But What About The Refurbishment Project During This Covid Chaos?

But What About The Refurbishment Project During This Covid Chaos? My last update mentioned the good progress we were making on the project at Throstle Lane in Leeds. If you’ve not yet seen the pictures, it’s a dated ex-council house, where I was undertaking the buy – refurbish – rent out – refurbish model. The intention is to keep the property long term, and it has been bought with private investment funds, to give the investors a fixed return on their capital. It was going all well… I had a Selco delivery booked for a large amount of large and heavy materials – and then BOOM, Coronavirus hit. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of this Covid-19 virus that’s sweeping the globe? It’s only been mentioned in the media once or twice…?!! Effectively, the country has ground to a halt, whilst we all combat this terrible and dangerous disease. Life as we know it is on hold… But what does this mean for the project? Well, having studied carefully the Government guidelines and advice, and thought about the pros and cons of pausing the project, I decided to continue with the refurbishment as best and as safely as I can. Refurbishing a house is obviously not the sort of work that one can do from a desk at home. Gladly, I am not an imbecile, so I have found it reasonably simple to assess the risks, put into place a safe risk assessment plan to manage them, and have cracked on. After all, there’s a family waiting for this house. And also, time is money, and when it’s somebody else’s money at risk, I’m not prepared to let them down either. And plus, I’m an eternal optimist; I know this dreadful pandemic will be beaten soon, and then we can all get on with our lives and resume some sort of normality. Some of my planned contractors, labourers and painters have had to be cancelled, due to keeping the guidance of us all keeping socially distant. So that just left on the project the handyman, and er, me. Luckily my handyman is a recluse anyway, so he poses no risk of interacting with others outside of work hours. The other bonus is that he is superbly multi-skilled, and has already done a vast amount of work himself within the house. Now the bad news: me… I’ll be honest, I’m generally just a supervisor on my refurb projects. I have no manual skills, I am appalling at DIY, and I am physically as gormless and clumsy as they come. Generally with DIY or garden work in my own house, I start a task, get bored within minutes, regret starting it and not just outsourcing it, and then get stroppy and frustrated and then do a half-arsed slapdash rush job. It’s no coincidence that all my rental properties are in a far better condition than my own house! But, needs must in this time of shortage, so I have had to dry my eyes, get my hands dirty, and gerronwi’it. I’ve got to keep the end in mind: ie this project is going to be a home for a family, so I can’t let that future family down. Thus, I have been assisting with the following:  – sweeping and removing rubbish (hey, start slow, earn those labouring stripes!)  – scrabbling about for materials, because my Selco delivery got cancelled. I’ve been desperate for plaster for two weeks now, as all the major suppliers are either closed or out of stock! My own shed has been heavily raided for resources; a supreme bit of luck that I had some kitchen worktops that fitted perfectly!  – mixed some mortar for the roof patching work! Hoiking heavy bags of sand and cement about for it: not so much fun for a weak pathetic Leeds lass with no muscles.  – painting: walls I’m ok with a paint pad, but ceilings are the work of the devil, I can’t see where I’ve already painted!  – helping with dot and dab plasterboarding! Until the handyman realised within seconds I was crap at it and took the trowel off me!  – and the bit I’m most impressed with myself with: apprentice glazier! After the new supporting brickwork lintel had been fitted above the living room window, we took out the window to fill in a large gap above the frame, and I’ll be honest, I was terrified about doing this, knowing how gormless I am. But although the thought of potentially dropping the very large glass window pane unit terrified me, what scared me more was knowing if I did drop and break it, it would cost me more money to have to buy a new one! So I calmed my panic, composed myself and helped remove and replace that glass with the smoothness and sleekness of a, erm, newborn baby giraffe… But no glass was smashed, woohoo!   So yes, I have done far more manual work on this project than any of the others. My hands are red raw, and every single day last week I gained a new cut or injury on them, the most unpleasant one being when the naughty saw bit me…   But on the plus side:  – I’m doing lots of daily Fitbit steps!  – Thus I’m not putting on additional weight during this quarantine!  – I’m keeping my labour costs down.  – And best of all, the house is getting completed, albeit bit by bit, and slower than expected. But better to go slow, than have to stop. Remember that the tortoise still won that race! Upstairs is pretty much finished, all the living room artex has now been plasterboarded over, awaiting some elusive bags of plaster, and we’ve just made a start on the kitchen units, which is always an exciting bit to do. Don’t forget, if you’d like to see the progress of the refurbishment, then the album for it is on my Facebook page here: https://m.facebook.com/kellyann.martin.10/albums/947238585671044/?ref=content_filter   And although I’m not currently viewing any properties for future projects because of the social distancing rules, as soon as they are lifted, I’ll be back on it. So if you’d like to consider being a potential investor for the future, do get in touch for a discussion on what I can offer you return-wise on your capital – which I guarantee is better than the banks’ abysmal interest rates! All my contact details can be found on my website www.kellyannmartin.co.uk Thanks for reading the update, and I hope that you and your family, are all safe and well, and have an absolutely lovely isolated Easter! Hey, even Jesus had to spend it alone in his cave… My very best wishes,                           Kellyann Martin

