🏆 Obstacles to Opportunities: Award-Winning Projects with Infinite Returns w/ Bernadette Anderson

So welcome everyone, so welcome to today's Deal Finder Corner. So you know, this is your weekly property talk show brought to you by Propertyfilter, hosted by myself, Guillaume Black, your favorite Frenchman, CEO and co-founder of Propertyfilter. It's the UK's highest-rated platform to find deals, and you know, we're on a mission to empower our property investors, deal sources, really deal makers, to do again 3,000 deals like we've done last year thanks to the Propertyfilter Blueprint. Really, the purpose with this Deal Finder Corner is to give you more and the best of the available resources by inviting expert guests who will share with you the latest and most current strategies, secrets, tactics, what actually works right now in terms of finding and making deals, and the reality of running a high-performing business in property. So really, it's my pleasure to introduce you to Bernadette Anderson today. So on today's Deal Finder Corner, I met Bernadette at the Property Investor Awards last November. She was the winner of Deal of the Year, and quite rightly. So that was really, really cool. I was very jolly that night, so it was quite nice to meet them. So if you don't know, she's London-based, she's a prolific property developer. She transitioned from a successful global IT career, and now she's very much passionate about redefining space, doing bold, creative, human-centered design that win awards, you know. She's got a really, really keen eye for details, potential in buildings, and really a passion for transforming and making things stand out. So she realizes really high-spec developments, and really this is really for the target market she's after. So she's got very much this eye again for the details, as I said, but she wants to make things stand out inside the community for the residents, etc. And, you know, no surprise she goes around and winning world. So today, what we can expect and what we speak about. So Bernadette is going to share with her some of the branding and things she uses for raising finance, or she poses showing herself, her developments to stand out, to attract the right buyers, right tenants, and really secure the best finance for deals. Or she adds value with different techniques so she can transform properties into the high-spec spaces. We're going to look and see in a moment. How she can command premium prices and break the ceilings of rent or price in an area where other people would just overlook the potential in the first place. We're going to talk about, obviously this is property, right? So overcoming challenges, obstacles, how she went from a full-time global IT career to property development, all she had to go through basically there, and why staying very resilient through all the setbacks we experience in property. And I think there's a special mention of her human-centered design, how she creates the space that fosters belonging of community, building space together, and really how she's building a brand more than just buildings. And she then attracts the right tenants, the right opportunities, or she gets even more deals, you know, on the back of that. So this is going to be a benchmark for excellence. So study what, you know, what Bernadette is going to share with us today. She delivers her project to stand out, and there's, I believe, an example for all of us. And then if you are in the same sort of situation where you've got your corporate career, how do you go from that to becoming, you know, a visionary in your own property career itself, you know. So we're going to talk about all the transferable skills you can bring into that. So thank you so much. So very much looking forward to your talk today, Bernadette. So please, everyone else, join me in welcoming Bernadette to today's The Final Caller. Thank you, Guillaume.

That's a wonderful introduction.

Oh, thank you.

Okay, so can I check, can everyone see my slides?

Yes, they can.

Yeah. Okay, so there's quite a lot of content. So I'm not one of these people who just can say, this is my project and this is how much money I made. I'm actually going to give you some real examples of challenges that I had on my project, and the people who have received it so far were very grateful. For what I shared with them. I'm quite generous with my information. So let's get straight in. Okay, Guillaume, I'm just trying to move the slides in.

Yeah, not sure. I can see your slide, but it's not moving either. Um, if you sort of, uh, Select your PowerPoint. Yeah, here we go.

