Seasoned investors Aarti and her husband Simal Raicha had 5 buy-to-let (BTL) properties under their belt when they were referred to us back in 2017. Their BTLs were in Nottingham and across Wales, and they invested with us in Leeds because they wanted to diversify their portfolio while minimising downtime from their business and family life.
We chatted to Aarti about the couple’s investment strategy and decision to invest in Leeds.
The Background
Seasoned investors Aarti and her husband Simal Raicha were referred to us back in 2017. Their BTLs were in the North of England, in Nottingham and Wales. The Raichas got in touch with us because they had extracted profits from their business, and they wanted to secure their profits in tangible assets and diversify their income stream.
Mum of three Aarti recalled how she had been conditioned to adopt the investor mentality. Her family, especially her father and grandfather, had always encouraged her to invest in property: “They thought it was the safest investment you can have. My grandfather owned a whole street in his hometown in Kenya – and he taught his children to do the same. My dad passed this wisdom down to me.”
The Raichas are putting money into bricks and mortar to build their “rainy day fund”. Aarti said: “I consider property to be a good, stable investment, particularly because it’s tangible – that is, I can drive past and touch it – whereas stocks and shares make me feel a little insecure because they are just numbers on a computer somewhere!”
The Why
Future planning and legacy building were the ultimate goals for Aarti and Simal. Aarti wanted to do for her kids what her father did for her and her mother. “When my dad died, he left a couple of properties to my mum so that she could live comfortably.”
This desire stems from the couple’s past: they moved to the UK from Kenya about 13 years ago with just £1,000 in their pockets. “We’ve worked so hard to create what we have now.” What motivates them to invest is to ensure their kids don’t have to struggle for money or work as hard as they have had to. “As well as giving them a good education and a variety of travel experiences, we’re in a fortunate position to be able to pass something down to them, so why shouldn’t we?” she added.
Aarti hopes to instil the same values that she was taught all those years ago into her kids. She said they’ve always had open conversations with them about money. “We even talk to them about property prices. The education system doesn’t teach kids enough about real-world finances and I want my kids to learn to grow their money, just as we have.”
The couple’s eldest son also has a rare medical syndrome. “We’re raising our son to be an entrepreneur and through our property portfolio we will be able to build something that will give him financial security for the rest of his life as well as providing a source of regular cash flow.”
As well as that, the Raichas, as business owners, have to plan for their own retirement, so their investments will provide an income for them when they decide to wind things down. “We don’t want to work for the rest of our lives and personally I’d like to retire at 50, so I’m in a hurry to grow our wealth”, said Aarti.
The couple are no strangers to investing in the north. When they started investing in property, they didn’t have enough money to buy in London, so they took the risk of purchasing a property in Wales first – “and we haven’t looked back: almost all our properties are outside of London. I’m not losing any sleep over them because we’ve distributed our risk,” Aarti told us. “You invest small money but get big returns.”
The Process
With 3 kids and a business to run, Aarti was quite time poor. She was drawn to our service because we offered to take care of everything without her having to do much at all.
“We liked that the founder took the time to chat with us and didn’t just pass us straight on to a salesperson – that instilled a lot of confidence in us. Any problems were dealt with quickly and easily, and there was always someone available to answer all my silly questions.”
Aarti and Simal had already had dealings with other people in the property industry and unfortunately, they had been burnt before, so initially, they were very sceptical about the whole thing.
Aarti said: “Our money is hard earned and with 3 kids to worry about, we needed to make sure we were investing it correctly. I did give the Lifestyle team a hard time – mostly for my own sanity – but I’m so glad that things worked out well. There are cowboys in every industry – it was my bad luck that I met the cowboys before meeting Lifestyle.”
The Results
Aarti is proud to say she’s got returns coming in from a lovely house in Leeds – and the process has been entirely stress-free, to the point that she doesn’t really think about the investment. “I’ve never seen it, nor been to Leeds, but my name is on the deeds and it’s there if/when any of my children need it. Our money is tucked away and the returns are coming in every month. We’ve been able to live our lives and forget about the investment completely.”
Aarti’s advice for any prospective buyers considering using our service is this: “Trust them!”
The Numbers
3 words or phrases you would use to describe Lifestyle Property People?
- Professional
- Problem solvers
- Excellent customer service
Overall rating for Lifestyle Property People
10/10 most definitely!