PROJECT UPDATE: Throstle Lane

PROJECT UPDATE: Throstle Lane.

It’s been a few weeks since I posted, because I’ve been busy entertaining myself with the latest refurbishment project in Leeds.

This is a residential house in my area, an 8 minute drive from my front door, and a prime property for a family, a large, roomy ex-council end terrace with front and rear gardens.

The house was very dated, seemingly not having been touched for at least thirty years, due to the deterioration of inside and the décor – which included an old 70s/80s style stone feature fireplace and a 60s style kitchen cabinet!

There were two bedrooms initially, but with clever use of an insulated stud wall, and making good use of the large bedroom with two windows facing each other, this house now has three bedrooms. The new rooms are still decent sizes; and the interior structure of the floor plan has worked out way better in real life than I visualised it in my head, so I am very pleased with the way it has turned out.

As we’re patching the house back up, we’re finding that due to the age of it, more ‘contingency’ work is cropping up – but this is usual in such a dated property, and nothing to panic about.

These unexpected items include a lot of rebuilding of interior walls, as much of the old blown plaster was just coming off in chunks, so we’ve had to go back to brick in lots of areas. The roof also took an unexpected bashing in the recent storms, and many slates have had to be replaced, but that is patching up nicely to become watertight again.

My biggest concern though is the living room window. On looking at every other house surrounding my property, it is clear that when the council replaced everybody’s old wooden windows with new PVC ones, none of the houses had a supportive lintel put in. So my property, along with everybody else’s external brickwork above the window, has dropped, and that is what needs fixing.

The structural engineer has been out to survey what needs doing, the builder has been informed and booked in, so that’s the only major job I’m concerned about – fingers crossed!

On the whole though, the project is going well. First fix electrics have been done, and the rooms are starting to come together and emerge as liveable spaces!

As for the figures for this project, here’s they are:

Asking price on open market: £77,000

Purchase Price: £60,000.

Refurbishment budget: contingency having to be kicked in, so I’ll let you know in due course! But hopefully no more than £12,000, which includes the structural work, roof repairs, full rewire, complete new central heating system and boiler, loads of bonding and replastering, new kitchen, new bathroom, décor and flooring throughout, waste management (including some fly tipped rubbish and cannabis farm which somebody else kindly donated to my drive!) and then finally sort out that jungle of a garden!

Estimation revaluation: £105,000.

I own a near-identical property same street around the corner, 22 doors down, which revalued up at this figure – plus another round the corner sold recently for the same price, so I am confident it will achieve the new value after refurbishment.

This project has been purchased with the assistance of private investor funding.

They are helping me bring the property back into use for a local tenant family to rent out as their long-term home.