Perfect. Okay, so just a quick introduction about me because I don't want to— I don't want this to be the main focus, but I'm a property developer. I'm based in London and I had a very successful global IT career. I've worked all over the world. I've worked on some very big projects leading the UK and European markets. And my penultimate project, I actually managed a training for 20,000 users, end users across Europe. So that— what that meant was I— and all my projects, I was actually designing the training material and testing the system, uh, for what might— that people needed to do their jobs. And then we would actually create that material and we would deliver it. So I've got a lot of experience talking to people in multicultural environments all over the world, to stakeholders. I had to stand up every week and talk to people, and it's made me very resilient. Also, I've had a lot of challenges, as you can imagine. IT world is pretty ruthless, and it makes you very resilient and gives you the strength to deal with your projects. And a lot of these skills— and I mean, most of them— I've literally transferred over to my property world. So I was in property anyway, I was an accidental landlord And then I moved into property full-time about 4 or 5 years ago. Of course, there's been challenges, and that could be another— I mean, even before my last project, and that can be another talk even at some time. And but it's, it's what you do to get to this point, and it's how you pick yourself up, and it's how you keep going. And, uh, so that's a little bit about me. So then, uh, subjects that we're gonna go through, we've got leveraging a successful global IT career, why branding really matters raising finance. I've added some stuff in about JVs as well. I think these, I think these points are really good for you guys to hear if that's something that you're wanting to do or doing. Overcoming challenges, the power of human-centered design, adding value, mitigating risk, and mindset. So I've covered most of this already. Just a bit about stuff I do my personal time, uh, on my last project I didn't actually get a lot of personal time. That's something I am actively changing at the moment for my current project make sure you get that personal time, do the things that you love. I also dance, I'm a divemaster, I love traveling, I'm also a philanthropist, so I, I help many different causes. And actually what I'd like to do once I've got everything set up in my property world is be a— be the one providing good housing for care providers, for children I think if someone can go on mute, they've just come off. Uh, yeah, so providing good homes for providers who provide childcare, that's something— that's, uh, one of my, one of my goals that I want to achieve. So I talked a bit about leveraging, uh, my career. It doesn't have to be IT, it can be anything that you're doing. If you're thinking about, you know, how do I get started, you know, we're all at different phases of our of our projects and where we are on our journeys. And it's really important to look at where we are and what we do and how we can use those skills. Because I remember when I moved into property full-time, some people said— actually said to me, oh, that's quite a change, you know, to go from IT to property. No, it's not actually. My penultimate project, as I said, I managed to roll out for 20,000 users. I'm used to managing budgets. I'm used to managing timescales. It's just a different outcome. We all have skills, and if these are skills that you want to develop, also what I would suggest from a personal point of view, if you're not used to speaking and standing up in front of people, go to networking events, talk to people, stand up, ask questions. You know, these are ways of building your confidence, and when people see that you're very confident and competent about what you're talking about and your subject matter, then they believe in you. And then when you can demonstrate that, you know, this is how you get potential investment. And, and obviously we're always looking for that so we can do our projects. And this is a key part of what we're doing. So, you know, build your confidence. And there's a great book actually, it's called, uh, The Slight Edge. It's by Jeff Olson. That's J-E-F- F-F-O-L-S-E-N. It really helped me and was instrumental for me on my last project because I had some health issues as well, which I was managing at the same time as doing my project. And what that book was about was taking small steps every day. You know, we are in a world— like myself right now, I'm at home, and we're predominantly working by ourselves. It's not a great environment like that. So that's why I try to get out and go to networking events. But, you know, these times when we are by ourselves, we might feel overwhelmed by what we need to do. You know, be reminded, look, we're all in the same boat. Take a small step every day. You know, this book, The Slight Edge, it's about taking small compounding steps every day. And that helped me with both my health and my project. Oops. Because that was running at the same time. So I highly recommend it. I listen on audio. You can go for a walk, pop your, your earpods in and listen to it. It would really, really help you. One of the things I just want to, um, just quickly mention is that when I was in my IT world, I, I took on the role myself as a go-between, and I'm a problem solver. I like to fill the gaps, I like to close the gaps, I like to know that it's been done properly to mitigate risk. And this in particular, I apply exactly the same approach to my projects. And I would suggest to any of you doing your projects, never say to your contractor or whoever you're engaging that I don't care, I haven't got the time, just deal with it. Yeah, just do whatever you think needs— you need to do. I would never ever say that to my contractor because I like to know what's going on. And when you know what's going on then you can make the right decision to fix that problem and mitigate your risk so it doesn't come back and bite you again in the future. So why branding matters in property. Property— so I've put a couple of photos here. So this is a photo of one of the bedrooms in my last development. So I created, created it like a hotel. So I actually designed the house. That's the layout. I didn't do the drawings, but in terms of the layout and everything, uh, as if I was going to live there. So this is a picture of one of the bedrooms. As you can see, it's nice and bright, it's got very luxurious feel. Light's very, very important for me. And then, uh, the photo below, that's one of my ensuites, which I'm super proud of because I was very, very clever with my space, which I'll talk a little bit about afterwards. But branding is really important. What do you represent? Property relies heavily on trust. You know, now for me it's great. I've just won Property Dealer of the Year. That's a fantastic achievement. So for the people that didn't know me, and I was quite well known anyway, now they know even more about me. And the people that didn't know me, now they know who I am, and I can demonstrate that clearly. And property, uh, is so much about trust because it's so much about paying your investors back. And how do you secure your asset so you can exit, so you get the return that you want? And it's by delivering quality so you can exit your deal and you can pay everyone back, and especially, uh, your investors, because that's one of the most important things. A well-defined brand differentiates you against your business. I want to deliver the best. That doesn't mean I've spent the most, because I'm very, very good at negotiating, but I want deliver the best. People will pay a premium for my properties because I am delivering this to them. That doesn't mean that I'm overcharging them, because we know lending is expensive, but I need that return so it actually is a deal. Be consistent with what you're doing. Uh, I, I mentioned before I had some health issues, so I admit I, I disappeared when I was on my project. I went into hibernation. I've only really resurfaced again the last 6 months, but I'm being consistent with my brand, with what I'm doing. And if you— and I would honestly say this— if you've got an issue like that, just tell people, put a post up, let people know what's going on, and then they'll say— they'll, they'll know. Um, so that's just, just, just some personal advice from what I went through the last couple of years. And by doing all of this, you make a strong brand, it's stronger relationships, it's repeat investors. So one of my investors— I've actually got a meeting today So after this, I'm off for an investor meeting and he's hopefully going to invest in my bungalow, which I'm building on this site where I've, where I've done the HMO. So it's really important that you're delivering the right message. The trust is already there. He's invested before. He got paid back on time, got a little bit of a bonus as well. You know, keep people happy. It gets noticed. And, um, yeah, then I'm on to my next project. Morals and integrity, no light trust. These things, people hear it all the time, but I really, really mean it. I do hear stories of people not paying their investors back. It horrifies me. I actually write into my contracts that if I were to close down any of my companies, that I am personally liable. Still, I am personally liable. So that gives reassurance to my investors that they're going to get their money back. And of course, we have all the other paperwork, but make sure that you pay your investors back. And if a project doesn't work out, find a way to bring that money in, set up a payment plan with them, that— be creative. There's ways around it, but do it. So raising finance, joint ventures. I think it's really important to put this message out because I have tried to set up JVs before, and for different reasons they haven't worked out. So I personally just wanted to put some points here to get you guys thinking and to safeguard yourself, to safeguard your money, your funds, your investor funds, and your project. So first of all, debt versus equity-based lending. Basically what that is, I will never— well, I don't intend to, but I don't want to give a share of my company to someone. I don't want them to have any control. I don't want them to have any say-so. I am taking on investors, I pay them a set return, they get at the end of the project, they get their money back, and then they get their interest back. And that is what you call a debt, but that's debt-based lending. Equity, equity is where I'm actually giving part of the company to someone. I don't want to do that for different reasons. I don't want to be tied to online with someone that could affect my assets and everything that I've spent years building. So is a JV right for you? Can you trust a JV partner? Do you share the same vision?

