Once a professional drummer touring Europe and beyond, Kane Andrews saved up money from his gigs to follow his true calling: property investment. He entered the property industry with the goal in mind of changing and positively impacting the tenant experience.
Flash forward to 15 years later, Kane's company, Rockstar Property Partners have now developed over 80 investment properties with a gross development value over £30,000,000, all with a 100% success rate.
New Business sits down with Kane Andrews, CEO and Founder of the award-winning Rockstar Property Partners to learn about the beginnings of his property journey and how he came to amass such an impressive portfolio of properties.
NB: From professional musician to property Baron at quite a young age - how did that happen?
KA:I remember my mum would play classical music for my brother and I every morning on the school run. That somehow translated into me joining a rock band at the age of 11 and I've been playing gigs ever since. I also played the guitar, bass and piano and you could occasionally catch me singing live too. Having the ability to freely improvise on instruments, instilled creativity in me that I later implemented into property investment and business. The other benefit of improvising on an instrument, is having the freedom to make mistakes whilst working it into a song. That's exactly what I've done with HMOs - creating my own rules whilst ensuring the model still works.
NB: When you bought your first property at the tender age of 22, was it to live in or the first step in a property investment business?
KA: When I turned 22, I had a terrible experience as a tenant and felt a strong calling to invest in property to positively change the tenant and landlord experience. I also had the goal in mind of becoming a property owner before my 23rd birthday. I decided to use the £9000 I had saved from my gigs to purchase my first investment home. So with £9,000, I bought my first ‘two-up, two-down' property in Nottingham, achieving a 13.5% gross yield. After the refurbishment, I had £80 left in my bank account, but that didn't matter. I still achieved the goal of buying the first property before my 23rd birthday - that's all that mattered to me at the time.
NB: Was there a light bulb realisation around that time that you had the makings of a business here?
KA: There was indeed a realisation moment for me and it was the purchase of my second property that I like to call an ‘accidental HMO', a two-bedroom house in Farnham, Surrey. Valued at £240,000 back then, I bought the house for £190,000. Knowing I had received a discount (and the prices were increasing at the time too), I asked a local agent to value the property before the refurbishment had even started. The agent walked in and seemed very surprised. ‘Oh', he said, ‘where's the third bedroom?'. At the time I hadn't a clue what he meant. ‘It's a two bedroom' I said, still feeling confused.
The agent then went on to tell me that most of the properties on that estate had three bedrooms upstairs (splitting the largest bedroom into two) - and the separate dining room downstairs was usually converted into a fourth bedroom.
After jotting down some numbers on the back of a utility bill, I calculated that I would receive £550 x 4 per month, renting the property to local students at the local UCA University. That's almost 3 x the monthly rent the Landlord next door was achieving, by renting his property to a couple and their children.
The cost at the time to install HMO amenities was £6,000 supply and fit - very different numbers now! However, at the time I calculated that I would receive this investment back within just 4 months. After which, I'd still achieve almost 3 times the rent than a standard BTL on the same estate, providing I'm running at 100% occupancy. It was in this moment that knew I'd found a ‘value-add' opportunity, completely by mistake.
NB: How long did it take before your first dabble in property turned into Rockstar Property and if you will excuse the pun, were you a one-man band at the time.
KA: I started to build momentum from the age of 22 after I bought my first property. I made my first £250k at the age of 25 by flipping a further five properties using my own money, having started with just £300. I continued to expand with multi-let properties until the age of 27 and bought an additional ten properties at the time. Rockstar was born later that same year, and we went on to acquire a total of 30 properties without the help of investors by the time I was 31. The last four years, with the help of investors' capital, I've acquired a further 40 properties.
NB: What attracts investors to your business model and what options do you offer?
KA: After 14 years of executing this model with a 100% track record, we remain incredibly transparent in our approach by offering a heartfelt service to all investors, regardless of the company's size.
Investors can joint venture with us for a long-term income. Alternatively, we also offer fixed returns for 12-24 months, at an interest rate that is far- above the industry average. All our projects are completed on a 50/50 basis, so Rockstar Property and our investors benefit from the three inbound transactions that come from HMOs: rental profit, refinance proceeds and sale profits.
NB: Have the higher interest rates or the Renters Reform bill slowed the company's evolution at all?
KA: The number of properties that have come to the market at an opportunistic-asking price, is perhaps one of the biggest opportunities we could see in 2024. Due to The Renters' (Reform) Bill, introduced to Parliament on 17th May 2023, a number of Landlords are exiting the market. This has already posed as an opportunity for Rockstar Property, to acquire more stock at a favourable value.
NB: What does the future look like for Rockstar Property Partners?
KA: Our main goals for the company are to hit £100M GDV by 2030, expand across the UK, Wales and Ireland through the franchising model and to continue exceeding our partners' expectations.
