Bricked It: The Real Deal Chapter Five #185

Bricked It: It's All About People Chapter Six #186

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1375666/fan_mail/new] People are the most unpredictable part of any investment. The story of a contractor whose gambling brought a project down, and why a good contract — not a handshake — is the safety net that saves you. A hard truth opens Part 2: partner with the wrong people, or without the right contracts, and you'll fail no matter how well you do everything else. Because once you're relying on someone, you've handed over control. I tell the story of Evan, a contractor and close friend of my head builder, who I trusted to run an East London extension. When his team stopped showing up, we discovered he had a serious gambling problem and had gambled the wages and the client's funds — a devastating situation for everyone, Evan included. No amount of planning could have foreseen it. But it taught me something blunt: in any relationship where money is involved, even the closest bonds can break. Look at failed marriages and contested wills if you need proof. So how do you protect yourself? Not with a handshake — with a contract. Sit down with a good lawyer, work through every eventuality, and put protection procedures in place before anything goes wrong. I share the example of Dale and Luke, two partners who wanted to skip planning their exit. When their partnership later frayed, the exit strategy we'd insisted on meant they could part ways amicably — a near-perfect uncoupling. Those mechanisms are priceless. In this episode: * Why people are the single most unpredictable part of any investment * The contractor whose gambling brought a whole project down — and what it cost everyone * "Trust no one": why money tests even your closest relationships * Why a handshake is worthless and a proper contract is your safety net * Dale and Luke: how an exit strategy turned a failing partnership into a clean break A note on the voice: what you're hearing is an AI-generated version of my voice reading my own words. It's me — just not in the room. I'd rather be upfront about that than pretend otherwise. Every word, every lesson, and every mistake is mine. Been burned by a partnership or saved by a contract? Tell me on Substack at nicolebremner.substack.com, where paid subscribers get early access, extended commentary, and the chance to ask me anything. Subscribe wherever you listen so Chapter 7 lands automatically. Next week: Chapter 7 — The SAFER System. Support the show [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/NicoleBremner] Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast belong solely to the host and guest speakers. The view and opinions of the guest speakers do not represent that of the host. Always do your own research.

Bricked It: The Real Deal Chapter Five #185

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1375666/fan_mail/new] Why the property millionaires on your feed haven't weathered a storm — and the real, unglamorous story of my own 15 years in property: the accidental wins, the nightmare flat, and the lessons that built the SAFER system. Scroll through Instagram and you'll find no shortage of self-proclaimed property millionaires promising you the pot of gold from a single seminar. This chapter is my answer to all of them. Here's a tip I share early on: run their name through Companies House and look at the actual accounts — the cash reserves, the liabilities. You'll often see a very different picture from the one on the feed. I don't think most influencers have bad intentions; the problem is many of them have never weathered a real storm. They haven't seen what a 15% market drop does to someone who's highly geared. I have. So I tell you my real story — the whole, unglamorous path. Becoming an accidental landlord with a Clerkenwell flat that sold for double (property's easy, right?). The Hackney flat I bought from a distressed seller that became a years-long nightmare: non-paying tenants for 15 months, four trips to court, damp, and roughly £50,000 I'll probably never recover. The Austrian ski apartment I bought while heavily pregnant and couldn't even view. An assisted sale that worked out well for everyone. And how all of it taught me I'm simply too soft to be a landlord. Fifteen years, the wins and the failures, plus the mistakes I've learned from others — that's the foundation the SAFER system is built on. In this episode: * The Companies House trick for checking if a "property millionaire" is the real deal * Why influencers who've never weathered a downturn are the most dangerous to follow * My accidental-landlord beginnings — and why "property is easy" is a trap * The Hackney flat from hell: 15 months of unpaid rent, four court cases, £50k underwater * Why blind hope doesn't pay the bills, and how my real track record shaped the SAFER system A note on the voice: what you're hearing is an AI-generated version of my voice reading my own words. It's me — just not in the room. I'd rather be upfront about that than pretend otherwise. Every word, every lesson, and every mistake is mine. Spotted a too-good-to-be-true pitch lately? Tell me on Substack at nicolebremner.substack.com, where paid subscribers get early access, extended commentary, and the chance to ask me anything. Subscribe wherever you listen so Chapter 6 lands automatically. Next week: Chapter 6 — It's All About People. Support the show [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/NicoleBremner] Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast belong solely to the host and guest speakers. The view and opinions of the guest speakers do not represent that of the host. Always do your own research.

Bricked It: It's All About Balance Chapter Four #184

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1375666/fan_mail/new] Why a balanced financial life — liquidity, tax, priorities, legacy and your relationship with debt — beats chasing any single asset, and the Freedom Triangle that taught me money was only ever one third of the picture. Too much of anything is dangerous — diet, exercise, even water. Investing is no different. This chapter is about balance, and why it's the foundation of freedom rather than the enemy of it. I break down what a genuinely balanced financial life looks like. Liquidity first: cash is queen, and three to six months of accessible savings is what lets you handle life's surprises without panic-selling. Tax efficiency next — using your ISA allowances, getting advice on whether to hold property personally or through a company. I'm candid here about being on benefits not so long ago, and why I'm now happy to pay tax. Then the part that changed me most: the Freedom Triangle — money, time and place. I'd always believed money alone bought freedom. A week on my partner Paul's boat, sailing from Ibiza to Cartagena with no phone signal, taught me otherwise. It was the first time I'd slept properly in months. It made me ask the question I want you to ask too: are your investments working for you, or are you working for them? What's your real hourly rate — and would the numbers still stack if you costed your time honestly? I finish with legacy and your relationship with debt, including the years I spent shuffling £32,000 of credit card debt between 0% offers, and the mental space that clearing it finally gave me. In this episode: * Balanced liquidity: why cash is queen and how much you should keep accessible * Tax planning, ISAs, and personal vs. company ownership — plus my own benefits story * The Freedom Triangle: money, time and place, and the sailing trip that reset me * Are your investments working for you? Calculating your true hourly rate * Legacy and inheritance (a question I'll answer in Chapter 7), and knowing your honest tolerance for debt A note on the voice: what you're hearing is an AI-generated version of my voice reading my own words. It's me — just not in the room. I'd rather be upfront about that than pretend otherwise. Every word, every lesson, and every mistake is mine. What does balance look like for you? Tell me on Substack at nicolebremner.substack.com, where paid subscribers get early access, extended commentary, and the chance to ask me anything. Subscribe wherever you listen so Chapter 5 lands automatically. Next week: Chapter 5 — The Real Deal. Support the show [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/NicoleBremner] Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast belong solely to the host and guest speakers. The view and opinions of the guest speakers do not represent that of the host. Always do your own research.

