How I Became Financially Free – Karen Bock
Discover how a support worker for adults with autism became financially free through property, within 2 days of starting the Stealth Millionaire Programme.
CONTACT KAREN BOCK
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Transcript
Hi everyone
I’m George Choy and welcome to the Sarah & George Choy Property Podcast – the show that helps you to become financially free, so you can spend your time traveling, pursuing your passions and with your family.
So today in this episode I’m interviewing Karen Bock who recently became financially free within 2 days of starting the Stealth Millionaire Programme.
If you haven’t subscribed to our channel please do and let’s get on with the show so welcome Karen.
How are you doing?
Oh yeah fine yes thank you, lovely day.
Good, good. So thinking thinking back in time to the very first property you bought – which could be your
principal private residence – tell me about that one. What were you doing at the time? What kind of job did you have? What kind of property did you buy at the time?
I was doing the same job as I’m doing now which I’m a support worker for adults with autism.
I only do that part-time and have i’ve only worked part-time for a few years now.
I bought this big four bedroomed detached property because because it had an attached brick built garage.
Okay there are reasons behind this one.
My son is disabled he’s in a wheelchair and obviously having the garage attached structurally to the house
opened up plans to knock through and build him like a ground floor flat if he ever wanted me to.
So he’d be independent himself but still attached to the main house, which wouldn’t have would never be a
problem. He hasn’t done that yet and he’s 17 now.
I think i’ve looked after him too well.
Yeah.
[Laughter]
But it’s the opportunity still sits there.
So the second property I bought was a fluke really. It was just one of those things. This property came on the market
and it showed one picture on the cover. So I arranged a view and went round and they said be prepared for a bit of a shock, okay.
Well it wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting but the poor gentleman was alcoholic dependent shall we say. So there were bottles and untidiness everywhere. I know after a bit of a few offers here and there I did purchase the property and spent
roughly nine and a half thousand pound doing it up to become a lovely home.
And I put a friend of mine’s brother in there who suffers terribly with mental health problems and I’ve told him this is your home for life now. I’m not gonna ever kick you out. I don’t need because I’d use my pension money to purchase that property.
So he’s fine. I think I haven’t been in the house for three years because I know that that’s how he is. He’s spotless. It will be spotless – he’s a clean freak.
Oh that’s good.
OCDC very minimalistic very minimalistic.
yeah so he appears every now and again and visits friends
Right so did you withdraw twenty percent of your pension to to get the deposit on it?
No I bought it for cash order for cash.
Oh right, okay.
Yeah. Many, many years ago my father talked me into or would rather talk to me out of paying into the state pension and into a private pension, which had done very very well over the years.
But then all of a sudden it stopped as money was fluctuated here and there. There was a fair amount of money sat in there and it wasn’t proving viable. It was like oh it’s not making much anymore. What can I do with it?
Property. I’d always had this little idea of playing with property. It’s just like Monopoly – keep buying. So I bought that one and really enjoyed doing it up and helping somebody out.
Yeah and from this year alone – I started in January. So during lockdown I have purchased three properties. They’re all rented out on Rent To Buy.
Okay, so tell us, for people that don’t know what Rent To Buy is. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Yep fine. So basically it’s for people who never would never have thought about owning their own property – their own home whatever.
So what happenes with this strategy is they still go in as a rented tenant – but the minute they walk through the
door it’s their home. They they still pay the rent. There’s an agreement for either five, seven or ten years.
It can be extended if they need to. They will purchase the property at the end of that time period. They agree the price. So all the time they’re in there they’re paying the rent. They pay a top-up which will then become their deposit for their mortgage.
So it’s in a client account. They can’t touch it and neither can I – unless they default on rent or they walk away from it.
They take care of all the maintenance. They can do pretty much as they please to the property. Obviously they can’t just go and put a big extension on the back without permission, but if they do that’s fine by me because that’s if they walk away from it they increase the value of my property.
But but it’s a hands-free strategy. idon’t get any hassle from it at all and it’s giving people an opportunity to have their own home that probably would never have managed to make it on the mortgage ladder at all and especially in today’s yeah financial mess.
But and I really haven’t had any problems from them at all their rent is paid on time there have been no problems.
Because obviously when they take the house on, I as a landlord still have done everything suitable to make it safe it. It still has to have its electrics and gas certificates. Which I have to do every year while they’re a tenant, obviously.
Yes, but I do all that all the work. I mean one house was totally and utterly refurbished you know. New kitchen, new bathroom. Plastered a lot, so you know this lady got a lovely home.