For what—

I'll give you an example. Like my last project, I spent hours, hours and hours and hours. When I was in hibernation, I would be on site all day. I'd be coming back, I'd be doing my admin, I'd be tracking all the invoices. Be sending those off to my lender to do my drawdowns. There was a lot of admin to do then. I'd have something to eat and then I would be working till the early hours. Not— I'm not recommending this, but I'm just saying this is what was happening in my life. And I would be researching every single day, every single day, what is the best solution for this. So, you know, think just how the, how the property was being built, for example. Every single finish that went in, if you look, if you remember the photo from my en-suite, every single finish in that, in those en-suite took hours and hours of research. Would someone work like I do? I don't, I don't think so. Could I find someone like that? Maybe I might, but it's just these are the things you need to, um, you need to determine because it comes down to, it's my last point on this slide, roles and responsibilities. You know, I've been in the situation also where I have moved— I'd moved into property full-time and I was learning. So this is 4 years ago. So I embraced it because everything was new for me. I was— we were doing a permitted development application, just, I'm just about to submit it. I learned so much. I took all of that and then I put that into my other projects. But at the same time, my potential business partner, they had a full-time job. And they were still getting paid. I wasn't, and they wasn't— they weren't doing any of the operational stuff. So it's really, it's really important to define the roles and responsibilities and who's doing what. That also includes fees. So say, for example, one of you have sourced the property, do they get a fee for that? So it's just things to think about if you're going to do a JV interventional contract. Really important next point: does a JV partner have assets? Last week even, I was approached by someone, they want to do a JV with me, and because I've been through all of this, I know what to ask. And I said, okay, yeah, I would potentially consider that. I said, but it's really important that both JV partners have assets, because I know for when I've— because I did a development, I took out a development loan. So that's it from a main lender, you put all your assets on the line, including my home. Because you've got, you've got to sign a personal guarantee. And if something goes wrong with that project and you've signed up for a JV with someone, something goes wrong, let's say you don't get planning and you've got a building and it's worth £2 million, you're paying, you're paying interest, you're paying money to hold that every month. Who is servicing that? Meaning who is paying the interest on that? Now you could end up running up a lot of interest if you're paying around you know, 1% a month. It's a lot of money. How are you, how are you going to do that? If the project goes wrong, the lender is going to come after the person first with the assets. So for me, it was a, it was a straight quick WhatsApp back. I said, yeah, potentially we could do a JV, but what assets do you have? And they said, we have— I haven't got any assets, but it's okay because I signed a personal guarantee on my last project. And I signed away future earnings. That means nothing. Yeah, so I just want to share some real— I want to share some real examples to you. That means nothing. People want assets, and if something goes wrong, the lender is going to come on after the person with the asset. So be mindful of that if you're setting up a JV with someone. Also, how a JV partner reacts under pressure. I've also been in a situation where I was kind of being spoken down to bit by one person, which is— that's not a partnership. And then at the same time, I've seen other people make really bad decisions under pressure. So I'm very resourceful. I don't have all the answers. I have to keep putting myself out there all the time to find the answers, but I know I will find it. But I would never do something stupid to jeopardize my finances. Or my assets. So just be mindful about how you see these other people that you might go into business to, how they conduct themselves, how they handle pressure, how they speak to the normal person, you know, cleaners, people in restaurants, you know. I only want to be around people who are respectful. So that's just some things to think about before I, I start diving into my project because I think these are really good points. Uh, so what do lenders and investors want? I've also added this in: to be credible and trustworthy. Going back to my point, make sure you find a way to pay your investors back. To have your own funds in. Again, so last week this person who was messaging me, because I said, you know, well, how would you— if we take on a site, so this was a full planning site it would be to knock down a bungalow and then to build 4 houses, but that site's nearly £2 million. They have no funds to pay the interest each month once we've actually secured that site. So it's really important, you know, if he's got a deep pocket and you've got— and he's got funds, yeah, okay, great, you put the money in and I can put some money in potentially if I think it's a really good deal and we both we go both go together. But he said to me, now I would have to get you— I'd have to get an investor that would pay the interest as well as the down payment. That's just not going to happen. Every investor I speak to wants you to have skin in the game. And if you haven't got funds, then think about who can you get funds from. So typically, you know, unsecured lending where you're not securing it against an asset so like my flat, for example, or one of my properties. Unsecured lending, you know, your, your parents might be able to lend you £20,000, or a good friend that I've known you all your life. Think about your network, your network around you. You might know some of your friends, you know, they've set up a business, they might have some, they might have some funds available. Ask them. It's a quick WhatsApp, it's a quick message. Oh, hey, you know, I saw that you're doing this. 'Do you know that I'm in property now? I've got some investment opportunities coming up. Why don't we have a chat?' Keep it really simple. And a good example of this is from my IT background. I also have lots of investors. The lady who was my main investor on my last project, we had spoken before, her and her husband, and they were going to put in about £250,000. At that time, I didn't have the deal. And then they changed their minds. They said, oh no, you know, we're not going to go forward. Anyway, when I won the bid on the house, which I'm going to talk about, I thought, shall I message them and see if they've got funds? And I thought, oh, I don't know. Anyway, I did, and that WhatsApp got me £125,000. And that is no BS, that, that literally is the truth. So you never know who's got money. And then if, uh, If, uh, you haven't spoken to them, just drop them a message and ask. So just quickly going through these points: proven track records, you know, post about what you're doing, create interest. People, investors and lenders, want to know what you've done before. Also, developer who's a problem solver, you know, they're going to ask— so I'm being asked at the moment, okay, so let's say I don't get planning on the bungalow that I want to build, what am I going to do? Well, it's a really good area, I can potentially sell it and stick it in an auction. You know, there's, there's multiple ways around it, so make sure that you've always got a plan B and C. Investors and lenders, they want security, as I mentioned, but most importantly, they want their investment funds back in full with interest. Okay, so just to talk about my deal. So I saw it on the Sunday night online. I won it on the Thursday. 4 days, that's how quickly it happened. So my advice to any of you who don't already have your, your bases set up and what you're going to do, get yourselves ready. That means get to know your area. So this was in my area, that also gave me the ability to move really quickly on this because I knew my numbers, even though I couldn't prove my GDV, which was part of my issue, which I I overcame, but I couldn't find a like for like for what I wanted to do. So, you know, speak to people, speak to architects, speak to planning consultants, you know, get out to networking events, meet contractors. Contractors are actually very hard to find at the moment. I'm actually finding— I want to get my own flat done, and I'm finding it very hard to find a contract, a good contractor. And in that time, you can do your due diligence on them, you know, go to their sites, have a look at this is, and this is what I've been doing, see what they've, see what their, uh, the quality of their work. And the more you have set up for, so when the deal comes along, you can go for it. So what I did with this, I actually put in a pre-offer which the vendor didn't accept, but I actually asked beforehand, and it all happened literally just a day before I won it. I agreed an exchange of delayed completion. So what that meant was I if I won, instead of having 4 weeks to complete, I got 12 weeks to complete. So what that allowed me to do, I bought time. It allowed me to raise my finance, my private investor finance, and it allowed me to compare my lending, my lending quotes that I was given for my development lender. And what was interesting, that said, one person who I had been speaking to, I've met at an event, very charming, very charismatic, Matic. When it came down to it, the terms that he gave me for my loan, my development loan, were unacceptable. So, you know, and if anyone wants to drop me a message afterwards, feel free to do this. So for example, he was charging me exit fees. So on top of the broker fee and the setup fee, there's also an exit fee. Why should I pay to exit this loan? You're still making money out of me at the end of the day. We couldn't get there. Yeah, we couldn't meet. So I went elsewhere. I went to two other companies and brokers, and because I had time, because there was so many moving parts, that actually saved me £20,000. Why? Because I had a variable quote and I had a fixed quote. Now normally I would have gone on to fixed because I like to know how much I'm paying every month, but obviously we know what happened with the economy and the base rate skyrocketed. But what I actually did, I put everything— I'm an Excel geek, so everything went into my Excel, and I benchmarked exactly how much I was paying for each loan, one fixed, one for the variable. And I worked out if I went on to the variable, I would actually have £20,000 more in my pocket on day one. It was a no-brainer. The base rate had slowed, so it wasn't rising, and I thought, well, okay, even if the base rate increases again, it's still got to eat into that first £20,000. And this project is hopefully going to be over in a year. I worked it out, I thought I'm still going to be quids in, so