In this episode, Paul talks to Kris Carpenter, who is a property developer from Leeds. He explains how he went from getting his Master's in psychology to joining the Army, leaving and building a big property portfolio through a JV. Before becoming a fully-fledged property developer, consultant and land trader.

By sharing his journey Kris provides you with practical and up-to-date strategies you can use to avoid the pitfalls and overcome the unavoidable challenges. If you are an ambitious property entrepreneur this is a must listen episode.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Take advantage of downturns.
• Tax and exit planning are important. Think long-term and understand the pros and cons of each option.
• Take advantage of tax breaks, but never assume they won´t disappear. The government continually changes the rules and taxes that opportunity out of existence.
• Resist the temptation to pursue a bad deal because you are desperate to have something on the go. Wait until you find the right opportunity.
• Kris now develops projects that he holds onto and uses to generate income. He no longer sells everything on.
• Land deals where you get the planning, and then sell it to a builder are lucrative.
• Look at syndicated loans.
• If you are just starting out, spend 6 months learning about it and get a job in the industry before you invest.
• Get good at raising funds.
• Understand every aspect of your business model but build a team to get it all done.
• There's nearly as much work on a small deal as there is on a big one.
• Diversifying smooths out cash flow and protects you from downturns.

BEST MOMENTS

“Use the skills of a developer to create your own investments.”

“Property development is so complicated that you need to be world-class at one aspect of it..”

“The key skill is being able to build a team”

“It does not matter how rich you are, you will run out of money in this game.”

“Your ability to market and sell yourself and raise funds is key because the banks won't give you the money you need.”

ABOUT THE GUEST

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristoffercarpenter

ABOUT THE HOST 

Paul Higgs is a Chartered Planning and Development Surveyor with 40+ years' experience in land, planning and development and a 100% success track record in winning planning consents.

Paul undertook his first refurb project when he was just 17 and then worked his way up from labouring on building sites to becoming Head of Land for renowned plc housebuilder, Barratt Developments. He managed to escape the corporate world in 2002 to set up what is now a multimillion-pound award-winning property development company, Millbank Group.

In 2013 Paul founded the Millbank Land Academy, the UK’s first training company dedicated to property development; to teach established and aspiring developers the insider secrets the big housebuilders don’t want you to know! 

Paul is also a founding investor and former board director of the industry-leading PropTech Co, LandTech, and has lectured on Advanced Development Valuations on the MSc Property Development at London South Bank University.

CONTACT METHOD

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-higgs

Millbank Land Academy: https://www.millbanklandacademy.co.uk

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/paulhiggsofficial