In return, the investor is getting a great fixed return on their investment, returned within twelve months – as soon as the property has been refinanced for the uplifted equity value.

If you would also like to invest in a property project for a hands-free passive income – and you love the idea of socially responsible investment in developing homes to enhance the socio-economic welfare of low income families – then do get in contact with me to discuss future projects which need investment.

All my contact details can be found on my website www.kellyannmartin.co.uk

Meanwhile, if you want to have a look at the progress of this latest refurbishment, then the album for it is on my Facebook page here:

https://m.facebook.com/kellyann.martin.10/albums/947238585671044/?ref=content_filter

Thanks for reading, and do make sure you have a great day!

PS – want a VIP tour of this project to see a real life ‘Homes Under the Hammer’ refurb, and to meet me in person?!
Just give me a shout!

Don’t Ever Give Up Hope… A Tale of Some Little Piggies!

Don’t Ever Give Up Hope… A Tale of Some Little Piggies!

Today I’m going to tell you a story than spans more than thirty years.

A story of a child’s unfulfilled frustration and disappointment.

A tale of never-ending hope.

But to begin our story, let me take you back to the mid-1980s…

Our story begins in Leeds, with an only child, a shy, little poor girl from a single-mother family: me.

I’d always dreamed of having a better life. 

Of being as lucky and wealthy as the rest of the kids in my class. 

Of actually being able to have some money of my own.

So when the National Westminster Bank ran a campaign which encouraged children to save money in their own account, I saw my chance to make a start.

The incentive to save was strong; you received a new ‘piggy bank’ for coins in the form of pottery pigs every time you reached the next saving milestone.

I opened an account with my £5, received the first pig: Woody the baby, and got cracking collecting my coins.

In time, I saved £25, and Natwest sent me Annabel the pig through the post. This was great.

I kept going, saving my limited pocket money, and finally reached £50, put my savings in the bank, and the next pig Maxwell arrived to reward me for my efforts. 

All was going well.

I kept saving hard for the last two pigs; you needed £75 to get Lady Hillary and then £100 meant you received Sir Nathaniel Westminster and thus completed the set.

And then we hit a stumbling block.

Which meant I never ended up getting the last two pigs.

I don’t quite remember exactly what went wrong, because I was young and it is over thirty years ago. But although my saving continued to go well, alas, mine and my mother’s lives did not.

I did have my money saved up for the next pig, but sadly, the savings never reached the bank, because I had to keep lending my mum them to pay for food and living costs. And this pattern kept repeating.

So I never completed my planned set of piggy banks, and then the campaign offer ended in 1988, meaning my set was to remained incomplete.

Somehow shit just goes wrong in life, and I hold no resentment against my mum; children can’t be fed on fresh air, she did what she had to do.

I felt sad and disappointed about this, but I also learnt a valuable lesson about life’s priorities and financial management.

But have you ever felt such burning disappointment of failure?

So strong that it still causes you bitterness thirty years later?

That is how I felt about my incomplete set of pigs.

Meanwhile my three little piggies followed me around as I grew up, surviving 8 moves into adulthood, but always having pride of place in my bedroom.

A reminder of what I achieved, and what could have been.

And although circumstances meant it wasn’t my fault, those three piggy children were seemingly nagging and taunting me of how I should have done better.

I should have tried harder. Somehow.

And I know this probably sounds ridiculous to you, readers: getting annoyed over some piggy banks? 

But for me, they represented one major feeling: failure.

If you’ve met me in real life, you’ll know that I hate failure.

Leaving things incomplete.

Not finishing things, not doing what I said I would.

It just does not sit right with me - and so I always do my best to achieve things. 

And just like in childhood, many things often go wrong for me, no matter how hard I try – but I continue to try, because it’s a better option than giving up.

Failure’s only permanent once you stop trying.

So bearing this in mind, I decided a couple of years ago to try and complete the set.

I looked in charity shops, on eBay, and continued to witter on to my friends about these pigs.