I did that. So that's a really valuable thing. So not only did I agree the exchange of delayed completion to give me more time just to sort out the project, what I was going to do, but it literally saved me £20,000 more in my pocket Day one, thank you very much. I haven't even started the project yet. So some of the challenges. So I had an upvaluation 6 months into the project, which is pretty unheard of, and this is one of the reasons I won my award. So to get my loan, it took a solid 4 to 6 weeks. And another thing, when you're, when you're doing your projects, don't let anyone get in your way. Because a lot of these people, they work for companies that it's not their business. They don't really care. I'll give you an example. My broker at the time— obviously I don't use them anymore, first time using them, they were a recommendation— they spent so long pushing the emails that I wasn't actually getting the answers that I needed. Because I won this house in an auction, I was under pressure to complete, because if I didn't complete on time by the end of the 12 weeks, I— and after I got served my notice also, I'd lose the house and I would have lost my deposit, which was, what, £47,000, and plus all the fees I'd already forked out. So I would have lost about £65,000. So I literally, I just took the broker out of it. I went directly straight to the lender and I literally had a one-to-one relationship. We were on the phone every single day going through emails, everything that was outstanding. It was stringent, the processes. There was so much to do. I highly recommend them. Uh, we won't go into that now on the call, but if you guys want to know— but you— I jumped through hoops to get that. But once I got everything done, they did an amazing job for me. My lender, very, very grateful. But it take— no, if someone says to you it will take 7 to 10 days to turn around a bridge or development loan, it's not possible. I'd like to— I'd like to know really if that was been done. It was a solid 4 weeks work. So I just want to give you if you haven't done a bridge or development loan before, just an idea of how long it takes. And that was every single day, every hour of the day. Um, I got a bricks and mortar valuation, meaning that the house was just valued on— not, it was not what it was going to be, which was a house of multiple occupancy for 6 people, but it was just based on what it was, like a family residence. I had to take it. I challenged it. I was under time pressure. I had to accept it. But what that meant I thought I had to raise another £50,000 at the last minute. Uh, this is where my best mate came in. So it really helps to have good friends, um, and also so they know what— they know what you stand for. Because obviously, if I, if I, if I'm not reputable, they're not, they're not gonna, they're not gonna lend or invest in you. Uh, but they put £50,000 in. And then what I did— I, I'm very, very persistent, so if you've got clear vision. Like I said, don't let anyone get in your way. If you need to get something done, you find a way of doing it. You just keep going, you keep going, you go to the top if you need to as well. And I had a very, very good relationship with my asset managers. Asset managers are the guys that come out and they assess your project while you're doing the work. They say, okay, yes, you've done this and done this, okay, that accounts for X amount of work, and they report back to to my main lender, and that's how I do my drawdown because I'm using development funding. So I had to put in the first £25,000, and then I claimed that £25,000 back from my lender, and then I, I use that to do the next set of works. Because I had a very good relationship with them and I was very crystal clear about my vision and what I was doing, my plans were then finalised by that time as well. They actually wrote a report which they didn't even charge me for and they backed me and I managed to get a desktop valuation done. I had to pay for it, but it was £1,500, something like that. But I actually got another £100,000. I got exactly the same valuer to value that, which is really, really unheard of. And also I could prove this when I submitted all of my valuations for my award. So be really clear about what you're doing and stick to it. But what that also did, it put £75,000 in my development pot, which meant that I had enough money to finish the project, which was great. Then the power of a human-centered design. I mentioned before, I designed the house. I mean, this house is better than my flat at the moment. So I designed it as if I was going to live there. So I maximized the space. So this is the kitchen downstairs. I've got 2 kitchens you can see, because I, I've— as an IT consultant, I've lived all over the place, in different countries, in shared houses and Airbnbs, all over. I— so I know what I like. I, I like to know what I like to think. I know what people like as well. So the whole— I thought about the whole flow of the house, how people are going to use the space. I hate people being on top of one another. I want to create community or encourage community. I want to hear people laugh. I want it to be a space where people can come and really relax. And it's small things, even you can't see, but where I've got a little table on the right side, I was— that was actually going to be a little TV area. In the end, I decided not to do that because it would encourage noise in the kitchen and it would disturb my other bedrooms on the kitchen, uh, just, um, falling on from the kitchen. And I wanted it to be kind of a tech-free space people where people can actually just talk like normal and interact with one another. What I also did, I benchmarked against other projects. So someone in one of my WhatsApp groups, because I will definitely not take credit for this, he said, look, your house— he'd been to the house, it's a very similar shape to mine, why don't you come to mine? He showed, and he said, I think you can get 6 bedrooms. So because of that, and I was very, very grateful, and I went to his, he showed me how I could achieved 2 bedrooms at the back, which was great because it lifted my GDV. So take the time, and like I said, because I did— I agreed the exchange of delayed completion, I bought myself time to think about what I was doing. I didn't rush it. Never rush something. Make sure you think about it, you implement it properly so you don't have to retrofit, and that you have no regrets. The bedrooms and the en-suites were very cleverly designed. I mentioned that before, so if I just flick back to my— I just flick back to my en suite. There's so much detail that went into these. Everything was soft close. For example, I hate noise. I suffer from noise in my own flat. That actually drove me even more to make this house as soundproof as possible. And, and it's not about being the most expensive either. There was very clever things I did. I'll give you an example. So my splashbacks, it's the leafy splashback behind the sink. I was right at the end of the project, it was one of the last things that needed to go in. The minimum price was about £75. I thought, I'm not paying that, I don't want to spend nearly £500 on splashbacks, there's so many other things I need to buy still. So I went to one of the tile shops near me, they had these massive leafy tiles which I'd seen right at the beginning when I was doing the project. They even gave me discount, I didn't have to ask, always ask for discount, always negotiate. I bought two massive tiles for £60, we cut them into 6 pieces, my contractor put a trim on them, boom, and they look absolutely stunning. One of the reasons that these— that transforms the ensuite. So there's lots of little things that you can do. And just in terms of, um, like some of the ensuites would be a little bit smaller, so I put in a wall-hung toilet, for example, which means that the toilet doesn't protrude so much. I made sure that people had enough space to move. There was a lot of thought that went into the design. So just going back to the slides, um, I enhanced the project during the design stage while we were building it. For example, my 2 bedrooms at the back, the roof was supposed to be— the ceiling was supposed to be flat. And I came in one day because I was managing it, so I know I would be checking everything, and they started putting the rafters in And I thought, oh no, that's really going to close off the space. I really like space. And then I was a bit concerned because the space had all been open and I'd only put roof lights in my kitchen. And I decided originally not to put roof lights in the two back bedrooms on the ground floor because of rain. And I thought, oh, you know, the noise. So what I did, I thought, okay, no, I want to put two roof lights in, into the bedrooms to bring the light. And plus they're Both bedrooms have got a patio door also. I got my builders to change the rafters. I got them to cut through and put two new roof lights in. Yes, that cost me a little bit more, but the end product I've got is exceptional for what I've delivered. It's, you know, like I said, people pay a premium to live there because I have thought of everything that you could do on the project. And for the sake of a few hundred pounds, to make sure— so I mitigate risk by delivering a top quality project first time round. So even if that put me behind by a couple of months, that's okay because I will make sure— I'm making sure that that room is always going to be rented out, or all the rooms are going to be rented out. So that's less voids to me, or no voids. And it was rented out within 6 weeks, literally snapped up. So adding value, different way I did this Day 1, I banked £155K in equity. Why? Because I bought it below market value. It was worth £627K, I got it at £474,500. Amazing. My— and my maximum bid— if you're taking part in auctions, make sure you've got your maximum. My bid, maximum bid, was £475,000, so I was just under. Then I created value again. I had the upvaluation for £725K to £825K. £100,000. That's another £100K in the pot, thank you very much. I extended up and out. I built a high-spec HMO, gross rental £88,000. The lender takes a big part of that because we know lending's gone up so much, but that's my gross rental. But that's why I need to— I delivered quality to make sure that I get that rental. So I, I have money left over, you know, I'm not breaking even, that I'm actually because actually all the cash flow I make now is pure profit. It's an infinite return. Uh, upvalued at the end to £900,000. I had another challenge, uh, right at the end. It was actually downvalued by a different valuer less than the £825,000 at £785,000. I was not happy, as you can imagine. I had Homes Under the Hammer come to film the next day. I received the report the day before, and I thought— I read it and I thought, okay, I'm just going to put this aside, focus on the filming, because they were coming to film the end product. And I still sat there and I said, this is the valuation that I'm going for, this is the rental I'm going for. I thought, no one's— no one is getting in the way of my vision. Yeah, so