Filling HMOs, Expanding the Empire… But This Is Slowing Me Down (#BizUpdate)

In today’s episode, I’m sharing a real and honest breakdown of what’s been happening inside my property and development businesses over the last few months. It’s been a challenging period across the market - tight lending, uncertainty surrounding the Renters’ Rights Act, contractor issues, slower rental demand, and some big, strategic decisions to make. Instead of giving you the polished version, I’m taking you behind the scenes and talking openly about what’s working, what’s not, and how I’m navigating it all.

I’ll walk you through the performance of my student HMO portfolio, the reality of refinancing a major development right now, why some of our projects have slowed, and how I’m approaching long-term planning for both my properties and my training business. I’ll also share some personal reflections on balancing work, family life, and staying focused through a tough market.

🎯 What You’ll Learn

• How I fully let my student HMO portfolio early with a focus on renewals and rapid response
• Why the Renters’ Rights Act is changing how I plan refurb cycles and future-proof my assets
• The wins and frustrations behind our 24-unit development - from awards to difficult refinancing
• How a contractor’s illness has forced a rethink on one of our major schemes
• Why my trading business is key to long-term growth, plus what’s coming next
• The off-market opportunities appearing right now and why it’s still a great time to buy

If you’re finding the current market tough, this episode will remind you you’re not alone. It’s practical, honest, and full of lessons from someone living it day to day.

And if you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe and drop a quick review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify - it helps more investors find the show!

💻 Resources & Mentions

• Mentorship: Ready to take things to the next level? Apply to join my 1-2-1 mentorship programme here.
• The HMO Roadmap: Feeling overwhelmed? Access 400+ tools, templates, and lessons to help you start, scale, and systemise your HMO business - all in one place. Join here.
• Facebook Group: Got questions or need support? Come and connect with 10,000+ investors inside The HMO Community here.
• Social: Follow me on Instagram for daily HMO tips, advice, and behind-the-scenes updates here.

Transcript

Andy Graham (00:02.671)

Hey, I'm Andy and you're listening to the HMO Podcast. Over 10 years ago, I set myself the challenge of building my own property portfolio. And what began as a short-term investment plan, soon became a long-term commitment to change the way young people live together. I've now built several successful businesses. I've raised millions of pounds of investment and I've managed thousands of tenants. Join me and some very special guests to discover the tips, tricks and hacks, the ups and the downs, the best practice and everything else you need to know to start, scale and systemise your very own HMO portfolio now.

Andy Graham (00:40.556)

It's been a while since my last business update and a lot has been going on behind the scenes. Some strong steps forward, few things that have definitely slowed me down, few unexpected curve balls and plenty of that everyday reality that just comes with running a property and development business. 

Now these business updates are my best effort of keeping things real with you, sharing what's going on, ups, the downs, the challenges. It's that window of honesty and transparency because I'm not just a podcaster, I am five, six, and sometimes even seven days a week building my own property business. I am at the coal face and I am sure that what I'm experiencing is not unique. I can bet that a lot of this stuff you're experiencing as well. And sometimes just knowing someone else is going through the same pain and struggles can be reassuring. I will as always do my best to sprinkle in some inspiration and a bit of motivation, some of that good stuff. But today's episode is just here to keep it real. So if you want to know what's been going on behind the scenes of my business, then make sure you stick around. There's plenty to update you on. So let's get into it.

Hey guys, it's Andy here. We're going to be getting back to the podcast in just a moment, but before we do, I want to tell you very quickly about the HMO roadmap. Now, if you're serious about replacing your income, or perhaps you've already got a HMO portfolio that you want to scale up, then the HMO roadmap really is your one-stop shop. Inside the roadmap, you'll find a full 60 lesson course delivered by me, teaching you how to find more deals, how to fund more deals and raise private finance, how to refurbish great properties, how to fill them with great tenants that stay for longer and how to manage your properties and tenants for the future. 

