The Young People Trying To Build A Property Empire: Here's How It's Going
- Fadeke Banjo
- Feb 22, 2022
- 6 min read
Awallprintss sat down with three young people who're on their way to building a property empire, renovating a £450k home, and equipping their peers with resources using social media. Our reporter, Fadeke, spoke with each of them on the realities of getting onto the property ladder - from the good, bad, and the ugly for our new series.
When people think of getting into property investing or finding gurus who can help them with their quest of buying a new home - they probably imagine someone like Samuel Leeds, which is fair given how influential the property mogul is.
But young people like Denzil Jones, who is CEO and founder of DJ Property Solutions, a real estate agency sourcing a reported £2 million worth of property, are also taking their rightful place on the list of influential figures in property. The founder, believed to be just 20-years-old, is also the creator of 'The Gen Z Club', a community focused on empowering individuals from the community.
Denzil, however, isn't alone in his goals to equip his peers with resources and keys to breaking into the industry. There's a new wave of GenZ and early millennials taking over that are using tech-savvy ways to encourage other young people to believe that they too can do it despite the many hurdles that may come their way.
What's more important to note is that a lot of them aren't doing it with the help of mum and dad's bank. That's not to say we should diminish the achievements of those that have received a helping hand but we can't deny that not everyone has that privilege.
Asking prices for homes coming on to the market in Britain rose by a record 2.3% in February, according to the property website Rightmove.
The listing site said it was the biggest monthly increase in the 20 years it has kept records and meant the average advertised cost of a home was up by £7,785, to £348,804. Over the past 12 months, asking prices have gone up by 9.5%.
While the number of new property listings increased by 11% during the month, the number of people looking to buy a property rose by 16%, the website said.
So here it is - the first interview of our three-part series speaking to under 30s who've bought, invested, and are on their way to one-day building a property empire in the hope you can be inspired or educated.
Cullen, 27, and Olamide, 27, (East London)
Cullen and Olamide, also referred to as Ola, have been more than best friends - they've been business owners, content creators, and recently joint house owners.
The duo, who are based in East London, bought their first home together back in 2020 - the year the pandemic first hit the UK causing the country to go into a complete lockdown.
Their home, which is worth £450,000, was purchased without any help from their families or a help-to-buy scheme.
It was during the pandemic, when they were both put on furlough and eventually turned freelance, that their passion for being homeowners really kicked in. Through much blood, sweat, tears, and lots of paintbrushes they managed to buy their home aged 25.
But their journey hasn't been easy. Since both Olamide and Cullen had worked freelance for six months after leaving their jobs and had six more months of future work planned, they were classified as contractors. This meant they were eligible for a £500,000 loan from the bank.
Despite the hefty price tag, the East London property they bought was run down and in dire need of renovation when the pair purchased it. The bestie duo now document their property investment and renovation journey on TikTok, where they have 18,000 followers.
Q. What inspired you both to get into property?
Olamide: So we both wanted to buy a house - that was a goal we both set and then I read ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ and I’ve seen a lot of people troll ‘Rich Dad Poor, Dad’, saying that it’s an ‘ick’ if you like ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ but for me, that book was the first book that really opened my eyes and I shared it with Cullen and he liked it [too] and from there we just thought about [getting] the property as a means to start investing.
Cullen: Exactly.. And I think from there we kind of went down a rabbit hole on YouTube and realised the opportunity in property investing and some of the mistakes that people might make.
Q. I was watching one of your first videos on TikTok and you guys mentioned in the video how the housing price in London was one of the reasons why you wanted to stop renting and get into the ladder and buy your own house. Tell me a bit more about that?
Q: You’re quite inspiring to have done this all on your own as a duo and some might say it’s quite unheard of - would you say GenZ’s and the younger end of millennials are defying odds and simply not taking no for an answer?
Cullen: I think we as people (referring to Genzs) are open to risk, so we weren’t that attached and to be honest we were completely underprepared. So a lot of people fall into the trap of over-preparing and it sort of paralysis them to not doing anything, whereas we were the opposite, we were a little bit too eager and properly could of done with a bit more precaution. But we were like come on let’s jump in - it felt like the right thing to do and it made sense.
Olamide: I think it is something that is becoming a lot more common these days and I think people are trying to be more creative with getting into property and I think you will find more friends buying together...[which] I think is good because it’s very difficult out here .. it’s TOUGH, it’s tough in the streets and you have to be creative with it.
Cullen: I would agree that sort of mentality of houses being just for couples... is starting to blur a little bit...It sounds weird that two friends [are] buying a house together as an investment... like people would say, why are they doing that? what if you have kids, what are you going to do? Q: People often say don’t mix friendships with business, you two are best friends, how have you guys managed to maintain your friendship whilst also being business partners? Olamide: I think ultimately we are both very mature and understanding people and we understand each other’s boundaries and we are always open to learn and talk about stuff and we work together, if we have a disagreement we work together to work out a solution, it’s not like me vs Cullen, it’s like us vs the problem.
Q: You mentioned that the journey to getting your home wasn't easy, the paperwork was quite laborious and sometimes it's easy to second guess yourself on key decisions such as the right place to buy a home. But did the journey have any mental health tolls? Olamide: Yes a lot. But [it was] mainly from a growth perspective [because] in the beginning it was a lot [to handle as] we were working full-time when we first launched our page and [there was the struggle of] being able to keep up with what we wanted to achieve. It was quite a lot and of course, learning all these new things, I struggled to do some of the renovations stuff in the beginning as well and I was like, quite slow with it but Cullen was more natural with that stuff, and organised with that stuff and doing the videos now is more natural to me but now Cullen is struggling with that. There is always something but at the same time, we are always growing at the same time. Cullen: I agree with that completely, I think the whole process has pushed us out of our comfort zone. You have moments when things are great, but … like renovating the house, there were moments where we fully felt we didn’t know what to do...there were definitely days when I was like, my heart was beating fast, I don’t know what to do, I haven’t slept well in four nights.
Comments