Bricked It: Forewarned Is Forearmed Chapter Three #183

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1375666/fan_mail/new] The five risks every property investor needs to see coming — from chasing shiny pennies and dressing up bad deals to running out of contingency, getting trapped without an exit, and flying too close to the sun. If Chapter 2 was what went wrong, this chapter is how you see it coming. I open with the hardest lesson I learned: mistaking luck for skill. When I started out in Hackney, everything I touched turned to gold — and I believed that was talent. It wasn't. Hackney property prices rose 104% between 2009 and 2016, and I happened to be standing in the right place. Hindsight made that painfully clear. From there I walk through the five risks that catch almost everyone out, mapped to the SAFER system. Shiny Penny Syndrome — chasing the latest strategy whether or not it suits your life (like Maria, who wisely walked away from rent-to-rent). Being honest about a deal's real numbers instead of putting lipstick on a pig. Holding a proper contingency, because every project runs over. Staying flexible on your exit — I tell the story of a South Kensington project that fell from a £5.25m valuation to a £3.2m sale during lockdown. And resisting the urge to scale too fast and fly too close to the sun. I'm not anti-property. I'm pro-property — just no longer evangelical about it. Realistic, awake to what can go wrong, and determined to make you aware too. In this episode: * Why mistaking luck for skill is the most dangerous trap of all * Risk 1 — Strategy: Shiny Penny Syndrome and choosing what actually fits your life * Risk 2 — Appraisal: being brutally honest with your numbers (the "yellow cars" problem) * Risk 3 — Funding: always hold a 10% contingency and 3–6 months of cash * Risk 4 — Exit: planning multiple exits so a market shift can't sink you * Risk 5 — Repeat: slow and steady, and knowing when a strategy has stopped working A note on the voice: what you're hearing is an AI-generated version of my voice reading my own words. It's me — just not in the room. I'd rather be upfront about that than pretend otherwise. Every word, every lesson, and every mistake is mine. Have a risk you keep running into? Tell me on Substack at nicolebremner.substack.com, where paid subscribers get early access, extended commentary, and the chance to ask me anything. Subscribe wherever you listen so Chapter 4 lands automatically. Next week: Chapter 4 — It's All About Balance. Support the show [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/NicoleBremner] Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast belong solely to the host and guest speakers. The view and opinions of the guest speakers do not represent that of the host. Always do your own research.

Bricked It: The Road From Where You Are Chapter Two #182

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1375666/fan_mail/new] The honest other half of the story: a £120m portfolio, a partner I should never have trusted, the phone call that exposed it all — and the five mistakes that cost me everything before I built the SAFER system. This is the chapter where I tell you what actually happened. My story is a tragedy in two halves. The first — the meteoric rise — is my first book, Bricking It. By 2017 I had a share in a property portfolio of 110 properties across 10 projects, worth around £120 million. From the outside, life looked perfect: the home, the health retreats, the booked-solid speaking diary. Below the surface, my marriage was crumbling and I'd become someone I didn't recognise. Then it unravelled. I'd handed control to a business partner I trusted completely. In September 2018 a fellow investor called me about some transactions that didn't add up, and standing in my perfect kitchen I began reconciling payments that revealed a systematic, long-running fraud. What followed was years of David-and-Goliath battles — debt collectors, bailiffs turning up during the school run, and the slow, public undoing of everything I'd built. I won't pretend it was anything but a very dark place. But I'm still standing, and this chapter is me handing you the lessons so you never have to learn them the way I did. In this episode: * The two halves of my story, and why the title of my first book makes me cringe now * What £120 million really meant — and the press misquote I want to correct * Trusting the wrong partner, and the phone call that exposed a fraud * The five mistakes that cost me everything: giving up control, over-investing in one asset, mistaking luck for skill, having no systems, and failing to bring stakeholders with me * Why "being on the right side of the law" didn't protect me — and how the SAFER system was born from the wreckage A note on the voice: what you're hearing is an AI-generated version of my voice reading my own words. It's me — just not in the room. I'd rather be upfront about that than pretend otherwise. Every word, every lesson, and every mistake is mine. If this one lands close to home, I want to hear from you. Find me on Substack at nicolebremner.substack.com, where paid subscribers get early access, extended commentary, and the chance to ask me anything. Subscribe wherever you listen so Chapter 3 lands automatically. Next week: Chapter 3 — Forewarned Is Forearmed. Support the show [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/NicoleBremner] Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast belong solely to the host and guest speakers. The view and opinions of the guest speakers do not represent that of the host. Always do your own research.