We've also got guest workshops added every single month, we've got new videos added every single week about all sorts of topics, we've got downloadable resources, cheat sheets and swipe files to help you, we've got case studies from guests and community members who are doing incredible projects that you can learn from, and we've also built an application just for you.

Andy Graham (02:36.248)

that allows you to appraise and evaluate your deals, stack them side by side and track the key metrics that are most important to you. To find out more, head to theHMOroadmap.co.uk now and come and join our incredible community of HMO property investors.

Andy Graham (02:57.326)

Okay, welcome back gang. So today I am giving you a bit of a business update and break down what's been going on in my business over the last few months. My last business update was actually back in July. There's been so much going on. It has been a really difficult few months, if I'm honest, not just for me, but for most of us in the industry. So there's plenty to bring you up to speed on. I'm going to tell you what's been going on in my HMO portfolio, particularly in the student business. Obviously a lot of changes surrounding us with the Renters' Rights Act, letting season and all of that jazz, my development business, big projects, what's been going on, difficult lending market at the minute, difficult contract to market at the minute, all of that stuff. 

I'm going to talk to you about why things have been slowing me down, what has been particularly challenging. And I'm sure that some of this stuff is going to resonate with you. Now, before we get into today's episode, let's just discuss the elephant in the room. Today is budget day. Now I'm recording this on Sunday evening. I'm pre-recording because I'm heading off to Copenhagen with Gem and Isla this week for a little break.

Of course Wednesday today is budget day. Now next week when I'm back, I'm going to be doing a full budget breakdown. So make sure you come back next week. We are going to digest exactly what it all means for you and I as property investors. But one thing is for sure, the last few months have been difficult. The last year has been pretty tricky. The last few years, in fact, in property and in business have just been difficult with so much instability. This budget is certainly not helping. And one thing is for sure, next few months are going to look a little bit bumpy. 

Now I'm going to be back. We're going to discuss it all. We're going to figure it all out. So don't worry too much. Let's wait and see exactly what is in there. But today is all about what's been happening over the last few months in my business. Now this is not just a recital. This is not me bragging about my business. If I'm honest, there's not a huge amount to brag about over the last few months. It's mainly challenges and stuff that I've been working on to improve and better my business.

But these episodes are here for two reasons. One, it holds me to account sharing this stuff with you guys, sitting down, digesting what's been happening in my business, that reflection. It's really important to me and sharing it with you guys, my plans and keeping you up to speed holds me to account. And that's really, really important to me. But also it's just that dose of reality. It's that window of transparency and honesty, which I think is incredibly important. Social media and all of that stuff that we see online. It's great, but

Andy Graham (05:21.023)

often it lacks that context. Hopefully these episodes help give you a lot more of the context. What's happening behind the deals and between the deals. That for me is where all of the results are. It's that 1% every single day and so much of this stuff is very, very difficult at the minute. And the last few months for me look very much like that. So I'd like to start, if it's okay with you guys, with my student portfolio. The student market has been very much in the headlines recently, more so than I can ever remember in the nearly 20 years I've been investing in HMOs. 

Student letting season typically kicks off around September, October. I like to get in there early. I've got a lot of good high quality stock and I like to get it let very, very quickly. So I prioritise our student lets very early in the letting season. Now that technique doesn't work for everybody. It kind of depends on the size of your market, how good you are at the marketing, the type of stock that you've got.

If you go too early and your properties linger, they drop down the listings and then you end up with quite sluggish data and you tend to have to re-advertise and go through the process again later on in the letting season. So I like to hit it hard, hit it fast, get things let. And the good news is I've already botched all of my student portfolio away. Now, a good chunk of those were renewals. I've been talking about this on the show quite a lot recently. I think more so than ever, looking after your customers, and trying to make sure that your tenants stay. 

If you're managing professional HMOs, making sure that tenants stay and pay for longer. Don't give them any reasons or excuses to leave. Make them want to stay because they enjoy living in your property so much. And it's the same with students. Students say for that academic cycle, 12 months, and at the end of it, they've got that decision to make. Are they going to stay in the house or are they going to move on and find another house if they're not graduating? It's not as easy as it sounds. Groups break up, they find lots of reasons that they might want to move on. 