But because Wade Pottery didn’t make as many versions of Lady Hillary and Sir Nathaniel - they were in fewer demand because not many children reached the coveted £100 - these pigs were few and far between.

And if you reached the full set, then like me, you probably wouldn’t have wanted to part with them either. And those people that did want to sell them were charging an extortionate amount for them.

So time, patience and persistence were required.

On Christmas Day 2019 I was absolutely delighted to unwrap the final two pigs Lady Hillary and Sir Nathaniel.

A gift from my friend Nicola, who, having known of my pig-wittering for nearly three decades, had managed to source them somewhere.

I’ll be no-holds-barred brutally honest here: I was utterly fucking delighted.

This was a big deal to me.

Sometimes, although you know it will make no logical sense to onlookers, there’s some things in life that mean a great deal to you - and Nicola helping me complete my set is one of those occasions.

So I’ve wanted to write this blog since Christmas day. And, as I rightly predicted I would, I have beefed all over the keyboard.

I can’t even tell you why.

Delight of completion, thirty years of disappointment over, the finishing touch to success, maybe?

My five pigs, all together now as a happy family, a complete set.

And I’m superbly chuffed about it.

So, what’s the moral of the story?

What lessons can we learn from this little piggy anecdote?

Let’s see.

  

 - Money management is a key skill to master in life.

 - Sometimes life goes wrong. We have to gerronwi’it anyway.

 -Things don’t always get completed as quickly or successfully as you would like. Expect the unexpected.

 - Time, patience, and persistence will eventually pay off – even if it is thirty years later.

 - Only death is unfixable. Everything else can be fixed, in time.

 - If something is important to you, you’ll find a way to make it happen.

 - Don’t ever, ever, ever give up on what you want. X

Thanks for reading!

If you’d like to know more about the history of Natwest’s pigs, see here.

https://www.wade.co.uk/general/brief-history-of-wade-natwest-pigs/




Finally, one massive thank you to Nicola of helping me finish my piggy bank set. I really appreciate it.


And another thank you, to all my friends and family who always support me and my plans and ideas, no matter how crackers some of them might be….


….THANK YOU!!!  x x x

Kellyann Martin is a Property Investment Strategist based in Leeds.

For more details on working with Kellyann, visit the website

www.kellyannmartin.co.uk

FAIR PRICE OR A FLEECING?

FAIR PRICE OR A FLEECING?

CHRISTMAS – WEDDING – NEW YEAR’S EVE – LANDLORD

What do all these words have in common?



I’ll tell you: they make the sellers bump up the price of items and services unnecessarily!



I’ve seen it today in the local shopping centre. We’re a few days before Christmas and shoppers were falling over themselves to buy, in short, utter tat. Christmas presents items such as soap sets, make up, aftershaves, tacky toys, novelty gifts etc. 

It’s always baffled me why the price of these goods massively increases just because the manufacturers have boxed them up in jazzy snazzy festive boxes aimed for the Christmas market. 


Look at the actual products inside people: you’re not telling me it’s worth the bumped-up value just because it’s in a nice glittery box?!



Ditto New Year’s Eve – where many pubs, free for 364 days of the year, now sell you tickets on the door just to let you in to buy their beverages – what’s all that about?!



And as for the word ‘wedding’ – ooof, it’s a free reign licence to sting you!



But my gripe today is when contractors bump up the price of a job just because they hear the word LANDLORD.

There is some bizarre assumption by the world as a whole that most landlords are super rich, greedy money-grabbing fatcats.


I am not most landlords. 


And although I acknowledge that there are some people in property world exactly like that, in my experience, most of the property landlords I know locally are just hard working people doing their best to provide a service, and they’re not super-wealthy. 


Even though we’d like to be!!


But sadly, this urban myth remains prevalent amongst contractors, who persist in giving you ridiculously-prices for services, just because they know you’re a landlord.



I have this running joke, when my friends and other people say “Oh, you must be rich, you’ve got all these houses!”