you, you stick to what you— what your, what your vision is. And what I actually did The valuer, the auctioneer— so this is just— I like the detail. As part of my appeal to the valuer, I wrote a 35-page document. I tore their comparables apart because it was not a direct comparable for what I had created. They had only described my house as good 3 times in the whole report. I had already sent them a whole comprehensive report of all the different things I'd done, uh, you know, new roof, smart systems, the lot. Nothing like that appeared in, in the valuation report. Um, and what I'd actually— even I, even I got people who had come to my open day and the valuer— or sorry, the auctioneer who came to film for Homes Under the Hammer— I got him to write a recommendation for me on LinkedIn because he had valued it at £900,000. And I screenshotted that as part of my appeal with other feedback. I had some amazing feedback for my open day, and I put that as part of my appeal. So be resourceful, think about how you can get your point across and get other people's opinions if you need to. Anyway, the value still didn't budge, but what I actually managed to do was to get another valuer through my broker and another lender to get me a valuation of £900,000, and because they didn't even agree with that either So be persistent and don't let anyone take your livelihood away from you. Plus, I had to pay my investors back. Yeah, it goes back— how do I need to pay my investors back? What do I need to do to get my money out? Yeah, don't let anyone say, you know, oh, please don't contact whoever. Do whatever it takes. My personal— my— because it's your business, it's your livelihood, you need to survive in this market. Do whatever it takes. And then what I've also done, I title split the land. So I'm planning to build a bungalow on the back. That's worth £180,000 at the moment. Once I've got planning, £260,000, £280,000. And then I build my bungalow out and I sell it again, pure profit. So when you're looking at sites, and especially using Propertyfilter to do it, because I love the different functionalities on, on Propertyfilter and what you can do and what you can see, you know, look for something creative. Look at how you can add value. It's not about buying a house or flat. What value can you bring? Use the tool to help you and find your deal. You know, this was just a basic 3-bed house. I actually got advice from one of the other judges who doesn't know the area. It's my area. I paid him as a consultancy call. This is like 2 years back, and he thought I should sell it because I couldn't create the GDV. Now, there's nothing wrong with that because it's not his area, but I knew— I know my numbers. I knew that, okay, I might not get it now, but I'm just going It's a journey. You, you will prove it in the end. And I did. And, and literally, it's all money out, and I've got this site at the back. It's the perfect deal. So mitigating risk, just, you know, just some key points. Know your numbers. Whatever area you're operating in, know how much properties sell for, what type of property sell for what amount, you know, if what the rentals are, you know, for 1 bed, 2 2 beds. Know your numbers so when you see the opportunity you can move quickly. Yeah, no, don't think. Yeah, do use the tool, use Property Filter. You know, all the information they've got there, all the comparables. I'm— I've found a, a commercial deal at the moment which I'm negotiating on, and I found it on Property Filter. I can literally go on to Property filter, look at the comparables, look at how much the pounds are selling per square meter. You have all that information there, use it. Don't think about doing it, just do it. Take the time to think. So like I said, I agreed an exchange with delayed completion. Goes back to also knowing my numbers as well as knowing my numbers for the area. Understand what you're signing up for. Yeah, I saved myself £20,000 at the beginning by doing the comparison. Yeah, it's timely because, you know, it, it, it's— it can be overwhelming because we have so much going on, but this is really valuable advice. Do your due diligence on the professional team, your lenders and your investors in particular. Well, everyone, but let's— while we've been speaking about lenders, work— make sure you do your due diligence. Like, my lender, they were never out there. I had to extend my loan. They were never out there to take my property property from me. Yeah, make sure you sign up with the right people. Do your due diligence. If you ever— I've heard of— I know I was having this conversation yesterday because I presented, and I've heard of other lenders who are out there to take your property. Be careful who you get into bed with. It's the same for JV partner. Um, do your, um, do your due diligence on your investors. If they're a bad investor, if they're not the right person, you know, yes, we want them to invest with us, but it is win-win. If it's not the right person, go elsewhere, because that person could potentially cause you problems. And on your professional team, so week 1, another reason I won the award, I replaced my contractor. They thought I was a woman, they thought I was stupid, they didn't know that I had the capability of managing multi-million pound projects. And people, they talked down to me. I had an itemized quote. So when the invoice comes in, I want that amount to match exactly against my item on my quote, and it didn't. They were trying to fiddle me about £4,000 on the scaffolding. I had my line there. Where's that extra £4,000 come from? So anyway, 2 days of discussions and rude messages from them. I got a message: you don't pay the invoice by 1 o'clock, you can come and collect the keys. So I did. I turned up with one of my friends colleagues took the keys. They weren't there, the builders were there. Very nice, bye, thank you very much. Put me behind by a month, it's fine because in that time I went out to tender to another 10 contractors and there was one guy that kept coming back and he was quick, he was fast. I went to view his property, he had finished it by the time he started on my place, which was fantastic. Did a very, very high quality job and I actually, because it gave me more time to actually to go through the quote in absolute detail, and I reduced it. It's like, no, get rid of that, get rid of that, I don't want that. Examples, say you want him to charge me £20,000 for painting a house. Why are you going to charge me £20,000? So understand what you're signing up for. Replace the team if needed, you know, take no crap. My professional team was not the only people that I replaced. I replaced my structural engineer because I found out he didn't have insurance. And I admit I should have checked that at the beginning. Apparently you don't need to have your own insurance as a structural engineer, but you need to follow the code of conduct, which he didn't because he didn't inform me. But the reason I started questioning things was because I was very actively involved in the design. When I was building my dormer on the, on the second, for the second floor, the beams, they were, my contractor said to me, why don't you have the beams interlocking into one another. So what I mean by that, so you've got, you've got your support and then your beams will actually go into your support and then it, and then it gets all fixed together. What he had done, which was acceptable, but you can just clip two bits of wood together but then there's no support underneath. So I don't like that because I'm thinking, why don't you give me the most optimal option? He also put a timber support, so a wooden support for my chimney but I share that chimney with my neighbour. So if something happens over time where there's movement, you know, we know that wood shrinks and expands with the weather, it's going to affect the integrity of my property and her property. And for me, that was the red flags. And then I said to him that I'd contacted this organisation for structural engineers, I can't remember the exact name. They said you needed to follow the code of conduct. I said, please, can you take out the insurance? Here's a link. It was cheap insurance. He wouldn't do it. He said, I'm not having— I'm not having a client talk to me like that. And I said, look, I really want to work with you still, please can you take out the insurance? Otherwise, if something goes wrong, it's me who's gonna— it's me who's gonna foot the bill. And he wouldn't, so I replaced him. Yeah, it's okay if things go wrong and you need to swap people out. Do it. Don't let people talk down to you on your project. It makes you feel very uncomfortable, make you feel unsafe about what they're delivering, because it will come back and haunt you. At least I can sleep at night because I know my, my house was built properly, um, with integrity as well. No cutting corners. There's always ways to negotiate time and for materials. Assess and enhance the build throughout. You know, if you see something that you think actually this would be better, do it. Yeah. No retrofitting, and don't be afraid to say no. So last slide, mindset. Every day is a learning day. Remember that book I mentioned, Jeff Olson, The Slight Edge? Wonderful, wonderful book. Read it or listen to it on audio, it will really help you. Small compounding steps every day. Forward thinking— don't think just about now, think about what's going to happen in the future, yeah, and to mitigate your risk to safeguard your asset. Know that you will overcome challenges. It is hard. It's hard. I had— I, I, I was under a lot of pressure to deliver. I had lack of sleep, you know. But, you know, once you've done a big project, the next time around you can just rinse and repeat. Yeah, but commit to it. Upskill constantly. Lift your professional team. I don't need to be the expert in everything, but make sure that you're engaging the people who are. You know, when, when I— when when contractors come around, or anyone, I'm always asking questions. I'm always interviewing. I'm always listening, you know, because how they act is how they would act on your project. Clear vision to become— to overcome your obstacles. Don't let anyone get in your way. I really, really mean that, especially when it comes to your valuation. And if you're questioning something about the quality of the work So I actually sent in clips of where I had pulled up my contractors for some of the work. There was, um, they had to change some of the roof tiles, for example. They had been screwing in the roof tiles, and you're supposed to nail them in because if you need to replace those tiles, you have to take a whole section out, whereas if you just nail them in, then you can just replace that tile. So understand what's happening on your project so these things don't come back to bite you, and have a winner's mindset. That doesn't mean winning an award, yeah, but just know that you're gonna get through this. So yeah, that's my talk. I've packed in a lot of content, so ready for some questions, and I hope you also find that useful. It'd be nice to get some feedback, please.