But I've been working really, really hard, just nurturing those relationships with our students and it's working. We're getting more renewals than we have done. And it's certainly not because there is less competition in the market. I think that's probably the opposite. So I'm really pleased. Went very early, advertised well, really, really responsive. I mean, straight onto enquiries within the first 30 minutes, getting on them enquiries, getting the team to book viewings.

Andy Graham (07:43.584)

Getting those viewings done and then straight into deposits and getting those tenancies drafted very quickly for signature. So really pleased with the performance of the student portfolio. And I think again, it just shows how robust the student market is. The barrier to entry is quite high now. I know a lot of people have been commenting fairly negatively on the student model, which I think has been very unfair, largely in light of the renters rights act and what it means for the academic cycle. But I've been saying for a long time, do what we've always known works, which is be a good landlord, rent good stock, have stuff in good locations, and you'll probably be just fine. 

And I think that that's really important now more so than ever, but one thing is for damn sure, tenants don't know the foggiest about the renter's rights act yet. So while it's this big thing in our world right now, the priority for students and for tenants right now is good quality accommodation and good value for money.

And that has always been the case. And I think that this is just a really good reminder. None of the students have mentioned anything about the renters rights act. And of course you might have expected them to because the legislation has been announced. We know it's coming in, in May next year, but we're currently still using tenancy agreements that we've been using for a long time. And I'm not going to go into all the detail now, but there are some nuances, some, let's say some cracks that need patching over one way or another because the legislation that has been proposed doesn't quite work in terms of the notice periods that are going to be served, particularly if you're in the student market and all that jazz. 

Anyway, it's a bit weird and it kind of means that you can't quite either abide by the current legislation or the new legislation at a point in time when the notice needs to be served to remove the current tenants in readiness for the new tenants coming in. Anyway, a bit boring. Don't want to go into it now, but students, it's just not on their radar, which is kind of reassuring, right? The most important thing to them, good quality accommodation at good value. Stick to the basics guys. 

Now in light of the Renters' Rights Act, I've been thinking a little bit more about my portfolio as it matures. I've got some properties that are starting to get a little bit older now. They're still good quality but they're not of the same standard as stuff that I've done recently in the last few years that's very high spec. Now that serves a market and it does just fine. But at some point it will need refreshing. And I'm starting to think about what that refreshment looks like. Now typically speaking I...

Andy Graham (10:09.302)

probably would have got into a house, a student property, done a quick refurb, three months, and then bridged it with professionals, then back into the academic cycle. That is now no longer possible because of the Renters' Rights Act coming in. So I'm starting to think about what I'm actually going to do with my properties. And actually, what I'm thinking about doing is much bigger, more capital intensive projects. So I'm thinking about extending a number of my properties going from fives to sixes or sixes to sevens, doing some significant enhancements, really investing for the future. 

And probably in all honesty, taking them out of the letting cycle for a full 12 months. So going through planning, that's something I'll be doing soon for these properties. Then planning in a date for the refurbishment and then doing that, taking it out of the academic cycle, I think for a year, bridging back in the following year. It's going to be quite a hit, but I'm going to be working a bit more on the capital value and what I can really do to maximize rents because I think that that is where the real gain is. 

There's no point dwelling on the fact that the legislation has changed and not going to able to bridge with professionals anymore. So that's just something that I wanted to share with you. I'm starting to think about that. I'm starting to look at planning, drawings and all of that jazz on a number of properties in my portfolio with a much longer term view. Now I want to talk to you a little bit about something that's been very front of mind for me. It's that time of the year, isn't it?

Mid November now heading towards the end of the year and the next month or so I'll start to think about my goals that I set last year and reflecting on that and thinking ahead for 2026 and even beyond expanding the empire, the developments, lending, the growth of my business. It's something that I think about a lot. This year has been different for me because I became a dad for the first time. So the first part of the year was very much about spending that time with Isla. 

