At just 30 years old, Leeds dynamo Marco Sarussi has accrued a vast empire of properties and regularly tears up the sky behind the wheel of an aeroplane when he’s not making an absolute killing on the ground.
He owns 24 properties across Yorkshire and is hungry for more. Marco made more than £15,000 when he was 14 by importing wrestling merchandise.
He spoke with fondness and a sense of disbelief over the fact as a child he’d walk around with £300 cash in his wallet when he was out playing with his mates. The Alwoodley tyke was living every teenage boy’s dream with three motorbikes, a table tennis table, a basketball net and more – “everything I wanted, I could afford to buy”.
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The property tycoon more recently was able to fulfil a childhood dream and took part ownership in the famous spotty plane from one of his favourite shows as a child Come Outside, in which the late great Lynda Baron (Mabel) flew around with her yappy terrier Pippin.
He now has shares in a different aeroplane but will never forget the fun he had flying his own little dog Harry around on that funky nostalgia soaked aircraft (full disclosure, the spots have been painted over - we're as disappointed as you are).
Marco also shared how becoming bald has worked to his advantage, how he was quick to suss out a business venture after being stuck in the most dire of living situations in London and has even set up his dad’s business.
Marco currently lives an idyllic life with his wife Charlotte, also 30, their one-year-old Hugo and their aforementioned cocker spaniel Harry in East Keswick. He prides himself on keeping fit and going on peaceful country walks with his missus within the Golden Triangle village.
This humble life is only a few miles away from Shadwell Lane, where it all began with a bucket of soapy water, a sponge and go-get’em attitude when he was a fired up 11-year-old.
He took to his neighbourhood to wash cars after school and over the weekends. After putting in some heavy graft, he quickly came to the realisation he would be able to upscale if he employed his friends to help out.
Marco said: “There was probably about 10 or 12 of us who’d always play out together. I said to them if any of them wanted to make some money, that I’d knock on the door.
"Everyone else was scared of knocking on the door at that age because of a lack of confidence or whatever. I told them I'd get the work, give them all the materials and they could clean the cars, and I’d give them 50p per car.
“I was charging £3 per car - or £4 for the inside as well - and I’d give my guys each 50p per car and I’d take £2. Even if we could do 20 cars in one day, that was a good salary for an 11 or 12-year-old.”
During the winter months, his friends peeled off, unwilling to battle the harsh weather conditions. Marco was once again all on his own, bucket in hand with a sense of grit and determination, slogging away. He was making about £70 week all by himself, that’s when he first acknowledged he had a “good work ethic”.
'Everything I wanted, I could afford'
He was a huge American wrestling fan and when he was 14 he wanted to use his earnings to buy wrestling merchandise online but was put off by the “ridiculous” prices. He “figured out a way” to buy the merchandise from the American website for much cheaper. He then realised he could make a huge “30 per cent” profit by selling these items in the UK himself, considering it was $2 to the pound at that time (those were the days!).
Marco said: “In 12 months I made near enough £15,000 when I was 14. Now you may or may not want to put this in as it’s legally contentious, I actually got a massive document in the post saying they were going to sue me if I didn’t stop.
"I was 14, so I thought ‘whatever!’ but my parents made me stop. I was left with a garage full of t-shirts and hats, it took me years to slowly shift all this merchandise at car boot sales and stuff like that.
“I used to walk around with about £300 cash in my wallet at that age, who does that? Even nowadays, who does that?
“I had a table tennis table, a basketball net, three motorbikes, including a chopper, a dirt bike and a petrol scooter. I also had a massive flat screen 32-inch TV - which was big for back then - and a PS3 before it even came out in the UK because I bought it from the States. Everything I wanted, I could afford to buy.”
He took a step back from making money at the worn-out age of 16 however, deciding to focus his energy on his education after being accepted back at The Grammar School at Leeds to study at the sixth form. He says he got an A* in business studies, achieving the highest grades in the country that year, but only gained B in economics and a C in geography.
After studying at Lancaster University, he moved down to London as part of a graduate scheme and managed to come up with his next business idea by complete fluke. Marco says he was renting in the most horrible of flat shares.
Marco said: “It was awful. I didn’t know London at all. The location was pretty bad. The landlord had completely lied about who else was in the property. The property itself just stank of weed 24/7, it just wasn’t a nice place to be.”
The landlord said he could move out as long as he found a replacement tenant. Marco went about putting an advertisement online, along with high quality pictures and description. His advertising drummed up so much interest, the landlord was able to rent it out at a higher price.
Discovering a new set of talents, a light bulb went off in Marco's head. He said: “I thought maybe I could do this for private landlords who needed help. I used to look through the papers and websites, look for really bad adverts that were clearly made by an old landlord who’s not computer literate with no pictures or description. Of course no one was going to enquire about those.”
So he approached these landlords to offer help with advertising and even carried out the viewings – he became somewhat of an independent ‘agent’. He admits he once accidentally carried out a viewing where he and the prospective tenants stumbled into a bedroom where the drowsy couple were still in bed - and he still managed to rent the flat out!
After some time, he moved back to Leeds after building up some capital. With help from his family, he bought his first property in Burley, which he lived in and refurbished.
During this time, he launched a number of different start-ups – including his dad Shalom’s business, importing and selling mechanical parts. One of them called Green Gecko Digital, an SEO and web design business, really took off and paved the way for Marco's properties.
So Marco began investing in more and more properties. He owns 12 properties in Leeds, 11 in Halifax and one in Lancaster.
His Leeds properties are located in East Keswick (his own humble abode), the city centre, Churwell and Morley. The 11 in Halifax are a block of flats, which also includes land which he's been granted permission to develop on. The property in Lancaster is a house of multiple occupancy which he rents out to students.
He describes himself as a reliable landlord, and mentions how he's even helped his own tenants get on the property ladder.
'I look a lot older than I am'
Asked if he was ever not taken seriously due to his young age, Marco said: “I’ve lost all my hair! Because I look a lot older than I am, I’ve never had an issue.
“People have always thought I was 30 or 40 so my age has never worked against me. I’ve always been able to grow a full face of stubble even though I’ve got no hair at the top of my head. So people have always thought I was older than what I am, which I think is really beneficial."
The father-of-one says he matured early but that was never a conscious decision. Marco said: “I put clubbing out my system really early and have just moved on to the next thing. I’ve always been forward thinking. I’m not fed up with getting drunk etc but it just doesn’t really appeal to me anymore, it’s hard to put it into words.”
He’s now jetting off on his next adventure, Marco has set up a YouTube channel called The Property Pilot where he’s sharing his stories and advice on how to build up your own property empire.
Marco said: “You’ve got to learn from others and have confidence in what you’re doing. You need to get your strategy right and be confident in carrying out that strategy.
“A lot of people start out in property and they don’t know what they’re doing, so they’ll either fail or nothing will align.”
He has also provides property mentoring and coaching service. Plus says he will give away a free flight to one lucky subscriber once his YouTube channel hits 10,000 subscribers.
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