Yeah, that's really awesome, Bernadette. Thanks so much for sharing all of this, taking us really from the start to finish of your projects. And I know everyone likes to make opti look and sound easy, but the reality of it is you have to really be the driver of this opti career, right? So I didn't take no for an answer, so I took a few soundbites, and then as I go through some of this, I might have some questions and maybe we elaborate on top of it. And I encourage everyone to ask any questions you have in the chat, and I'll go through them back— I'll go through it as we continue. So firstly, the first sort of thing you mentioned is really you need to be the problem solver also. You know, you create value in this marketplace because you are solving problems. So no one made money ever in property by buying a property at asking price and saying yes to every property or selling them, whatever, you know. So, you know, deals are made, not found. And you totally embody this, you know, from the start to finish, from the point where you sort of picked and choose that property, and then every step where you solve the different problems, and all the way to revaluation, all the way through sort of managing the values and every person involved in it from the start. You know, like deals are made, not found. It's not just about finding the deals, buying it, and that's done. You know, like there's the whole process, you know. And I love how you emphasize on you need to know what's going on, you know. And a lot of people, you know, sort of trust the professionals a bit too much, you know, take, you know, yes for, you know, yes, no for an answer. And you just challenge everything. Is true, you know. You mentioned about properties, about trust, you know, about the trust you create. That's why people will give you more deals because they trust you completely. People will want to work with you because they trust you'll take it through. All the investors, you know. So anyone who struggles to find investors, it's, you know, Bernadette told you the blueprint here. It's about the, the older they all trust them. And I'll jump a little bit on a note here on, on your unsecured lending, and I totally agree with this. You know, the first 10 investors you need, you already know them, you know, they're already on your phone. That's really the truth. And for this unsecured lending, in the startup world, they call it the, you know, we've got multiple funding rounds and stuff, and your first ever round, they call it the friends, fools, and families, you know, right? This is like quite a normal recognized term, is like people who irrationally believe in you, and this is how you get off the ground in the first place, you know. And that's, that's, that's the truth, right? So they were the best doesn't mean you have to pay the most. That's quite a cool soundbite you had here, I really liked it. And, and you emphasize always on the fact that, you know, you buy well, you know. Was it £155,000 of equity, you know, from day one? You know, if you don't, you know, if you don't buy well to start with, it's harder to make the, you know, to value engineer your builder's quote to a point where you make, you know, that amount of equity. Yeah, role and responsibilities in JV. So you cover quite a lot, you know. So who does what? So all the projects I've done is very much in JV partnerships, you know. Propertyfilter, I'm one of playing with your strength and pulling your work as well, you know. So a lot of the JV sounds great on paper until you have to really, you know, work with people. And, you know, most people out there talk a good game, I find. But when it's time to, you know, to assess whose work ethic is going to pull the shift to make this work, the hair gets thinner here by experience, right? So there's always a bit of that. So find the contractors before you need them. So absolutely. I echo this totally with my background in construction. It's not when you are 20, you've got a 28-day completion deadline on your head, you know, on your forehead, that you need to go rush around to find, you know, then you're the motivated buyer and then you don't have time to really do anything. You don't really have time to check that they are actually professional. You should have, you should, the same way you should always be looking for deals, you should always be you know, looking for contractors, you know, so qualifying them, understanding where, you know, the type of projects they have, the size of projects they can do. I find the optimum— so there's no good or bad builder in the sense that you just need to bring them to the right size of project, you know. So the one tradesperson, the one on demand might do your maintenance, but they won't do the UHMO conversions, you know. The Balfour Beattie, Langorocks, and, you know, big national contractors, you know, they do Iways England jobs, but they're not going to, you know, do your HMO conversion. So these are the two extremes, but it's understanding that who's going to do your flips, who's going to do your assisted sales, who's going to do your HMO conversions. And it's almost like you want your project to be a little stretch for them so that they're like, the owner is personally involved, and so that you don't go to a too big of a company where, you know, 20% of the cost is just the overhead, the office, the secretary, you know, like all their system, you know. In my experience, you know, go and get it, you know, I love the attitude, you know, it's like just go and get it, you know, you get what you ask for, you know, be resourceful, there's very much a theme here of, you know, go and make it happen, you know, so that I love this all the way into your valuation, you know, and all you get another valuation with another one, you know, like it's the old deal making, you know, when I say deals are made not found, it goes Beyond just finding the opportunity and completing on the projects, it's all the way through how you control, how you add value, and how you control, you know, the refinancing on the other side. You know, I don't understand people come to me sometimes, oh, Guillaume, I've added on value, you know, and then you speak with them and like, oh, you know, I went with the broker, told me this surveyor, and this surveyor gave me this. Like, you know, it's not how it works. You know, you want to be proactive with everything you do. So yeah, love it, love all of that. Uh, always ask for discounts, always negotiate. That was quite a good, a good sunbeds.