The whole year has in all honesty, but gradually I found my way back into work, new rhythm. It's lovely being at home with Isla all day, every day, but productivity is definitely taking a bit of a nose dive and that's fine this year. That was the plan. That's why I'm doing all of this. But I've started to think longterm and a lot of the stuff that kind of needed to happen, the benchmark and the foundation that needed to happen this year so that next year could be a good year so that we could springboard into next year. Now, one of the things I want to share

Andy Graham (12:30.505)

with you very briefly is an award or a few awards that we won recently that I'm really, really proud of in my development business. Arcvelop Investor Group that I run with Mike and Marc, my two business partners. picked up three awards at the International Property Awards. Now this really, really surprised me. In all honesty, I didn't know a huge amount about it. Marc kind of chucked our applications in and I didn't know much about the process and we picked up three awards. 

One for best residential conversion and that was kind of nominated, given five stars. And what that means is then that gets put into an international category of excellence, which is really amazing. And I think it just goes to show how good the project that we've just done, Albion Place really is. And I'm incredibly proud of that. It's a huge team effort. Marc absolutely, you know, has been the talisman driving that project forwards, but just being put on that sort of stage really surprised me.

But I do think it's important to be recognised for the stuff that we do. And I know that there's a lot of awards and there are opinions about going up and getting on stage and winning awards and things like that. But I do really think it's very important. And I actually want to encourage all of you guys listening. If you get the opportunity to apply for awards and demonstrate how good your investments in your project and your work has been in the industry, then you really should take it. Awards and that sort of recognition, it does reach so much further than you think. 

Conversations with investors, banks, lenders, tenants, other stakeholders. It holds so much merit and so much value and it really is worth investing this stuff. Daniel Priestley talks about it a lot, but the amount of credibility and trust that you can get from awards is so undervalued in business. I really do want to encourage you guys to try and look for these sorts of opportunities if you can.

So of course, really, really proud of that. It recognised three years of really hard work that only now we're just sort of wrapping up huge project, millions and millions of pounds, huge amounts of risk that nobody really talks about. It's nice to be recognized for it and so special to take three awards away on the day. So really, really proud of that. That was one of the big wins for the last few months for me. That was only last week in fact.

Andy Graham (14:51.539)

Our big scheme, that one that we won the award for, that is 24 flats, all done, valued now, that came in really, really good. We're just in the process of letting the last flat now. The rental market has actually been a bit slower over the last few months, but we've done really well, got them all away. And it's been a huge boost to the gross rent roll, which is really nice to see. It's been a bit of a challenge on the refinancing, not because we've had any issues with the values of the assets. In fact, quite the opposite, we've done incredibly well just because of the lending environment and the bank's criteria and the bank's appetite. 

The banks want to lend what they want to lend on terms that work the best for them, not necessarily for us. It's funny. A lot of people think developers are really, really wealthy, but the reality is most of that wealth is on paper. It's really difficult to actually liquidate any of it. So you come to refinance a big asset.

And you think you've got a fantastic valuation. The bank says, yeah, that's a really great valuation, but actually we'd prefer to kind of lend like 60%. That okay? No, not really. We can like, like 70 or 75%. We'd like some cash back in the bank. We'd like to go and do a few nice things. Like take our wives out, that sort of stuff. So big scales when you're talking about many, many, many millions of pounds, 5, 10, 15 % and this sort of stuff and these conversations with the bank.

Yeah, we are talking huge amounts of money. So we've been juggling that over the last few months, doing the dance and talking to lots of lenders and just working out the best possible terms. We're almost there now, which when we refinance that scheme will kind of mark the end of phase one, which should be a really nice thing to kind of get away before the end of the year. We're expecting that to be more or less wrapped up in the next couple of weeks in terms of all the terms in the bank and stuff.

