The VIP End of Year Awards were handed out during the ceremony on November 30th, 2018. The live stream on Youtube also gave a chance to those who couldn’t attend, to join in the celebration. Over 70 professional investors from the property industry came together to celebrate on this big night in the Progressive Property Headquarters, Peterborough. The VIP End of Year Awards aim to recognise and celebrate successful property entrepreneurs and members of the Progressive’s VIP programme.

The ceremony was kicked-off by Progressive Property co-founder and property multi-millionaire Rob Moore. He interviewed some of the most successful VIP community members, who happily shared their inspiring stories with those in the audience as well as those who were watching the live stream online.

The first one on the stage was a young property entrepreneur, Ahmed Khan.

“What courses of ours did you do to get you started?”, asked Rob Moore.

“The first one I did was the Masterclass, because when I left university, I thought property was buying and selling or buying and holding. I didn’t realise you can do rent-to-rent, deal packaging and all that sort of stuff. So I did Masterclass, realised it wasn’t for me at that moment in time, because I just finished university, I wanted cashflow more than I wanted to build up an asset base.

I signed up to the VIP programme to fast track things a bit more, and then I did the Serviced Accommodation course, and that’s what I’ve done for the last couple of years,” the young property entrepreneur said.

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Ahmed Khan, VIP awards 2018

“We just had dinner and you said to me that you just recently bought your first house? Tell us about that?,” Rob Moore continued.

“It’s a one bedroom flat in London, zone 2, literally just in the edge of zone 1 – £237,000, pretty cheap. It had a valuation of £350,000 before I bought it, so there is 113,000 equity in there. <..> I specialize in Rent-to-SA, so we’ll rent property and turn it into Serviced Accommodation. I’ve done about 40 deals, when you count in JV’s and some of the packaged deals. I started September, 2016.<…> Currently, we’re managing 18 properties and that makes around £17,000 a month net,” Ahmed Khan proudly answered.

Finally, when Rob asked how old Ahmed is, the audience couldn’t keep their amazement and started clapping once they discovered that Ahmed turned 24 just last month.

Newcomer of the Year

Short after followed the first award of the night: “Newcomer of the Year”, which was won by James Mitchell.
“It’s pretty amazing really, because I didn’t expect this. I’ve only been doing this for a little while. I’m so pleased and thank you for the opportunity to do this” said James, when asked how does he feel winning VIP Newcomer of The Year award.

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VIP Newcomer of the Year, James Mitchell

“When did you join VIP?” said a curious Rob Moore, co-founder of Progressive Property and the host of the night.

“I joined in April . <..>I think anyone who knows anything about Serviced Accommodation, it’s to “expect the unexpected”: Guests would do the most unbelievable things and you have to just react to it. Essentially, it’s about trying to chase the business. Everything was just going so quickly as far as try to get the deals in and then actually try to deliver them, and then also servicing guests. Systemising, then just feeling out of control and then desperately trying to get back into control,” said the Newcomer of the Year, James Mitchell.

James was able to replace his 9-to-5 job and a monthly salary of £3,000, with his own property business, which generates him now over £5,000 monthly income.

“What would you say to someone, who wants that level of income? They want to earn £5,000 a month, they want it in a short period of time. What would you say to them?” asked Rob Moore.

James was honest: “It’s all about getting stuck in and actually doing it”. When he did his first Masterclass course, he joined his peers in a WhatsApp group,where all members were cheering each other on and taking notes. “I took 37 notes before I got my next Rent-to-Rent deal. It is hard, but it’s totally possible,” concluded the winner.

Community JV of The Year

The night continued with some great interviews with some of the most prosperous VIP community members including Dave Runford, Jamie Madill and Francis Dalley.

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Emerald Fisk, Community JV of the Year winner, 2018

Emerald Fisk proved that Progressive VIP community is one of the best places to find a joint venture partner, by winning “Community JV of The Year”. Emerald has raised £400,000 in JV finance through the VIP community. Now she has 5 buy-to-lets, 7 serviced accommodation units, a lease option on a land for scheme of eight houses and currently in the legal process for a plot of land, which will have a scheme for 22 flats built on it.

Biggest Project of the Year

The Biggest Project of the Year award went to Mark Fernihough. Mark has completed a new build 15 bed boutique HMO using 100% development finance and the project will now be featured in January’s edition of “Your Property Network” magazine.

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Biggest Project of the Year award winner, Mark Fernihough

The Biggest Project of the Year award winner also gained planning for the development deal on the commercial site he owns, for the purpose of building a Serviced Accommodation apartment block. This will then have £16 million gross development value (GDV) and Mark selling that for £1,5 million to release funds for another commercial conversion opportunity.

Outstanding Achievement Award

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The Winners of Outstanding Achievement Award, Helen Martin and Adam Jeffery

Helen Martin and Adam Jeffery were the winners of the “Outstanding Achievement Award”. They have done 8 properties so far on VIP and hoping to get another two this year. Helen and Adam managed to do 20-25 units a month despite facing serious personal health challenges: fighting cancer.

VIP of the Year

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VIP of the Year, Daniel Eaton

And finally the most-waited “VIP of the Year” award went to Daniel Eaton, who has joined the VIP programme only in January of this year. Daniel had no property investing experience before joining Progressive’s VIP programme. He set up a Serviced Accommodation business, which has turned over £247,000 this year. Now managing 13 properties through management agreements or rent-to-serviced accommodation, he is currently negotiating on 25 flats and 3 commercial units.

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