In their mission to go full-time in property it's fair to say that both Lucy & Jake of Innova Property have faced hurdle after hurdle. But despite a global pandemic, failed deals, and an increasingly turbulent economic climate, together they have persevered in growing their business, and in taking the giant leap into self-employment.

But leaving the financial security of a full-time corporate job to focus on a riskier career in property is a huge decision, and one that shouldn't be taken lightly!

In order to gain some helpful advice on the matter, we decided to catch-up with Lucy about her decision to go full-time in property, how exactly she achieved it, and how it's all going now.

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Please introduce yourself and your business

Hi, I'm Lucy! Together with my partner Jake, we run Innova Property.

We are based in Bristol and currently actively invest in HMOs, small commercial-to-resi conversions, and flips – although we do own and self-manage BTL’s and SAs too. 

Starting out in the property industry, what were your initial plans?

Property felt like both an exciting and secure investment strategy. Having received some inheritance at a young age I had no hesitation in investing it into property, buying a new build two-bedroom flat in Cardiff where I had been a student. This has been rented out since 2014 and provided approx. £600 per month profit ever since.

Being 22 at the time, this income was a fantastic buffer to support my lifestyle of travelling and studying for a master’s degree. With monthly cashflow in mind, I decided to self-manage the property rather than giving a share of the profits to a letting agent, and found the process to be relatively straight forward which laid the foundations for managing our portfolio as it grew later on. 

Having lived in shared houses as a student, we were aware that rental income was lucrative in these properties and really saw the potential in property investment.

The first property Jake and I attempted to buy together was a 3 bedroom house in Cardiff with the view to convert it into a student HMO. The property had a loft room that had been unofficially converted, so naively we thought we could turn it into a 5 bedroom HMO easily. However, upon speaking to a solicitor we realised we would require planning permission to convert the property to a HMO, which was unlikely to be approved due to the saturation of HMO’s in the area. Furthermore, the loft had no building control sign-off and therefore couldn’t be used as a habitable room without some serious alterations. This meant our first attempt to acquire a HMO was unsuccessful and we realised how much we had to learn. 

We instead decided to divert our attention to flipping our own home repeatedly to generate capital whilst simultaneously climbing the corporate ladder and building our knowledge around property investment strategies. 

We built up the cash to purchase another buy-to-let in Cardiff, this time using the BRR model and doing a lot of the work ourselves. We then felt ready to move into HMOs and bought our first one at auction, HMOs quickly became our favourite strategy.

Did it all go to plan, or did you hit hurdles along the way that prolonged your plan to go full-time?

We set up our limited company in 2018 and started to build our business. Since then, there have been a string of events that have created uncertainty and presented a series of challenges to overcome.

Initially, Brexit was concerning due to the potential implications it could have on the property market. Covid-19 hit 2 months into our first HMO development, causing significant delays and an increase in costs. The property boom followed soon after, which created real challenges in sourcing good value projects.  

Currently inflationary pressures, an assumed recession and a “property crash” on the horizon also makes for some uncertainty. Just after I quit my job in August 2022, the mini budget was published, and interest rates started climbing rapidly. With several live projects at the time, this meant that the exit for these deals changed almost overnight, and I had worries about both projected cashflow as well as how much capital we would be able to refinance at the end of the project. 

We always stress test our deals and stack them conservatively, and with rates now settling alongside good opportunities and deals hitting the market we have taken the approach of looking for opportunities during times of uncertainty.
 

Financially, how did you know when you were ready to leave your job? Were there any targets you needed to reach or secure before that decision was made?

We took the slow and steady approach rather than jumping in at the deep end. I possibly could have gone full-time sooner if we had cut back on certain things, however I enjoyed my day job and so decided to build the business to a certain point before leaving. 

My key target was being able to replace the same salary that I earned from my day job with rental income after all business overheads were covered. As we were in a period of growth and reinvesting all profit back into the business, factoring an additional salary into the overheads felt like a sacrifice in some ways. However, the time that I have been able to invest in the business since going full-time has been invaluable and pushed our business to grow in many ways that was not possible when juggling a day job as well. 

Was there any additional things you put into place, or did, before you left your job?

We spent a lot of time working on roles and responsibilities, systemising processes and also taking on a virtual assistant.

It sounds strange but we hired a VA around the time of us both leaving our jobs as when we were in full-time work it was almost quicker and easier to just do everything ourselves, even if it meant working evenings and weekends. Leaving my job meant I was able to invest time in to working with our VA and training them to work efficiently alongside us. 

