The Progressive Property Podcast Mark Homer Interviews The One Time UK's Largest Private Landlord. The billionaire Property Owner Andreas Panayiotou
Welcome back to another episode of the Progressive Property Podcast. In this week’s episode, Rob and Mark have tracked down some of their mentors and bring them to you the listeners.
In the first in a series of special interviews, Mark Homer interviews Andreas Panayiotou one of the biggest names in property and the one time UK's largest private landlord. Mark and Panayiotou talk through his start in property, his biggest challenges and where he sees the next opportunities in property?
Key Takeaways
How did you first get into property? It started around 30 years ago. My parents ran a dry cleaner, and I converted the flat above the business. That made me £25,000, and over the next 25 years, we amassed over 7,000 flats from redundant buildings. We were renting these out but not selling. In 2006, as we had kept everything in-house, we saw yields drop from 20% to 3% so we decided to get out of that business and sell the properties.
Where do you think the next opportunities are across the whole spectrum? We went through the last recession which was more of a depression and we’ve seen residential bounce back. The golden rule is that you have to add value whichever sector you’re in. We are heading for another crash in buy-to-let but If you are adding value then you will be more protected from that.
How would you compare residential to commercial? With regard to pure investment, office buildings are a more secure investment as you have long-term tenants compared with residential. But unless your adding value it’s the same as residential.
Where do you see the differing levels of growth, outside of London? You should look at what most drops during the recession that will bounce back quickest. London is a bubble and yields are small. London is a long-term investment. As long as you are near city centres or train stations you will see further growth. Those satellite towns is a better area to be in now Peterborough, Luton or the Midlands for example. Outside of London, you will get the returns a lot quicker.
What have your biggest challenges been? Throughout the recession, the financing of banks, they were going bankrupt at the time. They are businesses as well at the end of the day. There was a changing attitude to financing which was a difficult period in my property career.
What do the big achievers do differently to the not-so-big achievers? It’s all about focus. You have to ask yourself, do I put 100% into my business? If that’s not the case then that is where the issue is. It’s about daily focus, not working harder, but sharpening the knife. I treat every day as the beginning of my new business, so I keep moving forward. You have to make sure you are always learning.
What daily traits do you have that could help others? You have to be disciplined. The more you achieve, the more vulnerable you are. In our hotels, we have over 4,000 staff so it’s a big responsibility. So you have to be on your business morning until night. There should be a real focus on living and breathing your business.
When you were starting out how did you go about it? I was doing something where everything was in my favour. There were lots of redundant schools and other buildings which people were happy to hand over cheaply. It’s a lot more difficult today but there are still some opportunities.
Best Moments
‘You always have to be adding value.’
‘Buy-to has been an easy way for people to enter the market, without thinking about the next three or four years.’
‘The last recession was more of depression but governments bailed out the banks unlike a hundred years ago.’
‘We heading for another crash in the buy-to-let.’
‘Every day you need to be learning more about your business.’
‘It’s a lot more difficult today but there are still opportunities.’
‘You have to be on your business from morning until night.’
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Join the Progressive Property Community here:
http://www.thepropertyteacher.co.uk/
If you’re interested in finding out more about the right mortgage product, please email ThePropertyTeacher@gmail.com and Peter will put you in touch with his mortgage broker.
ABOUT THE HOST
Mark Homer
Mark’s Mantra – “Focus like a laser on one thing and become the best at it”
Mark has bought over 600 properties [& counting] for himself, Rob, his family & his investors since 2003. He is a systems and spreadsheet geek, er, guy, and has developed a complex, secret algorithm that takes all human error out of buying residential, commercial and multi-let property.
He has commented and been referenced in almost all major publications including BBC Radio, The Independent, the FT, The Wall Street Journal, as well as co-authoring the UK’S 4 Best Selling Property Books.
Mark quit corporate life in 2006 where he saw a long road to quiet desperation, giving up a ‘good job’ that was actually dead end and monotonous. Yes it was above average pay, but life was empty and it was not his path. Maybe you can relate to this.
On the side, Mark has been an Entrepreneur investor since the age of 15, setting up many small businesses through University, and continually saving, re-investing and compounding the money using laws of wealth that he now teaches to 10,000’s of people.
Mark is a paranoid spreadsheet geek and an analyst. Giving up a good career was a big decision for him, he is a bit of a recluse but he makes up for it in finance. Mark has been obsessed and [literally] sleep deprived on finding the very best investment vehicle and at the end of 2007 his joint portfolio with Rob produced more profit than any of his other investments he’d tried in the last 10 years, combined.
Contact Method
Website: https://www.progressiveproperty.co.uk/contact/
About Your Guest
ANDREAS PANAYIOTOU, GROUP CHAIRMAN, CEO, THE ABILITY GROUPFounding the prestigious Ability Group in 1996, Andreas Panayiotou remains the Group Chairman and CEO, thanks to his expertise in property development. Since 1996, Andreas and the Ability Group have realised the potential of the UK and European property investment opportunities through residential, commercial and hotel assets.
For Andreas, his business acumen came at a young age. Thanks to the support of his parents, Cypriot immigrants, who taught him the value of hard work to achieve your aspiration.
CONTACT METHOD