So I'll keep you updated, but we're almost there with that. But I'll be honest, it has been quite slow. It's been quite painful. It's been lots of back and forth with the bank. And it's that sort of very mundane, very frustrating thing that really kind of sometimes gets the better of you as a developer and as an investor in property. We want to be looking for deals and raising more money and stitching things together and getting on site and making cool things happen. Not really trudging through the sorts of conversations about finance and loan to values with banks. It's quite boring. It's quite frustrating.

Andy Graham (17:03.947)

And it gets quite tedious after a while. And I'll be honest, the last few months, not just on this project, but on several projects have felt much like that. Our new build project, part of the empire that's growing our new build scheme of 13 units. That's up and away now we're well onto kind of the third floor and hoping to get roof on and watertight in early 2026. The project's moving a little bit slower than we had hoped for a few different reasons. New builds really are a different beast.

I'm learning this we've done a bit before. We much and I much prefer conversions. New builds require a lot more coordination, a lot more sequencing. There's much greater opportunity for delays. We found cables in the ground and things that we didn't know about. You know, lots of frustrating stuff. Once you get out of the ground, it is a little bit easier, but new builds, in my experience at least, tend to be a little bit slower conversions. You never quite know what's behind the walls, but usually it's much more predictable. And then there's our scheme in Sheffield, the sawmill.

We have been ready to start that scheme for a while and we have got a contractor chosen, we've appointed a contract, everything's kind of lined up. But unfortunately our contractor has fallen quite unwell recently. This is one of the sorts of things that you really couldn't plan for and it's completely unexpected. It's a real curve ball. It's a real challenge for us because we were on site. We've got carry costs. The question is, what do we do? Do we now wait for our contractor? Can we wait for our contractor? Will he still be able to do it?

Do we need to think quite differently about the site? That's something that we are working through right now, but just being honest with you, these are the sorts of things that happen in business. We'll figure it out. It'll be okay. We've got a great site with planning. I still want to build it out and develop it out. It's a fantastic scheme, but I guess time will tell that's something that we're currently figuring out. And that has taken up a lot of headspace. And I'll be honest, that has given me a few sleepless nights because so much work has gone into getting that project and our contracts to where it is for it to fall over at this late stage would be hugely disappointing for so many people. 

So time will tell I'm going to do my best to keep moving that forward. But I think it's going to be the new year before we really do know what's going on with that site. Now, inside my trading business, I've been doing a huge amount of work with the roadmap and our education and property business. I'm talking to you guys about this stuff, not because I want you to go and buy anything from us.

Andy Graham (19:30.834)

Although it's great if and when you do, but actually because it's a really important, my business ecosystem. I've talked a lot about the importance of having a trading business. Now you don't need a trading business to build a good property business, but it's great if you do have one trading businesses that generate cash or a great vehicle and source of funds that you can just keep churning through your asset and acquisition vehicle. But buying properties is really capital intensive, isn't it? So having a trading business that just pumps cash too is a really great mechanism.

And I really enjoy running my trading businesses because unlike property, things move much more quickly. You can think about something that you want to do. You can make it happen. You can get some feedback from a customer. You can take that on board and you can change something very, very quickly. You can turn a dial and you can see something happen very quickly. In property, everything just takes a bit longer. Now I love that business because it's all property and it's all the same stuff. I'm talking and I'm really doing the same stuff, but it's just a different mechanism of generating that revenue. 

Now my long-term plan with my training and education business has always been to exit it at some point. And over the last six months, since my last business update, I have actually been approached by a few different parties. I wasn't looking, I wasn't trying, and I'm not selling it. But it's been interesting to have those conversations and discuss the sort of interest that people have in the business. And in fact, in a strange way, it's really invigorated my appetite to turn what we've already got, which I think is incredible, into something even better. 

And so the last few months, most of the last month, I've been really starting to think about what we're going to do next. And I'm so excited because we've got some very exciting stuff now all in motion. Some of it's going to come through early Q1 26. Some of it's going to wash through later in the year. And I'm really, really excited about what we are planning to do with the whole business now.