She will look after it and at the end of it I will get a nice sale price, without having to do anything else for it.
It’s good, yeah. They work ethically and they work financially as well. I do like this system. Good for the tenant, good for the landlord.
Yeah, definitely so. Can you share any any figures on one of these?
I can share yeah. The easiest one to share, well I’ll share a couple. The second one I purchased. Now I paid over the odds for that. It was a two bed three three bed terrace.
okay on offers around about £50k
but it was perfect it didn’t need any
work doing whatsoever
it was it was a walk-in put your
furniture in and then you were home
nice so I paid £56k for that so it was
it was it was a bit over the odds it
wasn’t on the best of the streets either
right but it was tenanted immediately
it gone in a week you know straight in
no
no hassle the paying rent the pen proper
market rent there’s no
you know it’s not reduced rent yeah so
that one went
for that the first one I purchased was
on at £62k.
okay that had quite a lot of money spent
on it because it needed it to bring it
up to standard
so it had around about £11,000 pounds
worth of work done on it as well
because it needed they love to put our
texts on
and of course you you have to cover it
or take it off due to the asbestos
yes so the whole house was skimmed and
plastered
new kitchen went in their bathroom and
everything
so that refurb was quite expensive
but it was a three bed semi
yeah so so you always have to be aware
of unexpected costs
in any property that you purchase um
obviously I don’t with purchasing the
properties for cash
i didn’t have any surveys done
i just put an indemnity insurance on
them yeah and they’re all insured
obviously now with landlord insurance
which you know it’s a security for
yourself
the third property was
I’d viewed that earlier on in the year
and they wouldn’t come down in the price
but eventually they did come down they
did come down yeah and I purchased it
for
okay again very lit I think a thousand
pound
and I did most of the work myself on
that one with the help of a friend and i
did pay get a friend to help she’s
making the decorative for me
so for under a thousand pound that house
was decorated
it didn’t need any carpets during which
i just paid for carpets to be cleaned
right and once again it was rented
within a week
wow that’s good was that another three
bed that was a two bed that was the two
bed terrace
two bed terrace okay two bed terrace
okay but it was in the better area
yeah
so and between all three of those
properties with the rent that they’re
bringing in they’re not massive rents
that you know their average
rents i’ve been able
I could to be financially free
i worked it all out and thought you know
what
i can do this I don’t have to work but I
really don’t want to work if I don’t
have to work
but I do continue to work simply
to keep the mortgage company happy
due to the fact of my business not
being a year old
so with in less than a year I am
financially free
they won’t I haven’t got the accounts
and the books to keep
the mortgage people happy yeah so they
they just want my wages
[Laughter]
well I have I have something else sat in
the
sat in the pipeline right that either by
by Christmas or just after Christmas in
the new year that will be it for me I
will never
work again yeah brilliant in
for anybody I can sack the boss that’s
it that’s it
i can stack up the boss yes the spot on
that’s it that’s good that’s really good
yeah
really good so and you know what
so it’s possible and and I haven’t
as a good okay it’s possible in less
than a year
so yeah I haven’t got loads of
experience or anything like that i’ve listened
i’ve listened and learned.
Education. Attending your Stealth Millionaire Programme was an eye-opener. It was like
oh I could do this!
So after you did my course and then suddenly you realised you were financially free – talk me through
that kind of moment when it kind of hit you.
What I’d been as you were doing the course – on the last day I started adding things up and totting
them up and thinking okay i’ve got that and i’ve got that.
Then added all the bills up for everything that was coming in and it’s like well that’s less than half of what’s coming in hmm okay.
We could do this one. I mean something just hit me at the end of the day on the last
day it was like. Re-did all the figures.
I think I did the figures about three times and kept coming back and I passed them across and went
“Is that right? Tell me if that adds up right” and then Karen went “yeah, yes”
so yeah it was it was like whoa thank you very much!
I know but it’s it’s quite a quite a shock when it happens it really
is it’s like you don’t realise you just don’t realise how how much people spend.
See because I haven’t got any mortgages I mean i’ve got five properties with no
mortgages on, which makes a difference.
But because I’m now putting mortgages on the properties that’s where I have to hop that’s why I
have to stop slow down and be sensible, be sensible.
