Newcastle and its surroundings

The first stop on the trip was Newcastle which I have never been to. A fun part of our real estate trip is that you get to experience cities you might not usually go to.

Since we both enjoy travelling, we see this as a big plus.

Our local sourcing agent picked me up at the airport and we went to their office. We talked for a while and decided to have lunch and get to know each other a little more. They would like to come to Sweden and visit.

After dinner, they showed me different types of projects. They showed some lease option projects. A lease option to be used as Service Accommodation like ours in Birmingham and one that would be rented out as a regular BTL (buy to let).

I ended the day with dinner with our broker. I told about our plans after the sale of our house and she went through various financial products that are available.

Huddersfield

The second stop was Huddersfield and this is because the one we know has previously merged with this company. Our contact does not live in Huddersfield so I met the owner who lives there. He explained how the organization was structured.

Their business model was very good, ranging from letting agent to accountants under the same roof. But the quality of renovation was a little worse than the others we work with.

After showing their projects I thanked myself and drove on to Birmingham where I thought about staying overnight as it was halfway to Swansea which was my next stop.

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Birmingham

The idea was that I would go and look at our Rent to Service Accommodation but I crashed with a bus so it ended with me running back and forth at Birmingham Airport for 5 hours to get a new rental car. Once I got it, I went to bed.

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Swansea and southern Wales

In Wales, we have several local contacts and some of our friends also live there. I had a packed schedule for this day and the first thing out was to meet a contact who would show their ongoing projects. We spent a couple of hours and we ended up looking at their latest project, which is an old property that barely sits together that they are going to turn into apartments.

In the afternoon, I went to our law firm and verify my ID by scanning my passport and driver’s license. Otherwise, you have to do this at a public notary in Sweden, so I thought I could take care of it when I was there.

I also took the opportunity to go to the realtor who had sold our house. I talked to her for a while and then made our way past our house before finally landing on the couch at the home of our friends Phil and Leanne.

At Phil, we discussed life and real estate. They told us where they were on their journey now and what the future looks like. We also talked about different ways we might work together in the future.

Since I had a meeting in Slough the following day and I didn’t want to drive all the way in the morning, I went to Newport to sleep.

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Slough

I met a recognized real estate investor and real estate developer. We have been in contact for 1 year over mail and skype calls but this was the first time we met. He brought with him a lot of useful knowledge and we talked about how we can collaborate in the future.

After our lunch, I drove to the hotel in London and then took the train to a network meeting in Canary Wharf. I missed part of the meeting but heard some good speakers and networked with other investors.

I ended the day with my friend Tunde to have dinner and socialize. We talked about his two flips that go up for sale and what the next move is. He also invests in Swansea but lives in London. After a few hours, I had to go to the hotel because I would be up early the next morning.

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Oxford and London

I woke up early because I would have a meeting at 9 am that was scheduled during the trip. The person stayed late and only arrived at 10 am. As I was to be at Oxford 12.30 it was a short meeting but very rewarding.

I then drove to Oxford to meet our contact who cooperates with those in Huddersfield. He had invited me to lunch at a castle.

Free bar and 3 courses, very pumpy.

We discussed the education we had attended and what we thought about it. We talked about life and family and of course the opportunities to collaborate. After 3 hours I had to leave when I would return the rental car.

I parked the car then took the bus to Southall in London where I would meet my friend Tej. He has really accelerated since June when I last met him. He has bought 5 BTL and has 4 more going on. (These are bought today) We talked about life in general and of course about real estate.

He invited me into a facebook group for people investing in Southern Wales. It was a perfect ending to my week.

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Summing up

This week was a really good week apart from my crash. I had not put that into the budget but the contacts and relationships, new and old are worth gold. So it was a very successful trip.

// Nana

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