To which I reply “I’m not rich, BECAUSE I’ve got all these houses!”


Boilers don’t fix themselves you know! All maintenance and repairs works must be paid for – and sadly the Maintenance Monster rears its head in rental properties way too often for my liking!

Now when I talk about fair prices or fleecing, this is not about me being super tight, or mean, or pennypinching (oh ok, I am a bit, I’m Yorkshire, but we all are up here!)


I’m not saying that contractors aren’t worth their price. 


Some definitely are - and they’ll know I appreciate their good work and fair fees because I’m loyal; if they look after me, I’ll use their services again and again.


Several times recently I have had discussions with contractors, where they were nice guys, I liked them and wanted to give them the business – but then they went and gave me a stupid quote.


And then things get awkward when you have to tell them: ‘OWWWW MUCH?!?! That’s double what I’ve ever paid before, sorry, but you’re not getting the job.

I know people still need to make a profit, and they’ve got their own business to run and their own families to feed. 


I get that.


But I also know what things are worth, because of my experience and prices I’ve paid for things before.


Yes, I might be a landlord, but I’m not a gullible moron who wants to set fire to my money just because you’re greedy.


So yes, sadly, I do find it difficult to undergo any refurbishment work from fair people for a fair price. Add into the mix that I’m female and the amount of piss-taking pricing and patronising doubles. 


(Don’t believe me? Ask any other female property investor!)


I just want a good job done by good guys in a decent timescale for a fair price - without being ripped off – is that too much to ask?!!

It’s sheep that follow someone blindly and end up getting fleeced – so you need a fair price, not a fleecing.


Here’s a couple of tips when looking for contractors to do work:

1.   Find some local firms who provide the service you need. Meeting them in person is good, such as at networking meetings, or ask for referrals from people you know who have used their services.

2.   Check them out online, look at their social media, examples of work, testimonials.

3.   Arrange for each of your shortlisted contractors to come and do a site visit. Not all at the same time though!

Ps - some of these contractors won’t even turn up.

I’m not joking…

If they don’t even ring you to explain with a genuine excuse for their absence, remove them from your list. 

4.   Bear in mind their attitude, personality and demeanour on the site visit.

If you hate them automatically, your gut instinct is giving you a stark warning to avoid avoid avoid!

Like the recent patronising guy who kept calling me ‘flower’… Imagine the drama I’d have had getting him to do what I needed without a load of hassle and fuss?!

5.   Await quotes. This can be anything from 2 hours to never.

Yes really. Some people you will never hear from again.

I’m still waiting for a quote from a guy 18 months ago who spent two hours travelling and pricing up a job!

(Makes interesting fun seeing him dance about to avoid me when he attends the same networking meeting…

…hey, maybe he just decided he hates me, and that’s ok too!)

6.   Assess all the quotes for the best. This might not necessarily be the cheapest.

Stupid quotes can also be removed at this point.

In my head, that’s basically the contractor saying: “I don’t like you, I don’t want to work with you, so I’m going to rip you off”. 
So that’s those guys doing you a favour, they’ve heard the word LANDLORD and those pounds signs starting flashing in their eyes. 
Not today, and not with me, my friend!

7.   Pick your favourite contractor with their fair quote.

Book them in for the job. Ideally, it’s someone you know, like and trust.

8.   Let them do the job! 

Oversee their work, address any queries that arise, but no need to micromanage. They’re competent experts, not schoolkid apprentices.

9.   I’m going to add this in, as it seems to be a rising problem for contractors…

Once they’ve done their job to a great standard – pay them!!! There’s been a horrendous rise lately in service providers not being paid for the work they’ve done, or people withholding their payment for ages - and that’s simply not fair.

If they’ve done you a great job, delivered what you asked, why would you not pay them immediately?

And if you can’t afford to do that, then you shouldn’t be booking them in for work until you can. *RANT OVER!

