Ben is a 25 year old underwriter of Terrorism insurance, renting with a friend in Kensington, West London – and was recently interviewed by ‘This is Money’ about why and how he’s using Property Partner. He noted dryly that it would take him over 20 years of saving to afford a property in his area. As a young professional, his savings tend to go on one of two things: a deposit for his first home, and his passion for travel.

Property Partner has opened up housing investment to people like Ben, who are looking to be smart with their money. Unable to get onto the property ladder in his chosen area just yet, he now has a leg-up. Property Partner gave him somewhere to start, offering similar returns to existing homeowners, and helping him access the housing market far quicker than other ways of investing or saving. Ben currently has £5,000 invested across three properties with Property Partner. He had also invested £2,000 in our first Croydon property back in January, and sold 6 months later on the secondary market. He had this to say about his experience so far:

“Property Partner gave me a way to invest and ensure that my deposit savings were keeping up with the growth in property prices. The alternative was earning small amounts of interest and slowly watching the dream of owning my own home slip further and further away as property prices grew”.

Ben had previously experimented with a few kinds of investment, including stocks and shares, as well as peer to peer lending. Property Partner is a way for him to diversify his portfolio. The good track record of the property market is, in Ben’s words, ‘not to be argued with’ – and Property Partner makes it so much easier to access than before. Ben also noted that property is more stable price-wise, and you get a good return on buy-to-let. He compared it to stocks and shares, saying that the dividend is similar, but with less risk:

“I don’t have time to read the quarterly accounts from blue chip companies, but with property, I know people from certain areas or I know an area myself. There’s less information you need to gather to have a general feel. It’s easier to assess the level of risk”.

Ben also liked the fact that Property Partner allows him to diversify his property investments across multiple areas and multiple properties so he hasn’t ‘put all his eggs in one basket’.

Ben enjoys reading things like The Week, The Economist, and Private Eye, and checks BBC news daily. This year, he’s taking a 3,000 km train to Iran by himself – just for the challenge. You can read more about Ben’s Property Partner experience in his interview with ‘This is Money’.

If you’re an aspiring first time buyer – the first step on the property ladder isn’t quite the jump it used to be. Take a look at the properties on our marketplace.

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This story was first featured in This is Money here, on 18th October 2015.