Our Previous Investor Experiences

“After many years running my own dress manufacturing business I decided to step down from entrepreneurship to focus on building my property portfolio. There are only so many hours in a day and I have a lot of other commitments that keep me busy so I was looking for a way to invest in some really solid property development projects on a passive basis.
The problem is, where do you find the right joint venture partner and how do you know the project is worth investing in? It was really timely that I spoke to the Beaufort Society’s Paul Kingston just as they were launching their Property Connections service. While I obviously did my own due diligence before deciding to invest, Paul had done a lot of the work for me by finding and researching the developer, visiting the site of the project and analysing the project appraisal.

Armed with Paul’s findings I met the developer onsite and agreed in principle to provide the equity for the project. Paul went to great lengths to make sure that
the shareholder agreement gave me as many protections as possible and educated the developer on why some changes were needed now that he was working with an equity partner. In a nutshell, I provide the equity on top of the development loan, the developer does all the work and we split the profits down the middle.

I’ve been really pleased to see Paul continuing to be involved in the project, visiting the site every month and sending me video updates. The offer is there for me to be more actively involved if I want to be, but right now it suits me to know that Paul is keeping an eye on everything on my behalf.

If you’re thinking of getting involved in property development but are not sure of the best way to get started, have a chat with Paul and see if Property Connections could work for you.”

“I found these guys almost by accident seeing the logo on their office window as I went past on the tube! I used the services of Mr Google and got in touch with Graham and the team.
I’ve always made my own investment decisions, mainly in property and shares, so it was a new departure to join a club for high net worth investors. I’d not really seen anything like it before so had no idea what to expect.

To get to know them better I went along to one of their live events in London. I enjoyed listening to Graham’s talk on the crypto world though I’m in no hurry to put my hard-earned cash into that just yet. At the event Paul Kingston talked about their Property Connections service and introduced me to one of the developers they work with.
A few weeks later I found myself on a building site south of Manchester looking at one of the Property Connections projects. I had a careful look at the appraisal, made sure the shareholder agreement was in order and that the potential sale prices were achievable.

But for me it’s about more than just the numbers. I’ve got to be comfortable with the people. Both Paul and the developer impressed me with their approach and their track record, so I was happy to provide a percentage of the equity that the project needed, in three stages, as the work progresses.

For a bit of diversification I’ve also made a small investment in a start-up company that comes with some good tax breaks through the EIS scheme.

At some stage I’m going to sell my shipping container business and I’ll certainly be looking to the Beaufort team to find a good home for some of the proceeds. Considering that I didn’t know what a club like this would be like, I have to say it’s been very useful thus far and I’m happy I joined.”