10.               Appreciate their efforts. Make sure they know you’re thankful for their super work. Leave them online testimonials. Refer them to other people you know. Use their services over and over again.

So there we have it… we all love a fair price, but we hate a fleecing!



And yes, for the record, I am a Libra starsign – the sign of the justice scales, of fairness and equality – so woe betide anyone who tries to upset that balance!



Have a super Christmas and a very happy new year!



Kellyann x x x 

HALLOWEEN HORRORS... OF PROPERTY!

I love Halloween! 🎃 👻

So as it’s October 31st, I will share with you some Halloween Horrors... of Property!

There are many scary things about property that keep us terrified and awake at night... and some are just downright horrors!

First one: mysterious happenings in the middle of the night! 😱

During a property’s refurbishment, sometimes spooky things happen when you’re not there... 🤔

Here’s some examples of things I’ve experienced - and how to avoid them rising from the dead again on future projects! ⚰️

👻 Curse: a magic apparition of a load of old junk added to my scrap pile 😤
✝️ To break the spell: avoid this by collating all your junk materials, old bathrooms etc, INSIDE until the day the skip arrives. Then whang all the junk in at once and get them to lift the skip the same day, to avoid demon neighbours inflicting their curses and junk on you! 👍

🎃 Curse: paranormal activity, in the form of your rubbish bins magically disappearing overnight! 😤
✝️ break the spell by fetching your bins inside the property, or they will go missing. Why? Because often some impish neighbours will fancy an extra bin - and many councils now charge for replacement bins. 🤨

👹 Curse: on one project, some utter evil devil had dumped a monster-sized bag of, erm, stinking doggy ectoplasm in my garden, for me to kindly dispose of 💩😱😤
✝️ BEGONE SATAN!!! Sometimes in property - and life - very shitty things happen - quite literally.
No cure for this curse, sometimes people are just fiends and wretches out to inflict hurt and suffering on you.
To deal with this though, you have to adopt a strong PMA (positive mental attitude) for bad things, to keep those demonic vibes at bay.
So think positively about such demonic acts - use your strength and will to tell them: “the power of Christ compels you... to not be so powerful so that your horrible nonsense won’t get to me!!!”

Remember, things can only upset you if you allow them to!
💪😁✝️

Next Tale from the Crypt…

Sometimes when you get the keys to a property, you will find that the house is possessed - by all sorts of creatures, dead or alive!

Bugs, woodlice, silverfish, mice, birds, and our old Halloween favourite, those beastly spiders! 🕷🕷🕷

However, all those fail in comparison when I remember the Longroyd project, with the Bugs of Doom...

This particular house was the deceased estate of a little old lady.

All the carpets had been stripped out - but little did we know, that lurking in the floorboards, ready to pounce, was THE CURSE OF THE INDESTRUCTIBLE KILLER FLEAS!!
😩☠️👾☠️👾

We all got bit by these fleabag masses; itchy, horrid biting creatures; urrrgh, I shudder just remembering them.

And then worst of all, because they get in your clothes, I inadvertently brought them home with me - and despite never before being infected, in all her years... I ended up giving my own Pusscat fleas...
😱😱😱

I WAS THE SPREADER OF EVIL!
👺👾🙀😿😾

That house took me four flea bombs and a mass amount of cleaning to rid that satanic scourge, and then the same again in my own house.

So I’m not a fan of house possessions, by horrible creepy crawly poltergeists!

If you have similar ‘unwanted tenant’ squatters - purge your property thoroughly with an exorcism: with hard cleaning graft, prayers and strong chemicals.
It’s the only way to rid yourself of such demons!!

🕷🦗🦟🐜🐝🦇👾☠️



Moving on, another cautionary tale that strikes immense fear into my being...

The very thought of it brings me out in a cold sweat, and undertaking the necessary evil of it is like a dagger to my heart... 🔪🥶🥵🤯🤮

What I am talking about?

If you’re from Yorkshire, I know you’ll already know what I’m about to say...