Yeah, I'll give you a good example. So my tiles, for example, they were £25 per square meter and £40 per square meter. I only wanted to pay £25 per square meter for everything. A second time around, I got what I wanted. I went in and I said, this is how much I want to pay, and they said okay. Yeah, but ask the same thing many times over in different ways.

Yeah, especially if you've got options, you know, like that's, you know, it's absolutely fine. Yeah, don't make no— don't take no for an option. Do whatever it takes. And then due diligence on your JV partner all day long. Due diligence on your investors. People think it's, um, you raise money for the money, but, uh, it's a people's business, you know. And I've said no to more private investors than money I've taken. You want your value to be aligned. You know, if you wouldn't spend a weekend with that person, you know, why do you get in bed with like commercial agreements, the personal guarantee on top of it? Like, you know, do yourself a favor. You know, like, there's plenty of good people out there. Go and work with the right one, you know. So, and then the way you manage the build, because you're not in a rush, you go through every line, itemized line of your of your build. Because the thing is, so as good as your specification of, you know, schedule of work is going to be, someone's going to take, you know, whoever reviews it is going to take assumptions. It's why you've got, I find, you know, when you ask for free quotes, you've got one that is double the other, you know, and it's always a bit of a red flag to be the cheapest, right? But equally, so the most expensive one would have a lot of time take too many assumptions on things. So every quote you get, if you, before you engage on a builder, you want just to realign to make sure the understanding is the same and say, oh yeah, but I thought we were going to do all of that. No, no, we don't, you know. And therefore you can just sort of value engineer just the fact that you are, all of you are aligned into what needs to be done. And then you can have the variation on top of it after, but at least you have the same set there. So I think the key theme, you know, is if you want to be an award-winning property investor is you want to be proactive proactive in the way you find your deals, proactive in the way you manage your build, proactive in the way you manage your lenders and all the tens of dozens of relationships that are going to make or break your project. So I loved it, Bernadette, that was great. Thanks, Guillaume Black. Did I make a good summary? Is that right?

Sorry?

Was that an okay summary?

Oh, that was great. Thank you. But I really want to I really want to help other people. You know, there's enough deals out there for everyone. There's, there's so much property out there. So if I can help someone overcome their valuation issues, that's fantastic because that has a massive impact on someone in their life, you know.

Yeah, there's so many things you need to get right.

Yeah, quite happy to share information because, you know, we've all got to help each other.

Well, thanks so much. So let me have a look at the questions. Uh, so we do have lots of incredible feedback, you know, uh, brilliant Excellent presentation, just brilliant, fantastic, you know, fantastic, fantastic, mind-blowing presentation. A question from Sibeth: do the bridging companies that you work with give you the loan before getting full planning permission for the development, or you talk about having it brought to you in tiers, in tiers, like in tranches? Sorry for the accent, not tears, in tears.

But the last, so this, on this project, I had to get my planning application in before the lending was complete. And what I had to do, which was, like I said, it was very stringent, their processes. I had to have a Plan B. So if I didn't get the extensions that I wanted, what was going to be my option and what was going to be my GDV? I actually had to put another— I actually had to put another proposal together. So be prepared to work when you're— I mean, really, and put pull the information together quickly for your lender. But I did have to get my application in, not approved, but in.

Yeah, I had a very similar project like that, and I had to, uh, I got it at the end in the planning committee, you know, but you have the option A, B, and your GDV is like 30% apart, you know. So it's quite, you know, a lot of other people have got, uh, you know, a bit of power on this, but you, you can influence this the more proactive you can be.

Okay, and a little tip here. So very good at relationships. And also, please, people, don't think that I'm, I'm, I'm not a nice person because I'm ruthless. Um, because you deal, you deal with things professionally and you give people what they need. And if you don't get what you want, then you replace them in a polite way. Get them off site, whatever, get them off your project. Thank you very much. And you bring someone else in. Relationships is really key. So if I didn't get my 6-meter extension at the back, I would completely would have changed my project. Because, because I went out by 6 meters, I got 2 bedrooms. If I didn't get those 2 bedrooms, it would have completely changed my GDV and my project. So what did I do? As soon as the application went in, I wish I'd gone around the next day because my poor neighbor was stressed out. 80-year-old lady, she's just lost her husband and other members of her immediate family. And then she was like, you know, now I've got this, you know, I don't know what's going on. So I went around to all the neighbors with a bottle of prosecco and some chocolates, and I sat there and I didn't inform her, I consulted with her. So there's a difference. And what that meant, because I actually took her through what I was doing, I spoke to her son, she didn't object against my 6-meter extension. Yeah, I still need her on board for everything else. So what I've done, even when I built the extension, I— she didn't want me to build right up to the boundary line, which the council allowed me to do. I consulted her and I left a 50mm gap, and then we paid and we shared the cost of a fence. Yeah, little things like that has a massive impact on your project. And I'm not doing it to be nice, I'm nice anyway, but I know the pain. So I'm actually paying to do retail the front of her house. I don't need to do that. It'll cost me a couple of grand, but I need her. I'm doing that also to say thank you for the noise that I put her through because she didn't need to go through that. So I'm just saying relationship management is really, really key.

