My name is Rhys Carpin. I left the Rhondda Valleys in 1990 to join the Royal Artillery Band in Woolwich. I served for 12 years, and managed to buy my own property in 1995 while still serving. After seeing a colleague do the same, I let out a room in my house the proceeds of which covered more than half of my monthly mortgage payment. This was when a spark ignited inside me regarding all things property.
I left the Army in 2003 and landed a job as a Letting Agent. A year later I moved company and was promoted to Letting Manager after another 6 months. The Estate Agency I was now working for also had an investment department. Along with my brother, I started buying investment properties. We bought 3 in our first year and over the next 5 years we bought 21 more. At this time, I was also able to give advice to a few friends who were looking to start their own property portfolios. I am still in touch with these friends whose portfolios continue to flourish and grow. I still offer them guidance and training to this day.
While managing the property portfolio in the background, my career in Estate Agency progressed. I spent a few years in property sales and lettings in order to get experience in both disciplines. In 2013 with 10 years varied experience under my belt, I returned to Woolwich as a Lettings Branch Manager.
I spent 8 years in this position, rising to Senior Branch Manager after 5 years.
At this time, I was responsible for recruiting new talent, training lettings staff (including Branch Managers) and attending Service leavers career events along with the HR department of the Corporate Estate Agency I was working for. The Agency was signed up to the “Armed Forces Covenant” which is a commitment to accommodate Forces Veterans in the workplace. At around this time I also appeared as a “Local Property Expert” on BBC’s “Homes Under the Hammer”
I consider my biggest achievement at this time to be the 3 staff members I trained up to be Branch Managers. This gave me an enormous sense of pride, as I knew that these Managers now had exciting careers ahead of them. They have all continued on their journeys in the Property Industry and are still flourishing to this day.
I left Estate Agency in 2020 when I was approached by a former client. This was a Housing Association who had been given Government funding to purchase 300 properties over 2 years. These properties would be used to house the homeless in London, some of whom were Forces Veterans. I jumped at the chance to head the procurement team, and spent the next 2 years using my Estate Agency knowledge and contacts to purchase the 300 properties on budget and on schedule.
My passion is training people in all aspects of property and Estate Agency. I now aim to bring this quality training to my fellow Armed Forces Veterans.
07814 301789
rhys@thepropertyveteran.com