Meet your pin host
Hello, I'm Ian Jackson your host at the Belfast property investors network (pin) Meeting.
I wish you a warm welcome to our meeting held on the 1st Tuesday of the month, except August and December when we don’t meet.
I’ve been in property 40 plus years, starting my business life as a travelling sales rep for a wholesale company selling to car dealerships, motor factors, and fleet users. I was still in this job 1985 when Cellnet and Vodafone were born, and during this time I felt our company was not doing the distribution of the cell phones correctly, nor did they have the vision of the size this business would become, so I packed up and went to do it myself.
Twenty-three years later I was the largest B2B cell phone dealer in N.I. I was approached by a professional business mergers group enquiring if I’d sell the business. It turned out they were acting for B.T. Plc after period of due diligence I sold the business in June 2005, 43 staff, 7 outlets gone in an afternoon and money in the bank.
I spent the next year in USA under the coaching/mentoring of Dolf De Roos during this time I bought three units in Phoenix, Arizona and flipped them paying for the cost. Following that I developed 23 flats very close to Scottsdale a well-known area. Subsequently, I returned back to the UK to activate my learning in July 2006. Between this and the backend of the crash in 2008 I had bought over 350 properties and keeping 140 for my own portfolio. It was a busy time that ended abruptly, like many I spent the next ten years managing my way through the after math of the crash. As many will know the banks had zero appetite for lending, with none here in N.I. at all which caused a mighty reduction in values of 66%, many fell into negative equity and some still today.
During this time of challenging days, I invested heavily in myself and in 2013 commenced the Master Mind (MM14) program, I was not there to buy property (I still had way over 100), I was there to learn other strategies that could help monetize what I already had, the market was stagnant. During this year I was asked if I’d open PIN Belfast which I did and ran it successfully for seven years closing just before covid came.
In the last three years I’ve reverted back to the business strategies I learned in USA and it’s been very successful. Along the way this time I’ve coached several people to become financially free. My son Matthew joined the business after completing a degree at Queens University Belfast. Within the past three years he has gotten fully up to speed and started buying property for himself. As well as buying below market, upgrading, and selling, we are stocking some property again, even as rates are at 5% and more, the rent has risen enough to make it worthwhile, and the monthly profit is way higher.
We embarked upon a new build scheme of two detached properties end Gross Development Value of £900k. One finished last year (22) and the next one sold this week (23), in doing this we have created a further in fill site which is in planning now for approval.
During this time, we found challenges working with Estate Agents, some of them were not delighted to work property investors. This led us to setup our own Estate Agency which Matthew is in charge off. Although it is very early days, we are managing to gain rents way above what local agents are asking. Some lacking the understanding of the huge increases in borrowing costs that must be paid somehow to allow landlords to continue to trade. They also fail to see the connection between the mortgage payment and the rental which is often in negative.
At the pin meeting we have experienced speakers who share their inspirational journeys, local industry specialists and great networking opportunities to grow your business and gain valuable contacts.
My team are extremely friendly, and I’d be happy to have a chat and share my knowledge if you are just starting out.
I wish you a warm welcome to our meeting held on the 1st Tuesday of the month, except August and December when we don’t meet.
I’ve been in property 40 plus years, starting my business life as a travelling sales rep for a wholesale company selling to car dealerships, motor factors, and fleet users. I was still in this job 1985 when Cellnet and Vodafone were born, and during this time I felt our company was not doing the distribution of the cell phones correctly, nor did they have the vision of the size this business would become, so I packed up and went to do it myself.
Twenty-three years later I was the largest B2B cell phone dealer in N.I. I was approached by a professional business mergers group enquiring if I’d sell the business. It turned out they were acting for B.T. Plc after period of due diligence I sold the business in June 2005, 43 staff, 7 outlets gone in an afternoon and money in the bank.
I spent the next year in USA under the coaching/mentoring of Dolf De Roos during this time I bought three units in Phoenix, Arizona and flipped them paying for the cost. Following that I developed 23 flats very close to Scottsdale a well-known area. Subsequently, I returned back to the UK to activate my learning in July 2006. Between this and the backend of the crash in 2008 I had bought over 350 properties and keeping 140 for my own portfolio. It was a busy time that ended abruptly, like many I spent the next ten years managing my way through the after math of the crash. As many will know the banks had zero appetite for lending, with none here in N.I. at all which caused a mighty reduction in values of 66%, many fell into negative equity and some still today.
During this time of challenging days, I invested heavily in myself and in 2013 commenced the Master Mind (MM14) program, I was not there to buy property (I still had way over 100), I was there to learn other strategies that could help monetize what I already had, the market was stagnant. During this year I was asked if I’d open PIN Belfast which I did and ran it successfully for seven years closing just before covid came.
In the last three years I’ve reverted back to the business strategies I learned in USA and it’s been very successful. Along the way this time I’ve coached several people to become financially free. My son Matthew joined the business after completing a degree at Queens University Belfast. Within the past three years he has gotten fully up to speed and started buying property for himself. As well as buying below market, upgrading, and selling, we are stocking some property again, even as rates are at 5% and more, the rent has risen enough to make it worthwhile, and the monthly profit is way higher.
We embarked upon a new build scheme of two detached properties end Gross Development Value of £900k. One finished last year (22) and the next one sold this week (23), in doing this we have created a further in fill site which is in planning now for approval.
During this time, we found challenges working with Estate Agents, some of them were not delighted to work property investors. This led us to setup our own Estate Agency which Matthew is in charge off. Although it is very early days, we are managing to gain rents way above what local agents are asking. Some lacking the understanding of the huge increases in borrowing costs that must be paid somehow to allow landlords to continue to trade. They also fail to see the connection between the mortgage payment and the rental which is often in negative.
At the pin meeting we have experienced speakers who share their inspirational journeys, local industry specialists and great networking opportunities to grow your business and gain valuable contacts.
My team are extremely friendly, and I’d be happy to have a chat and share my knowledge if you are just starting out.