You’ve still got to be able to have the rents cover the mortgages.
but then I think it but if the rents are
covering the mortgage
I’m losing x amount of income so I still
do have to do
income would you say it’s important then
to to
go would you would you have invested in
property in the first place if you
hadn’t gone on some courses
and thought that you could even
become financially free
in the first place
I might have carried I might have
toyed with the idea
but I would probably have come unstuck
drastically on stock
because I’d already got this little one
in my own name
and but because of the person that’s in
there I get no problems from it
yeah I wasn’t silly I wasn’t
unaware of that there could be problems
involved in property
and but I thought I need to learn more
about all of this stuff
and I didn’t know where to go and I
think you have to learn to
judge the people that you’re going to be
working with um
yeah find out about them it took me a
while
i didn’t do it straight away it did take
me
five months five months to make that
leap
yeah and it’s a big investment and you
have to get over the mindset
as well of learning it’s changed my
mindset drastically
i was always I was brought up to if you
can’t afford it you don’t have it
you save up for it you know if you can’t
pay cash for it you don’t have anything
on credit
you don’t you know so so it’s changed me
in that way
that i’ve learned about good credit and
bad credit definitely
you’re going to teach him to invest in
property yeah
yeah I’m good he’s going to take over
this business he’s um
yeah though I don’t want him I’d like
him to get
an apprenticeship with somebody to so he
learns from the bottom upwards a little
bit
but I don’t want him to be dependent on
on that person
I don’t on on a wage yes I don’t want
him to
I call it a wage slave that’s it he just
need to know
yeah he’s a wage slave I i he needs to
know
the ins and outs of things and as all
kids do they don’t listen to their
parents
no what you don’t know what you’re
talking about yeah
yeah my children are nine and ten and
they have absolutely no interest really
at the moment
every time I you know talk to them about
property investing they just kind of
switch off
yeah but they’re not unintended they’ve
got better things to do there’s a
computer
yeah exactly
rob’s 17 and this is like he just looks
at me going out but I just keep telling
him oh
telling him what’s going on for what I’m
doing yeah and every now and again he
perks up and he’ll ask a question and oh
god he’s interested
he’s sat in he sat at school doing a
levels
he’s doing english language history
and I t
and he gets he’s very focused and
adamantly he’s going to do these
A-levels but he’s very adamant he doesn’t
want to go to university as well
I’ve had enough of education yeah he
said I’m sick of education
so because he’s a right little
trooper he really does work hard and
it’s things don’t always come easy to
him
yeah so I can’t blame him and i’ve said
to him I said well you’re not going to
go to university
this year surely you know you’ll take a
gap year
because you might as well stay at home
but you’re not just going to sit playing
games you’re going to learn something
yeah so I will push somewhere down the
line to say right
let’s have a couple of days doing this
and doing that yeah
so you could build him a call
yeah not with this book well
yeah the books are all sat there lined
up yeah this is your reading list for
this week
yeah I keep just I keep sort of leaving
them lying around and say have a look at
that one and
have a look at this one no he needs he
needs a different he needs a mindset
change
i think he needs a brain transplant with
mindsets concerned
[Laughter]
so assuming then the in in December
then that’s that’s it for you then
what do you
what do you plan to do from now on
have you thought about it I’m building a
second I’m yeah yeah no I’m built this
is how this is I’m doing this I’m
building a second business
okay all right which is
yeah it when it’s still still involves
property it still involves property
but it’s i’ve joined up with a with
another lady
and she has we’re both very much
interested in helping
people with mental health problems
the homeless
yeah and very much so
for the children coming out of care
i don’t know you know they’ve been in
the foster care system and when they get
to 18 they’re just kicked out
and left yeah they get
left so we’re both very much interested
in that
so we are looking at
purchasing hmos type buildings
properties yeah and providing housing
for these guys
and putting teams in there that will
help them
move forward you know mentorship people
and some of them some of the guys ladies
and gentlemen that
are possibly coming out of the mental
health
hospitals right um
and again they just get kicked out and
left
so they need to go back in um
and providing them with some with a home
a room you know like an HMO
with stability with care and guidance
so that is where my next stream
is disappearing off to okay so is that
assisted assisted living
is that is that it’s it’s called
supported housing
housing right yeah supported housing
as well but obviously we’ll
just be the boss and put it and employ
staff
so which will still be I’ll still be
financially free I don’t have to
have a day-to-day input in the in it but
because I
love that thing
i love doing that that’s that’s where I
my care is
I’ll carry on building that business
up that way
yeah that’s something but I’ll also be
enjoying life
yeah exactly so what do you what do you
