Former Swans player nets big profits in property after career-ending injury

After being unable to fulfil his potential as a footballer, Jordan has been combining driving taxis for his father’s firm with wheeling and dealing in property.  He now sees his future in bricks and mortar after discovering a flair for business.

The former Birchgrove Comprehensive School pupil already owns seven properties and rents out another five which he controls on behalf of the owners. That, plus selling property investment deals to wealthy investors, has boosted his average monthly takings to £10,000. In March (2024) he celebrated his best month ever, recording a profit of £25,000.

Jordan lives with his family in Birchgrove but will soon be moving to his own place in Sketty on the back of his success.

Remarkably, he is still only 25 and has been studying the art of property investing for less than a year.  

It was while out driving a taxi that it really hit home to him just how much money there is to be made from real estate.

“I’d just dropped someone off for £3.20, helped them with all their shopping and got in the car. Then I closed a deal for £10,000. I was thinking I’m in the wrong game!”

It was a surreal moment in his journey to becoming a successful entrepeneur with a growing investment portfolio. At one time he had a very different future mapped out for him as a soccer star.

Jordan joined Swansea City at the age of seven and worked his way through the academy, playing professionally as a scholar on an apprenticeship after leaving school. In the under 18s side he played against the likes of England internationals Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham, as well as Premier league stars Connor Gallagher of Chelsea and Newcastle’s Joe Willock.

Then in his second year he was badly injured in a match against Fulham. After two ankle operations Jordan, who was born and bred in Swansea, had to stop playing football and was left pondering his future.

At 21, he started driving taxis for his father’s firm, putting in 12-hour shifts five to six times a week and picking up various ‘characters.’

“That was good for me. Some people may have thought I’d taken a step backwards because I was driving taxis instead of playing football. But I felt it put me on the right path to explore different types of business.”

Jordan had dabbled a bit in property in the traditional way by saving up for deposits.

However, in February 2023 he went with a pal to a two-day crash course led by multi-millionaire property developer and trainer Samuel Leeds. Jordan says it was a game-changing moment in his life.

Samuel himself has an extraordinary back story. He left school at 16 and thought he was destined to become a bin man after sitting on the special needs desk at times. But he discovered a huge talent for making money from property and at the age of 33 is worth more than £20m.

Jordan went on to become a star student on Samuel’s property investing academy. One of his favourite strategies is to buy properties in Swansea which are so rundown they are ‘unmortgageable.’ He then renovates the accommodation and obtains a mortgage to release funds for reinvesting.

Explaining how the buy, refurbish, refinance method works, Jordan says: “You buy the property whether it be through actual cash or a bridge [loan]. You’ll then add value through a refurb and refinance it at the higher value. So, 75 per cent of that comes back to you and hopefully you can recycle most of your money to use that again and again.”

It differs fundamentally from the buy-to-let strategy where the investor puts down a deposit of 25 per cent of the purchase price, sinking that money in permanently.

He says Swansea is a great place to pick up bargains as prices are not extortionate compared to many other parts of the UK. He paid just £39,500 for his last property, although he concedes it was ‘a steal.’

He never expected to secure it for that amount as it was on the market for £50,000.

“There wasn’t a lot of interest in it. It was around October. I said to the estate agent I’m offering this on the Friday. By the Monday it’s gone. It’s only over the weekend that the vendor [can] think of it because I’ve got other offers on the table. She came back to me on the Monday afternoon and said your offer’s been accepted.”

There was just one problem. At the time all his money was tied up.

“I went home to my parents and was like, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’ve had this offer accepted on this property. I’m probably going to have to package it and sell it on to somebody else.”

Jordan told them about the opportunity and mentioned he would be looking to bring in an investor and give them a 10 per cent return on their cash.

“I remember going upstairs and my dad called me and said talk to me about the deal again. He ended up putting the money in. He will receive a fixed return of ten per cent when I refinance the property.”

The renovation and fees came to around £34,000. Based on a projected end value of £125,000, Jordan will be able to obtain a mortgage and pull out more than £93,000 – having only put in about £75,000 to buy and do up the three-bedroom property.

As the purchase price was so low there was no stamp duty to pay. The plan is to turn it into serviced accommodation for six guests, with two beds in each room.

He expects to make a profit of £1,000 to £1,500 a month from just that one property by renting it out mainly to contractors which he has found works best.

One important lesson that Jordan has learnt was that even if he personally cannot afford to invest in a deal he has unearthed, he can still earn a handsome commission by selling it to a wealthy investor.

He sold two deals in November for £3,000 and £5,000, and three months ago struck gold by earning a sourcing fee of £10,000.

While that might seem a lot, he says the person who bought it will get a fantastic return on his investment.

On his training, he was taught how to assess how much a house or flat is likely to be worth once it has been improved. He also seeks the opinion of three different local agents on the end value.

After that Jordan applies a set formula to work out if the numbers stack up. He has become looks at the average square footage price for the area and takes his builder with him on every viewing to help with costing.

He also includes a contingency of five per cent of the anticipated cost of the renovation to allow for any unexpected work that needs to be carried out. Then his skills come into play to negotiate the purchase price and finally to present the figures to his investor.

Aside from deal selling and his buy, refurbish, refinance projects, Jordan has also been profiting from the ‘rent-to-rent’ strategy along with two business partners.

Under this agreement he will rent a property from a landlord is then entitled to manage and rent out the accommodation at a higher rate, keeping any profit he makes.

He also does up the properties and keeps the accommodation in pristine condition.

“Across the five rent-to-rents we’ve been making £7,500 a month,” he said.

“It’s a great arrangement for the landlords too because they get a guaranteed rent every month and have all the hassle taken off their shoulders.”

His next goals are to tackle commercial ventures and to help new academy students.

“I’m hoping to go full time in property soon, but I want to help my dad in his business as much as I can because it’s grown massively.

“I’m pushing myself to do well, but then hopefully to leave something in years to come when I have children to give them the best start in life.”

Jordan’s progress has made a huge impression on his guru, Samuel Leeds, who believes he will go on to even greater heights.

“Jordan has done so well,” he said.

“I really respect what he’s already achieved at 25. He’s constantly hungry for knowledge and has a great work ethic. I think that’s also why he made a great start in football. I honestly believe he could become a name to look out for in the property investing world.”

(Lead image: SL Education).

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