such deal which he nearly handed to an investor.
Inspired by Samuel Leeds, Mohammed has even taken on his own Financial Freedom Challenge, with spectacular results.
Working with another investor, he went out on the road for seven days in search of property deals which could be sold as corporate lets. After being turned down several times, they chanced on one estate agent who was renovating a house and turning it into four apartments.
“We went round to the house, weighed it all up with him and saw this would work. We travelled all over the country, got more deals, came backand packaged them up writing it all out and getting them ready to sell to investors.
“We made £18,000 altogether in a week. When you see that money in your bank account, you’re like wow.”
Having enjoyed success with his Wigan venture, and got to know the town, Mohammed has adopted it as his patch and is planning to take on another six-bedroom HMO. It is 500 yards from a Premier Inn and so he expects the demand to be there.
He uses the power of social media to grow his list of investors, producing Instagram reels, showing him working and relaxing. He was amazed when one video of him painting a fence attracted 5,000 likes.
“My social profiles are real and raw. I’m in the hot tub sometimes doing my videos. It is what it is.”
Mohammed’s tips
- Get the training first and then get out there.
- Get around like-minded people. Join Facebook groups and ask questions.
Samuel Leeds’ verdict
“I’ve loved watching Mohammed’s journey on social media. When I met him at a business conference, I thought this man’s got something about him. He’s very coach-able and always learning. I’m a great believer in that, as he is.”
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