INVESTOR FOCUS: Kev Dendy

In the first of our recurring feature, the Buy To Let group celebrates an investor who is taking action, overcoming obstacles and building a better future through property. First up, Kev Dendy…

Hi! Thanks for taking the time to talk to ON THE HOUSE Magazine and share your story. Let’s start at the end… What is your current property investment situation?

We have recently purchased our first three BTL properties in a very short window! March 2022 to July 2022. It’s been a long road getting to this point, having started our property journey in December 2020. Our patch is in South Wales - a mere one and half hours from our home in Cheltenham. We worked very hard in the local area getting to know all the estate agents and to just walk the streets looking for opportunity. Even in a buoyant market we were still able to get great deals and all of ours are off market opportunities. The first property we grabbed due to our relationships we had built, and the other two are from an existing landlord who is moving area and wanted a quick sale.

*** TO READ MORE INSIGHTFUL PROPERTY INVESTING ARTICLES LIKE THIS OR JOIN THE UK’S MOST SUPPORTIVE ONLINE PROPERTY NETWORKING GROUP VISIT: https://linktr.ee/btlgroup***

We are on our first main refurbishment with completion and first tenants due in at the end of August 2022. The second two properties are completing in the next few weeks and refurbishments to take a further four to six weeks. We have capital and investment to target another six properties in the next 18 months and are planning to go full time into property.

Kev settled on South Wales as his investment hotspot

What is your ‘why’?

It’s a great question! It has two very different answers. Firstly, it’s always easy to say family and specifically my wife and children. We have an added layer in our household that tops most I think. Both of our boys are autistic (one is non-verbal and needs constant care) and the other, whilst able to lead a fairly trouble-free life is socially very awkward. They are our world and no matter what happens in life we have provided for their future in purchasing cash-flowing assets to support any care they may need later in life, particularly our oldest. I teach my youngest about property rather than a 9-5 job. The choice is his path, but he is growing up understanding that he has options. He sits with me doing budgets and loves talking about refurbs and he is only seven. My family will always be my main reason for anything. Secondly, though I have had six figure salary jobs and most people’s ambition is to climb those rungs of the corporate ladder. In my field of marketing, to many people I have had a very successful career. The problem is at that level you are owned body and soul, 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Stress levels are high, work life balance is non-existent and it takes its toll. I have lived with feast and famine! As the most expensive resource in the company you are generally the first to go in an economic downturn. I have been through multiple redundancies. At a high level it can take you six-12 months to find a job at that level again so your lifestyle is unsustainable because your bills matched the income of your last job. I lived in Wimbledon for a long time and it’s my most favourite place – but a three-bed semi-detached house in my old road is now currently worth £1.25 Million. My story shows that unless you have income from sources that are not reliant on you being there physically, the minute that job changes or goes your income drops to zero, as does your lifestyle. I need income that does not revolve around me doing a nine-to-five and financial freedom is my goal from property. My wife and I are great at motivating each other and with both our minds on this goal - we will succeed.

Kev with his two sons at Park Run

Did you dive straight into property or was there a period of learning and skilling up before you were confident to get started?

The weird thing was that at any time pre-pandemic I could have purchased lots of properties because of my salary. Once I had made the decision to go for it and got upskilled and completed some property courses, learnt about everything I needed to get started, my ability to get mortgages had dried up – lenders were unforgiving through that period. I had confidence issues around refurbishments, so surrounded myself with people smarter than me who had all the knowledge and were very generous with their time and patience. I feel I will make lifelong friendships with people I didn’t know 12 months ago.

Talk us through those early challenges as an investor both literally and also mentally – what were the challenges that you faced?

I invested in some expensive property training that was not value for money. I can’t say I didn’t learn but it makes you question the industry and if its right for you. The pandemic was terminal for my long-term career in the corporate world but gave me the time to mentally prepare for the property journey. The biggest challenge I think we all face is to keep going when you are getting nowhere, deals don’t appear, money lending is hard to get access to and focus is hard no matter what you do. I felt like everyone else was succeeding and I was the only one that wasn’t.

What kept you going?

I was close on more than one occasion to walking away, no doubt about it! I was fortunate enough to be part of a property Round Table group who have kept my spirits up and kept me on the true path. Like-minded people who love property and helping you are a must. There is no jealousy there – I was particularly happy to see one of my close friends in the group reach financial freedom.

Property power couple in the making - Kev and his wife

What has been the most effective techniques learned or things you have done to help you achieve your goals?

We have gathered £40k in investment funds from angel investors by putting ourselves out there. It took me 26 minutes to write two facebook posts and we received signed documentation in less than a week. That’s £20K per 13 minutes spent on it. We have interest out for another £50k of potential funds. We have numerous people who want to invest in us, ask us questions daily and are watching our property journey. I am good at social media (I spent 25 years as a Marketing Director) so can tell you, don’t worry about likes and comments on your posts – people are reading about it and following closely. Every time we meet people in the real world they ask us about it – the silent ones are the most interested! Don’t give up talking about your journey, you never know where it will lead and who might be watching.

What are your goals now?

We want to do commercial properties after our target of eight BTLs are achieved and the bigger goal of doing a property development from start to finish would be a dream come true. I am now the co-owner in a social housing company and we have already handed over a property to a care provider to look after 11 physically disabled people which fills me with pride – we want to do much more!

Lastly, when you are not flicking through the Rightmove app or putting in the hours at your day job – what do you like to do to relax or find some headspace? Any hobbies?

I used to play a very high standard of football and love to watch my local team Cheltenham Town F.C, I run Parkrun every week with over nearly 450 5ks done. I am happy to be in a place in my journey where my wife and I go out every week on a date night and there is nobody I would rather spend time with drinking coffee, enjoying a fantastic nice restaurant or spending time with. Our kids have made it hard to travel in the last few years but our dream is to travel the world together and spend six months here and six months abroad.