He Made £30K on His First Property Flip — Then Went All In

Ryan Cullen went from working as an electrician to making approximately £30,000 profit on his first property flip—a result that convinced him property could become more than a side project.

Instead of simply repeating the same strategy, Ryan invested in his education, started learning how to source deals and cut his salary in half to work part-time. After one heated phone call with his manager, he quit the job he had held for eight years and committed fully to building a property business.

Ryan explains how the business scaled to around 20 properties in six months, including buy-to-lets, serviced accommodation and an aparthotel. He also shares why the team has since focused on reducing leverage, improving due diligence and giving a smaller number of investors a more complete portfolio-building service.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• How Ryan went from a difficult time at school to completing an electrical apprenticeship

• The employee share-save scheme that gave him the capital to begin investing

• Buying a rundown Bathgate property without fully understanding the numbers

• Completing much of the refurbishment himself and making approximately £30,000 profit

• Why he spent money on property education instead of immediately buying another project

• Setting himself the goal of sourcing one deal within six months

• Cutting his salary in half so he could learn the property business part-time

• The phone call that led him to quit his electrical job and go all in

• Scaling from no properties to around 20 units in the business within six months

• A £35,000 serviced-accommodation purchase producing nearly £2,000 in strong months

• The aparthotel generating approximately £10,000–£12,000 net per month

• Refurbishing eight Helensburgh flats for longer serviced-accommodation bookings

• Why cash flow and loan-to-value matter more than chasing a large unit count

• Moving from WhatsApp deal groups towards a smaller, premium investor service

• The sourcing mistakes that taught Ryan the importance of contracts, communication and aftercare

• Why the team now verifies comparables, rents and serviced-accommodation figures before presenting a deal

• Raising private finance and learning how to structure vendor-finance opportunities

• The discipline required to balance business growth, fitness and personal life

CONNECT WITH RYAN

Instagram: @ryancullenproperty

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💬 Would you have left a secure trade after one successful property flip? Let us know in the comments 👇