And it helps you on TDV as well.

Yeah, absolutely.

You know that feels well. If you're the only nice house in a shithole, you know, that the valuers, they don't like it. So yeah, uh, great. So, uh, people are asking about— there's a few questions, but people are also asking about your contact details. Have you got a slide with like, uh, ways to reach out to you?

Or yes, let me just, uh, and, uh, I've got my Propertyful slide. I hope you guys are using this properly. Also, I say that because, you know, sometimes people aren't using the tools that we've got right here. Last night I was out, I was out presenting all day yesterday. I came back and, uh, I went on to Property Field. It was about 11 o'clock last night. And you know what, you know, because I've got my lead generator set up, there's a deal that's popped up which I never even spotted before. So it's been removed from the market, you know, 4 flats. I'm like, interesting. So one of the things I'm going to do once I get off this call is getting in touch with the agent to see what's going on. Yeah, simple things that we can be doing. And what I love is that I can access the information quickly at my fingertips. And if you're not using this fully, then you should be booking in a one-to-one with, with the guys like before. And you should be setting aside at least like twice a week, set yourself 2 hours a week where you just turn off your phone, turn off your laptop just focus on qualifying your deals, because once you know, once you become more confident with qualifying your deals, that's when you'll be making them. That's just one point I wanted to say, because sometimes people are thinking and not doing. So, contact details, um, here.

Awesome, thanks a lot for that. Uh, some questions, and thank you, and that was unprompted, so I really appreciate you sharing.

It's true.

You're too kind, thank you very much. Deborah is asking, have you got a team to support you on a daily basis? You know, it seems unbelievable that you achieve everything on your own. It seems a lonely journey. You've got an amazing strong character and mindset. Can you tell me a bit more about who supports you or how do you make it work, you know, for yourself?

So I don't have a direct team to support me, so I use contractors I have 3 virtual assistants, they do different tasks for me, or actually 4. And you know, I don't have, you know, I don't have the capacity to, you know, I'm just, I'm a one-woman band. But find people who you can employ when you need them. Um, so you know, I've got, I'm doing my analysis, I also have a VA that does further analysis for me with what I find. I have a VA to do, help with my marketing uh, because that takes up a lot of time. I still do my own social media at the moment. I don't trust anyone to give them access to my accounts. But what I would— uh, one thing I'm doing also, because I, I'm wanting to grow my business, so where I am, this is my little working space. I'm in my kitchen. I, I stand up and work, but I've got my pinboard in front of me. So I actually want to get a nice big planner put up and then just put in key things that I need to do and want to to do on certain days. So it's not just in my laptop, I can actually see it in front of me. And that helps— that's helped me to manage my time also, because it can be lonely and busy. But get yourself out to events, you know, make sure that you join all the calls on Property Filter, talk to people, find out what they're doing. For me, if I go and listen to someone talk— I mean, I've given you guys a lot of information— I just— I'm happy if I just find one bit of information that was helpful, you know. But you need to be out there talking to people, and so that, that fights the lonely journey that we do on our own. And especially then you can benchmark against people again as well. And the more you surround yourself with people who are doing great things, you will become one of those people.

Go Get It Property Limited, I love it. I thought, you know, that's very much on brand with the, the of the tips you shared today. Just one last question from Jude, and sorry, this was asked before. Who's the lender who's been doing your development finance you went with at the end? If you—

so I didn't change the lender. So they were— I had swapped my broker at the beginning, so the lender was Octane Capital, and I highly recommend them. They were very tough. Don't think it was easy. It was stressful. I had to jump through a lot of hoops to get my loan, but they supported me 120%, and I was really proud to deliver what I did, and they know what I went through. They actually did a post about me also when I won my award, which was really lovely. And yeah, give the lender what they want, but the key thing is do your due diligence because they're not out there to take your property from you if you have to extend your loan. That is really key. I've heard horror stories. So when I, uh, this was what, 3 years ago, someone who's been doing it a lot longer than I have, I think the lender was out there specifically to take their property. I think he exchanged and then he was due to complete a few days later and then they pulled the lending and he lost his home. He lost his home. Yeah, there's some horror stories out there, so please, please, please do your— I'll just put it in the chat— Octane Capital. If you— if you— I can give you guys an introduction because you'll need to go through a broker. You can't— you can't go to them directly. But just—

all right, thanks so much. Really appreciate, uh, all the golden nuggets you shared today. You know, over-delivered. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. I know you're very, very busy. You've got lots on, so you've been very, very gracious and generous of your time and advice. So thanks for that. Have you got any sort of closing sentiment for us today?

Just believe in yourself. Don't dream. I'm not a dreamer. Just do it. You think of it like we've— like a lot of us, we've paid a lot for our property journey. I recognize, like, Shane, like, we've done some of our training together and, um, you know, we paid a lot for our property training, so now we just have to implement it. Don't think about it, just do it. That's what I would say. And what I would really like, please, because I've given you a lot of content, take a screenshot and please do a post on social media and tag me. I think that, I think that'd be a really nice thing to do because then that's a— then that's helping me raise my profile. But not just that, it's, it's endorsed me for the content that I'm delivering. I'm not just talk like, this is my journey and this is how much money I'm making. We can't take it with us anyway. Yeah, it's, it's actually what you're about. Yeah, that, that's what's important is what do you stand for and what will you do with your knowledge. Yeah, that, that's what's more important. Yeah, The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. I'll just put that in the chat.

Yeah.

Really, really, really, really excellent book. Highly recommend it.

Well, Bernadette, thank you so much. We appreciate it. I didn't realize you're like, go get it, Prop City Limited. You couldn't have found a better name for the company. So thanks a lot again for your contribution today and sharing the love of Portugal out there as well. I really appreciate it. Thank you very much. And look forward to—

Thank you for the opportunity, Guillaume.

You're most welcome. Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for joining us.

I look forward to your posts, everyone. Thank you.

Yeah, yeah, that's good. Let's do it. Thank you. See you. Bye-bye.