Susannah Cole, a property expert who turned a kitchen table startup into a powerhouse business, sourced over £45 million in property deals within just five years. A journey of adversity and resilience that will inspire and educate you on the power of investing in property and how to bulletproof your future.
“From Kitchen Table Startup to £45 Million in Property Deals”
Susannah Cole, a property powerhouse, transformed a kitchen table startup into a thriving property sourcing business with over 200 completed deals worth £45 million in just five years. But what makes Susannah’s story truly extraordinary is how she built this empire while battling four different cancers during the COVID pandemic.
Living between Barcelona and Bristol, Susannah runs her property business remotely through smart systems and automation. In this exclusive interview, she shares invaluable insights for busy professionals looking to build property portfolios alongside their careers.
The Beginning: Nighttime Renovations and Doubling Property Values
Susannah’s property journey began when she was a single parent with two young children and a full-time director-level job. “At nighttime, when I ran a professional job, I would buy a wreck of a house, and then when the children] were asleep, I would renovate the house myself,” she explains.
This early experience taught her a crucial lesson when she watched both family homes double in value. As her lawyer candidly told her, “You do realize the fact that you’ve made all this money has got very little to do with you and is entirely to do with the market.” This insight helped Susannah recognise the potential of property investment beyond her professional career.
The Secret to Success: Buying Properties at a Discount
The cornerstone of Susannah’s strategy is simple yet powerful: buy properties at a discount. Her impressive track record speaks for itself – her team sourced £45 million worth of property deals for just £30 million, creating instant equity.
“If you can buy something that is worth 400 that you buy for 300, straight away you have every opportunity to make money from that property,” she explains. This approach creates a buffer against market fluctuations and maximizes profit potential from day one.
Susannah emphasises that only about 1% of properties sell at a discount, which is why her approach differs from most investors:
“I never once in the 217 deals that we sourced actually looked for a deal on Rightmove ever. Waste of time. Everyone else is looking at that.”
Beyond Property Porn: Direct Sourcing Strategies
Susannah warns busy professionals against wasting time on what she calls “property porn” – endlessly scrolling through property websites like Rightmove and Zoopla.
Instead, she recommends going “straight to source” by directly calling estate agents and auction houses. The key is to catch properties at the sweet spot – right when they arrive at the agent’s office before they’re even listed online:
“When the property has arrived in the estate agent’s office or the auction house office and they’re thinking ‘oh my lord,’ and they haven’t yet even written up the spec, you pick up the phone. You go out there later that day, you view it, you put an offer in that night so it lands with them the next morning.”
Structuring Deals with Private Investors
For professionals with limited capital, Susannah’s approach to working with private investors offers a blueprint for growth. She structured her deals in two primary ways:
- Packaging Deals to Investors: Finding discounted properties, then selling them to investors who would implement the BRRR strategy (Buy, Refurbish, Refinance, Rent out).
- Joint Buy-Sell Ventures: Partnering with investors where they provide the funding, while Susannah handled the execution. “The only money of yours that I would touch would be the refurb cash,” she explains about her approach with investors.
These strategies allowed her to scale rapidly even with limited personal capital – at one point managing 30 investor deals simultaneously.
Remote Management Through Smart Systems
Running her property empire between Barcelona and Bristol requires robust systems. Susannah shares her top tools for remote property management:
- Arthur Online for property management, tracking certificates and maintenance
- Slack for team communication
- Google Drive for document management and project planning
- Xero for accounting and financial management
- Zoom, Calendly, and Otter AI for meetings and task management
She also emphasizes the importance of building an “A-list team” including a reliable letting agent, bookkeeper, accountant, lawyer, and administrators. “The biggest mistake people make is they just don’t do their cash flow predictions,” she adds.
Battling Cancer and the Value of Property Income
Perhaps the most powerful part of Susannah’s story is how her property portfolio sustained her through her cancer battle during COVID. “If I hadn’t spent over 100 grand on my own treatment, I wouldn’t be alive,” she reveals.
