Background
2007
I started out in property development working for Modus Properties, sitting in on meetings, learning how to handle myself in an office environment and building connections with other property people.
Modus paid for me to do a distance learning degree at Reading University and I graduated with a degree in Real Estate Management.
2008
When the 2008 recession hit (or credit crunch as we called it at the time) I was made redundant and went off travelling the world for a year with 3 friends. When I came back to the UK I moved from property development into the investment sector and realised this was where I belonged. I loved every part it, evaluation deals, learning about yields and return on cash, negotiating with developers, appreciating marketing and helping investors.
2010
By 2010 I had saved up a £25,000 deposit for my first property. It was a 2 bedroom apartment in North Manchester and I paid £125,000. I managed to acquire the property for a discounted price, so 6 months later I applied for a further advance. This is similar to a remortgage and a cheque came in the post from my Solicitor for £30,000. This was my deposit for my 2nd property. So I bought a 2 bedroom apartment in Salford for £95,000. 6 months later I sold it for £114,000 and the £19,000 profit I made, plus my original deposit immediately went to a 3rd property.
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Around the same time I sold my first property for £165,000 and that released my original deposit to buy a 4th property. And onwards I went buying, remortgaging and selling.
2013
By 2013 I was ready to start my own company and I co-founded Sequre Property Investment. With my partner I built this to become the largest buy to let property company in the UK. We employed over 100 people at our peak and the Telegraph even ran an article calling us ‘The Super Star Agents that put buyers first.’
This gave me access to more deals that I could buy and my portfolio continued to build. It also taught me some incredible lessons of how to build and run a business and I was later voted Manchester’s Young Property Professional of the Year.
2019
By 2019 I was ready to step away from the business.
It was an incredibly difficult decision and I cried my eyes out when I told everyone I was leaving. But I was exhausted from working so hard to grow the company, my property portfolio was growing steadily and I wanted to work alone for a while.
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I spent the next 6 years working on a variety of properties. The first deal I did was to purchase a block of 12 apartments for £660,000 that had fallen into disrepair with most of the tenants owing thousands of pounds in rent. I slowly removed the tenants and refurbished each apartment as I went along.
I eventually let all the properties out again at significantly higher rents and sold the building for £1.2m, generating a profit of around £300,000.
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I then negotiated a deal with a developer who was building 24 apartments. This enabled other investors to join me on the deal, to take advantage of the excellent discount and yields I had achieved. The total capital profit on this deal was £280,000 and many of those investors are still earning strong rental returns from that deal.
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However it must not be forgotten that property also comes with its losses. I got involved in 3 development projects working with councils and care providers, later selling the completed properties to pension funds. However I suffered significant losses on all 3 of these deals and have learnt many lessons in doing so. I am yet to calculate the exact scale of my losses
but they are over £900,000.
2025
Having come through these challenges, I reflected on my career and realised that what gave me the most pleasure was working with other people and building something. I wanted a team again and I wanted to pass the lessons I have learnt on to other investors. As 2025 began I was ready to start my own company again, with my name above the door, and Sacks Properties was born.
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We have already assembled a wonderful team of property professionals with nearly 100 years combined property experience.