The growth opportunity, how we can help more people, the different ways that we're going to be able to help people. I'm very, very excited. So I won't bore you with all the details right now, but a lot of my headspace and time and money is getting reinvested back into that business. And I'm very, very excited about it. So that's where a big chunk of my headspace has been and will continue to go. We've also made a new hire. Freya is going to be joining us in the new year to help handle just the sheer volume of content that we manage now.

Andy Graham (21:56.935)

We're still a really small team and we get a huge amount done. We're very, very efficient. We are digital based, obviously we use a lot of AI, but really, really excited to be bringing Freya into the fold in the new year, which is just going to give us that additional resource to do a lot of this stuff that we're now planning, which is super exciting. One other project I just want to touch on briefly is a property that I bought earlier this year that Gem and I agreed to buy quite some time before, but fell into probate. 

Anyway, around the time either our daughter was born, we got planning, Marc, my business partner, managed to get, it was a fantastic scheme approved, large extension at the side and up taking a of a 16, 1700 really, really ugly kind of 70s style detached house up to like a 3,300 ish square foot home that looks absolutely incredible. And I went through a full tender process, spent a lot of time with local contractors.

And never quite, despite my best effort, got the price to where I really wanted it. And it became quite clear that the only way to do the works at the price or the cost that I wanted to get it done at was to probably package the whole thing up myself and just project manage it. That has been difficult for me because what that means is that it would require a certain amount of time. And that time is quite expensive to me as well. And at the same time, I've got a lot of other stuff going on. 

So there's still a risk that that project could cost more, it could overrun. That could be a cost creep. And it's a really difficult one for me because whilst I definitely and desperately want to do our own home kind of for ourselves as a family, making sure that it is absolutely the right project and it is the best use of both my funds, my cash and my time. That's really, really important. And when I look at it in the context of everything, it's a difficult one.

I’m currently sort of just not sure whether or not I'm going to build a scheme out and do it and deliver it. I'm not 100 % sure yet, but that's sort of where we're at. So anyway, I'm currently toying with the idea of selling that. Not a great time to be selling anything because of the budget, of course, I don't need to sell it and I'm not going to rush to sell it. I may still not sell it, but that's kind of where my head's at. And I'm sharing this with you just because

Andy Graham (24:18.056)

stuff can look really simple and really straightforward and really black and white. And actually the reality is I deliberate a lot over a lot of this stuff and a lot of these decisions are multifaceted. It's not always as simple as will it look good? Will it make money? Sometimes it's a case of like how much head space have I got? What are the risks involved? What is the opportunity that we're missing if we take this on and don't do something else? So there's a lot of stuff involved as well. So Gemma and I were kind of thinking about it and I guess we'll probably make a decision one way another early in the new year as well. It just feels like there's a lot of stuff going on at the minute and whether it's some of the pressure, the outward pressure, just general economic stuff, I'm not sure, but I'm hesitating on a couple of things for the right reasons, because I don't want to over commit and then find two, three, four months down the line. I've made a decision that I regret. 

Fortunately, I can afford to do nothing and wait. Sometimes that is actually a good strategy. I'm certainly not doing anything I'm focusing on other things and pushing very hard and some other stuff. But yeah, a bit of a dilemma and I'm thinking about it and I guess we'll see where our thoughts are at in the new year. But that's just one I wanted to share with you. 

I have also been offered a couple of market opportunities. I've shared these. I didn't share the deals, but I shared the fact that these had come to me on social media recently. Without question, these are signals of the wider economy at the minute, both owned by business owners.

Sites that I know very, well, sites that I've previously offered on, certainly one of them multiple times and one of them backs onto a site that I own and I expected that they would probably offer me at some point, but both came a little bit sooner, both as a direct consequence of how tough and challenging it is in business at the minute and some of the changes in legislation. They just, in one case, just want to get out of the residential market completely. Now I'm having a look at these opportunities.

