One of our members shares his secrets of being a successful property entrepreneur

For obvious reasons we cannot give Graeme's full name, but we can reveal some of his secrets on property investment and why he joined Millionaire Investments.

Graeme now boasts a property portfolio with an estimated current market value of around £10,000,000, which has been created over the past nine years. Graeme puts his success down to hard work and due diligence. 

MI: Graeme, with so many investors having caught cold's in the past few years, what do you most ascertain to your success in property?

GRAEME: A number of years back I visited one of the property exhibitions at Earls Court in London, and witnessed a seminar given by a London property entrepreneur. It was very interesting, and he had a portfolio worth in excess of £20M, which he had created in less than five years. He was a great speaker, but also seemed a very down to earth person. His big statement was 'do the research', and this rang home with me. Having been a researcher for television I realised just how important it was to understand a potential investment, and what it can do for you in the future. I started to research and write down the best locations and types of property that I wanted to invest in, and then set myself goals.

MI: Is this a full time occupation for you, or do you work or have other business interests?

GRAEME: I am in the enviable position of not having to work. The portfolio is providing me excellent rental returns and a very nice income. In previous life I was a journalist, and I still keep my hand in doing a bit of freelance work. This is more fun than work though!

MI: How many properties do you have, and where are they located?

GRAEME: I have three properties on the Costa Del Sol, two of which have long term tenants. In fact one of them has been a tenant since I bought the property over seven years ago. The other has had the same tenant for three years and the third is on a golf course, so this is very much a seasonal holiday let. I have five in the UK, three of which are in London, and the other two in the South East. I also have a property in Germany (my wife is German), one in Sweden, one in the South of France and another two in the Caribbean.

MI: Are most of them permanent lets?

GRAEME: I would say half. The other half are with reputable rental agents, and this was another area I really did my research. Getting good agents is pretty difficult.

MI: What's the next step for your portfolio?

GRAEME: As you may know I am currently buying two of your current listings. One is another Costa Del Sol property, and the other is my first commercial property. I want to start expanding the commercial part of my portfolio. I am also interested in some of the land deals you have listed.

MI: Has the global downturn in property prices had much effect on you?

GRAEME: Of course - I would have estimated by portfolio to be worth over £13M in the peak. This doesn't worry me too much, as I am in it for the long term. The rental yields give me an excellent income, and the opportunities to buy at stupidly low prices at present, also give me the chance to rapidly expand the portfolio. The biggest worry for any investor is the potential loss on rental yields, and not being able to cover borrowing. Fortunately, I have been wise with my investments, and this has kept me in a good position.

MI: Why Millionaire Investments, and what first attracted you to the portal?

GRAEME: It sounds a bit crazy because their are literally thousands of properties listed online, and of course many websites including the well known portals, but when I first visited MI and read what the site was all about and it really rang true with me. I find many of the listing portals are to vague with information, and don't really give a serious investor the right level and quality of information. When you are carefully doing the research, seeing the same property listed with numerous agents, and sometimes different prices doesn't really add up. Also I love the fact that MI is a network rather than just a directory. Since I have been on MI, which is only around three months, I have actually cut down my property surfing time by three quarters, and in fact I rarely visit other sites now.

MI: So is it the quality of the listings on MI that also attracts you?

GRAEME: Yes, definitely! Most of the portals seem to mainly focus on homes or holiday homes, and don't really give me enough information on the investment qualities of a potential investment. MI gives so much more information, and I love the very 'matter of fact' method it delivers the information. 'There is no bullshit if you can print this.' Also I believe the method you have in looking after investors in the initial stages of an enquiry is great. In the past I have been bombarded with agents if I have posted up a requirement or made an enquiry. The two agents I am speaking to on MI though are excellent, and come over as true professionals. There seems to be a lot of cowboys in this market, especially overseas agents, and it's refreshing to deal with professionals.

MI: Would you recommend MI to your friends and colleagues?

GRAEME: Already have. At a guess I would say at least half a dozen of the people I have recommended have become members. Two of them are interested in the same Spanish investments as me.

MI: If you were to change anything about MI, what would it be?

GRAEME: I read about your new system you are looking to introduce on the latest newsletter. This is exactly what I would do. The ability to have one central location for all your investment information, and provide some useful management tools is excellent. 

MI: Yes, we are very excited by the new developments. It really sits well with our ethical practices, and gives our members whether they are agents, financial advisors, investors or some other professional partner a platform to trade from, invest and build wealth. Is this what appeals?

GRAEME: Definitely, I am a bit of a scraps of paper person. I do have a box file for each property, and from what you have announced I won't need this in future.

MI: Don't reveal too much, but yes the platform will give you a digital admin area for all of box file info, or certainly most of it. When we upload the new resources we plan to have some of the members trial the new software - do you want to be on the list?

GRAEME: Yes please!

MI: Graeme - we would like to thank you for the interview, and wish you every success in growing your portfolio. I hope you continue to find MI useful.

GRAEME: Thank you, and keep up the good work!

"It is an exciting time at MI, and Graeme is typical of the investors we have on the portal. There will be some significant announcements over the course of the next six months, and the service offering to our network will be substantial. Thank you to Graeme for giving his time, and we hope all members will continue to benefit from MI membership. If you're interested in becoming a member, click here.