Her property income allowed her to:
- Take 3.5 years off work to focus on recovery
- Pay for private medical treatment when needed
- Maintain financial stability during this challenging period
This experience reinforced her belief in property as a resilient investment that can provide security during life’s most difficult moments: “Build a property portfolio as fast as you can, people, because it keeps you afloat in those difficult black swan moments.”
Risk Management Lessons
Susannah’s cancer journey led to important insights about risk management in property investment:
“If you are in the middle of growth, put in additional risk management. Ideally, in a perfect world, you’re going to put in a year’s costs in the bank.”
She recommends her “100 minus your age” formula for determining your loan-to-value ratio. While investors might start more leveraged, she advises moving toward this more conservative ratio as quickly as possible.
Realistic Goals for Busy Professionals
For professionals balancing property investment with full-time careers, Susannah offers realistic targets:
- Year 1-2 (working full-time): 3-5 deals per year
- Going full-time in property: 10-20+ deals per year with systems in place
She emphasizes that the first 18 months are about learning the ropes, but after that, it becomes a “rinse and repeat” process that accelerates significantly.
One Action to Take This Week
If busy professionals want to start their property journey today, Susannah recommends writing a business plan – not as an exercise in analysis paralysis, but as a way to “rehearse” being a property investor:
“By rehearsing it with a business plan first, it meant that I kind of came to all the things that could go wrong or all the gaps… And I could do all of the work to fill in the gaps in advance of launching. So it meant that any crashes were minor skiffs instead of head-on fatalities.”
The Impact: Beyond Financial Freedom
What keeps Susannah motivated is seeing the impact of property investment on people’s lives. She shares the story of Andy, a former student who achieved financial freedom through property, allowing his wife Sarah to leave her job in May.
“I love the effect that property has on both my life and other people’s lives,” she reflects.
Connect with Susannah
To follow Susannah’s journey and access her free resources:
- Instagram: Susannah Cole UK
- YouTube: Susanna Cole, The Good Property Company (with over 2 million views)
- Website: thegoodpropertycompany.co.uk (offering checklists and a 101-page free e-book)
As Susannah concludes, “Taking the step in property is so worth the journey. Even the little speed bumps or the occasional speed bumps that will keep you sleepless at night. You will have a few of them 100% get into it.”
Key Points of this Interview with Susannah Cole
- 1.From Kitchen Table Startup to £45 Million in Property: Susanna Cole’s Journey
- 2.Overcoming Cancer and Building a Property Empire: Susanna Cole’s Story
- 3.The Power of Automation and Smart Systems in Property Investment
- 4.How Susanna Cole Turned Nighttime Renovations into a Thriving Business
- 5.The Importance of Buying Discounted Properties and Securing Private Investment
- 6.Balancing Family Time and Business: Susanna Cole’s Strategy
- 7.Outsourcing and Automation: Key Tools for Property Success
- 8.Avoiding Common Mistakes in Property Investing with Susanna Cole
- 9.Direct Sourcing vs. Property Websites: Susanna Cole’s Approach
- 10.Structuring Investor Deals: Insights from Susanna Cole
- 11.Risk Management in Property Investment: Lessons from Susanna Cole
- 12.Managing Properties Remotely: Tools and Systems Used by Susanna Cole
- 13.Setting Realistic Goals and Measuring Progress in Property Investment
- 14.Building a Solid Property Portfolio for Financial Stability
- 15.The Role of Quality People and Effective Communication in Property Management
- 16.The Impact of Property Investment on Personal and Financial Freedom
- 17.Why Some Property Investors Are Leaving the UK
- 18.Susanna Cole’s Advice for Aspiring Property Investors
- 19.Free Resources and Tools for Property Investors from Susanna Cole
- 20.The Good Property Company: Resources and Contact Information