I may or may not buy them, I'm not sure, but I just wanted to highlight this because this sort of stuff is happening in the market. So make sure that you are keeping your eyes very peeled. This is actually a better time to buy. And I talked about this recently on the show, but this is a better time to buy than we've seen in a long, long time. So make sure that you don't sit on your hands. Please don't wait for a better time or the perfect time, because I promise it's unlikely to happen. This is a good time to buy because you can actually get stuff at

Andy Graham (26:42.894)

relatively good discounts, especially if you build in the inflation discount that we have seen over the last couple of years. Anyway, just outside of business, just around today's episode out, because I'm not all business, personal stuff on that front. This year has all been about Isla and Gemma for me and spending as much time as I can with them while running the business. This year was not about being full throttle on the business. And I've really enjoyed that time that I've been able to spend with them that I never could have done in my professional job as a physio, I would have had maybe two weeks statutory paternity leave and that would have been absolutely it. 

Gem's been off for the year. I've worked from home. So it's just been wonderful. I absolutely loved the whole year. And that for me is the best way I could possibly spend my time. I've still managed to keep up my training. It's been harder than it has in previous years, but I've been working a little bit more on my cardiovascular fitness. I'm conscious that I'm pushing towards 40, not a million miles off it now. My cardiovascular fitness, I don't particularly enjoy running, but I think when you look at the data, it's so important to have good cardiovascular strength, especially going into 40. So I've been working really hard on that where I can over the last few months. 

And travel, we haven't done a huge amount of travel this year because obviously we had Isla. Maybe we should have gone away a little bit earlier when she was a little less mobile. She probably would have slept a little bit more. But I don't particularly like the heat anyway. Gemma loves that. I didn't fancy going away with Isla of Somewhere Hot. So anyway, we're off to Copenhagen this week. While you guys are listening to this, we'll be there, hopefully having a really great time eating lots of pastries and good stuff like that. So I've been really trying to just manage that balance this year. And that's what this has all been about the last 12 months. Juggling that balance over the last few months has been increasingly difficult. I would say I've definitely felt the pain a little bit more. 

Like I said, I'm recording this on a Sunday evening at nearly 10 PM. That is the byproduct of being really, really busy this week and just having a bit too much to do. But I'm telling you, because that's the reality. I don't just work half days for part of the week. I work a lot. I can put in really, really solid hours. And a lot of people often say to me, Andy, don't know how you do it.

Andy Graham (29:02.342)

This is the truth guys. This is how I do it. Yes, we're really efficient. Yes, I've got a great team, but I'm able to get a lot done because I'm prepared to work a lot. I sacrifice an awful lot. There are certain things I'm not prepared to sacrifice and I prioritize an awful lot. The most important things get done first. The people and the places that I want to spend my time with and where I want to be that gets dealt with first. And then I work everything else around it. But I do sacrifice an awful lot, busy periods like the last few months, then it does feel quite squeezed. 

I'm definitely, definitely, definitely looking forward to Christmas this year. I'm having a proper Christmas shutdown, a real break, a real switch off. And I think I need that to make sure I go into next year feeling really refreshed and really focused and really energized and really, really excited. 

That is it for today's episode guys. I hope you found today's episode useful. I hope that if you are finding it difficult at the minute then these business updates do just give you that little dose of reality, that little dose of reassurance, honesty and transparency that you need to know that it isn't just you, it's all of us. It's a tough environment at the minute, property is a tough gig as it is, but it will get better. 

Make sure you keep doing the basics and do them well, keep focusing on the long term objectives. Now, if you are investing in HMOs, head on over to theHMOroadmap.co.uk. I'm going to give you fair warning, but our prices are changing very soon. You won't be able to get your hands on everything that we've got at the current prices for much longer. So if you've been thinking about it, if you've been sitting on the fence, now is the time to take action. Go and get your hands on everything that we've got to offer to help you start, scale and systemise your HMO property business. 

And of course, don't forget that I'll be right back here in the very same place next week and we'll be discussing the budget. We're going to break it down and discuss exactly what it means for you and I as property investors. Take a deep breath and I'll see you then.