A big one for us was securing a residential property that we are happy in for the foreseeable future. Having been flipping our own home for the past 5 years we knew it would become difficult to secure a residential mortgage once I gave up my job and so we made sure to buy our home and not move again for a while. 

What would you recommend to other property developers wanting to go full-time?

• The ownership of being reliant on your own business for income is a great motivation to ensure the business grows to sustain your lifestyle. 
• Think about any residential lending requirements in the near future and discuss this, along with your other lending plans, with a good broker. 
• Grow your network within the property industry, learn from others and build support around you.
• Ensure that all your business costs are covered first before you allow for a salary. 
• Don’t underestimate how much you need to live on – carry out a budgeting exercise and be realistic. 
• Lastly, once you have everything in place don’t be afraid to take the plunge into full time property as you really won’t look back!

What’s the biggest lesson you have learned along the way?

The saying “it’s not what you know but who you know” is particularly relevant.

Growing a strong network has been extremely valuable, learning from others, sharing wins and losses and having others to go to when you need some advice or experience a new challenge. We have built our network through local networking events, The Business in Property Mastermind with Jade & Andy, and social media. The advice gained from others has really helped propel our business forwards. 

Has anything influenced your growth (courses, experiences, podcasts, books)?

We’ve not personally enrolled in any training courses. Instead, we have focused our time and energy on networking and building relationships with other investors and professionals within the industry.

We've listened to hundreds of hours of podcasts and learnt a lot this way before immersing ourselves within a mastermind group to share ideas and brainstorm our business. 

I would add that a level of personal sacrifice has been fundamental to growth; working unsociable hours, over bank holidays during heat waves, saying no to social events, not having a ‘home’ and always living in a building site, driving an old car. These are all examples of delayed gratification which has been absolutely necessary in order for us to get the business off the ground and grow. 

What are the challenges of being full-time in property? And did any of them catch you off-guard?

As a female in a male dominated industry, I can sometimes feel an element of imposter syndrome and don’t have as much confidence in certain settings as I would like. 

I don’t think I ever thought about the need to set some boundaries between work and personal life in attempt to stop the two blurring. This is a work in progress for us! 

Have you found applying for mortgages and finance a difficulty since you’ve both become self-employed? And do you have any advice on this topic?

We knew obtaining residential mortgages would become more difficult once we went full time into property, so we purposely bought our current residential property in advance of giving up our day jobs. 

Raising finance for investment properties is not a problem as lenders stress test against the rental income - although currently with rising interest rates, the stress tests which dictate the maximum amount lenders will lend based on the rental income has become more challenging, but each lender varies. We do also take a salary from the business so we have pay slips for proof of earnings. 

Should we wish to move to a different residential property in the future we will need to plan a couple of years in advance and ensure that our business is generating enough profit to draw high enough salaries to meet the affordability required. 

How is life now that your property business is your main focus? Do you feel like you have more intentional time to focus and grow without the distraction of another career?

It's enjoyable being able to focus on property without distractions or pulls of a day job. I really value being able to structure my own day and my own time, work from where I want, or how I want. 

Having recently converted a campervan, we spent 2 months at the end of 2022 working remotely from across Europe. Whilst we do feel a sense of presence will always be required in Bristol at certain stages of development, for viewings and general management of the business we have learnt that chunks of time working remotely is absolutely feasible and not detrimental to our business at all. This is really exciting as it means we have lots more travel plans in the pipeline.  

What do you do to balance work and life? Have you put any boundaries or rules in place about when to switch off etc.

I work harder and longer hours when it is needed but then I don't feel guilty taking time off when things go a bit quieter. For example, in recent weeks we were in the final stages of completing the development at our latest HMO - this meant long hours on site, working over the weekends furnishing and staging rooms, meeting the photographer, conducting viewings, getting contracts signed and all the paperwork that comes with a new tenancy for 6 people as well as getting all the last minute bits ready for tenants to move in. 

We then took a week off to go skiing and I left my laptop at home. If I want to meet friends or family during the week I will, as long as there's nothing urgent that takes priority. It's all about balance and ensuring the business is running smoothly but then finding more time for myself and not being bound to a 9-5 corporate lifestyle. 

What about the benefits to your free-time now? What have you done since quitting your job that you wouldn’t otherwise have been able to?

I joined a new gym with a pool and spa and can go during the daytime at less busier hours and then work earlier in the morning or later in the day if needed. Taking time for exercise and wellbeing is much easier! 

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Keen to learn more about Innova Property?
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• Check out their website here
• Learn more about their mentorship
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