... the biggest horror in property is THE CURSE OF THE BURNING PURSE!!! 😩😫😭😭😭💷🔥

 

Property costs money, in all sorts of fiendish ways:
❌ purchase ❌ stamp duty ❌ insurance ❌ legal fees ❌ gas safety ❌ refurbishment ❌ operating expenses ❌ maintenance ❌ utilities ❌ voids ❌ repairs ❌ naughty tenants ❌ 🆘

The scariest thing in the world for a Yorkshireman is having money extracted from our weary paws.

We hate the evil, bloodsucking flesh-eating bogeyman known as the Grim Reaper Taxman!

And as for the eerie cackling call of the House Repairs Goblin, he terrifies us with his creepy visits way too often!

Still when you have families living in your property - many of them angels, and not werewolves - you’ve got to do what’s right to protect them from evil.

So you unnervingly summons your petrified purse / wallet from beneath the grave, dust off the cobwebs, and see what decomposing funds lurk within.

Then zombie-like and crying, you perform a spell, which mostly involves setting fire to your money.

After this chilling sorcery, magic apparitions then appear - more recently in my case, in the form of a new light fitting, a new door handle, and a new electric cooker 😩💷🔥

So beware all ye wannabe property investors - have ye got the stomach to cope with such grizzly, ghastly and horrifying money-sucking phantoms?!? 😭🤮

And Yorkshire folk: normally your purse has to be prised from your corpse’s cold, dead fingers... can you perform some supernatural hocus pocus and... ACTUALLY SPEND SOME MONEY?!?

Terrifying stuff, I know, it scares me too...

Be afraid... be very afraid... 😱😱😱



Finally, this last topic is the scariest yet.

It can either be a trick or a treat, depending on how you prepare yourself.

The most terrifying thing in property are... bloodsucking vampires.

What do I mean by this?

I mean that there are some horrible people in this industry that are out to bleed you dry for all they can get.

Examples of these demons include:
☠️ beastly cowboy builders
☠️ bungling scarecrow solicitors
☠️ bloodsucking bridging firms
☠️ vampires who want to extract all your time, knowledge and education for free
☠️ horrible trolls out to hurt and criticise you
☠️ incompetent zombie workmen
☠️ repulsive RIP-off merchants
☠️ petrifying Ponzi schemes
☠️ shady sharks out to strip you of your money
☠️ outrageous ogres who make all sorts of unbelievable claims about ROI
☠️ untrustworthy shyster wolves who don’t return your investment funds.

I’m not pulling any punches here.
It’s a spine-chilling warning.
The most terrifying part about this post is that it’s all true.

These nasty people do exist, and they walk amongst us - often smiling and beguiling us with their witchcraft.

I myself have experienced several of the above, and I know that many of my investor friends have too.

So what can we do to ensure we get a little less trick, and a lot more treat?

Here are some tips, to renounce the evil:

✝️ Don’t work with people you don’t know, like or trust 🥰
✝️ Do your due diligence on people - are they who they say they are? How do you know? Can they show you evidence and proof? 🧐
✝️ Google them! Reviews, testimonials, online presence, Companies House, images, news... EVERYTHING!
Sometimes it’s in your own interest to be a bit stalker-ish... 🤔🧟‍♀️
✝️ You are a grown adult of your own free will. If someone is putting you under pressure to part with cash, your internal alarm bells should be ringing 🚫
✝️ Trust your gut instinct. If anything feels wrong, for any reason - don’t do it 👊👌👍

Phew!
Terrifying stuff!

But forewarned is forearmed.
Use these tips above as your vampire-slaying kit.
Add in some garlic if you like!
Avenge these property monsters!

Although I’d leave the knives and weapons at home... or at least until the Halloween moonlight hits... 😏🔪

Have a spooky and safe Halloween everyone! x x x

😁🎃

Kellyann Martin is a Property Investment Strategist based in Leeds.

For more details on working with Kellyann, visit the website

www.kellyannmartin.co.uk