want to do with your with your life then
in terms of enjoying it
what are your plans travel when
restrictions are lifted obviously I want
to travel more
a lot more okay so yeah
rob with with him now he would have
finished school he could travel with me
oh he can stay
yeah yeah no I want to do the the
train
ride over the orient over the rockies
around the Canadian Rockies
oh nice yes
yeah uh probably do the yeah
not the usual sightseeing stuff some of
the off off stuff
so I can go go sit on a beach anywhere
can’t you
yeah I prefer active and unusual yeah
yeah just like you yeah
yeah yeah I did I did a train ride from
china all the way to hong kong
that was quite interesting in a in a
cabin oh brilliant that was really good
loved it gosh yeah oh yeah
i want to see some of the some more of
the yes out you know east
east Asia places like that you know and
Korea and yeah those places fascinate me
their history is amazing and the
architecture is
oh that is nice architecture
definitely yeah I’m with you on travel i
love travel yeah
it’s it’s a shame with this one that we
can’t move about as much as we used to
be able to
yeah plus we got Switzerland as well
you know look at the Swiss alps drive
around through there
yeah I wouldn’t want to go on one of
those coach rods because they look too
hairy
whiz down those Swiss mountains
just be able to have the time to to
jump get on a plane hire a nice car or
something at the end of it and just
travel around and stop off where you
felt like you know
you could do Austria Germany places like
that you just
just go and stop where you please
definitely
that sounds good I like that
so just thinking back to your your
property investing um
if you were to to to give one one
tip something something you learned that
you think
anyone new coming to property needs
to know what would you say
is a big learning bitcoin it’s just the
whole education stuff and don’t
and don’t be afraid to ask the questions
even if it sounds a silly question to
you don’t be afraid
to ask it because if you think if you
don’t know just
somebody else there might not know
either but be brave enough to ask
that question of what do you mean by
that
i mean a lot of I found a lot of
property people use
abbreviations yeah when you first go in
it’s like
what what’s that about who’s that you
know what
what’s a BMV what what
[Laughter]
I thought a BMV was a car not a BMV
yeah just education is the biggest thing
i would say
just just learn learn yeah and be
patient
be patient okay watch listen
and learn yeah that’s
yeah so see see whatever but don’t just
run after everybody else
make your own path
definitely and I can see you’re doing
you’re doing things that you
you believe in and that you you you know
in your in your heart I can see that
there
there’s there’s a link between the kind
of work you do and
the investing that you do so I can
see a bit of
passion there as well yeah yeah don’t
property will bring you wealth
it can bring you money but if you
don’t enjoy doing the bit that you do
it can be a heart it’s hard work you
don’t want to do it for hard work you
want to do it because
it’s something you love and you care
about yeah
you know that’s that’s other people
might be making an awful lot more money
out of this than I am
probably you know they are but
have they got they might have passion
for money financial you know
gain and whatnot but i’ve got passion
for
other things I want I want to be able to
help
somebody else yes be the best they can
as well
you know it’s yeah I just love what I
do
yeah that’s good that’s good that’s the
way to
well then it’s never a chore is it it’s
not a chore of go I mean who wants to go
tramps around viewing houses
in the pouring rain yeah you know
but I if it has a has a fantastic ending
at the end of it crap love it go for it
yeah exactly good well
thanks thanks very much for coming on
the show karen it’s been really great
that you’ve shared your story with us
and how how simple it was as well
you know a lot of a lot of people get
into property and think it’s you know
very complicated
in terms of how to become financially
free but you’ve you know you’ve
demonstrated
it’s you know it can just be a couple of
properties and you know
getting the right knowledge and so on um
it can be as simple as that
and that’s brilliant you know
congratulations again
oh no I mean everybody’s helped me along
the line as well it wasn’t just me that
i hadn’t you know
people like yourself sarah and others
you know they’ve all helped
to get me where I am yeah and it isn’t
difficult
it’s not as complicated and complex as
people as you suddenly think it’s going
to
be yeah the complex things come later on
but by the time you get there
hopefully you’ve got the knowledge to
help you
forward and the contacts to turn around
and say help
yeah that’s really important having that
having that contact network isn’t it
yeah definitely people you can rely on
yeah
good so if people wanted to contact you
what’s the best way for them to do
that
via facebook’s fine I’m on facebook
um
great okay I’ll put it in a message I’ll
put a link a link in so people can just
click on that and contact you directly
then
yeah thank you sounds good all right
well thanks thanks everyone for
watching the show make sure you
subscribe at mycastleproperty.co.uk/subscribe
and we’ll see you all next week thanks bye.
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Best wishes, Sarah Choy & George Choy
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