A man who became "bored" and "miserable" during the lockdown took £500 and made himself a millionaire in his spare time.
Full-time bank worker Aydin Guner, 36, found himself having more time on his hands when the country went into lockdown in 2020, and started exploring ways of improving his wealth and life prospects.
After searching online, he came across a series of property investing videos on YouTube posted by multi-millionaire entrepreneur Samuel Leeds.
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Aydin, who was born in Liverpool and lives in Halewood, said: "At the start of the first lockdown I had about £500 in my bank account, it was raining outside and miserable and I wasn’t able to meet up with anyone.
"I thought who is this guy talking about property investing? [Samuel Leeds] I didn’t know too much about it.
"I just thought it was something rich folk did, and you need loads of capital to get started. But I just had something in me that wanted more."
It was that desire which propelled Aydin on a journey of discovery. As a homeowner, he was particularly struck by the videos on refinancing a property to obtain investment funds and decided to dip his toe in the water.
Almost everyone Aydin mentioned the idea to, however, warned him against doing it, including his own father.
Aydin said: “People kept asking why I would want to get more in debt. I love my dad. He’s been really supportive, but he was one of the ones who was saying find a good bank, get a mortgage and stick with them.”
His father strongly advised him not to put himself at risk by remortgaging his home, but Aydin decided he had nothing to lose. Although he had a job he liked, it was not making him wealthy.
Aydin found a mortgage broker in Wirral who confirmed he could raise a certain amount of money from the property he was living in. He discovered he could release up to 75 per cent of the worth of his house and so took out £25,000.
He said: "I’d never had that much money in my bank before. I felt so rich.”
He began looking for an investment house and managed to secure a home in Wirral for £80,000, putting down a deposit of £20,000. It was then that his day job paid him dividends.
He soon realised his skills as a bank project manager could be used in the property world as he had experience of working with budgets and planning. Having been a salesman in the past, he also managed to negotiate the cost of renovating the property to less than £5,000.
Aydin said: “I got a really nice kitchen for around £2,000 and a bathroom for £2,000. I also got the electrics set up and did a lot of painting myself.
“For less than £5,000 I was able to boost the value of this property to £132,000.
“In a matter of months, I’d gone from having £500 and being miserable on my own in lockdown to having £40,000 in my bank account. So, I just carried on.”
Aydin bought two more in Liverpool in Halewood and Bootle. He repeated the process of refurbishing them to increase the value, and then releasing the equity for two more acquisitions. Now he is on the verge of buying his fifth investment property in Wirral.
Looking back on his life, Aydin says he is driven by a conversation he had with his father as a child which left a lasting impression on him.
He said: “We were watching a boxing fight on TV with Chris Eubank and I said, ‘Dad I’d love to go to Vegas one day to a boxing fight’ and he said, ‘No people like us don’t go to events like that.
“I thought to myself what does he mean by people like us? Then I’ve heard people say if you go to Dubai or Miami, it’s fake. People like us don’t go to places like that. That’s a different world.
“That’s always stuck with me because it’s like why is it fake? Why can’t you enjoy the nicer things?”
Since becoming a millionaire in his spare time Aydin has been able to take his girlfriend on a dream trip to a villa in Dubai.
He said: “The last 18 months have been really fun as well. I’ve had more fun in the last two years than ever really. I’ve even been able to go on a nice holiday in Dubai and stay in a villa with my girlfriend. I could never have done that before.
“I don’t think money gives you happiness, but it opens doors and gives you that freedom.”
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