{"id":9787,"date":"2021-06-16T08:59:14","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T07:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/?p=9787"},"modified":"2021-06-16T08:48:42","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T07:48:42","slug":"stephan-van-niekerk-platinum-property-partners-south-west-case-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/stephan-van-niekerk-platinum-property-partners-south-west-case-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephan van Niekerk – Platinum Property Partners \u2013 South West \u2013 Case Study"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

Joined Platinum Property Partners<\/strong>: 2013
\nPrevious Career<\/strong>: Armed forces
\nPortfolio Location<\/strong>: South West
\nNumber Of HMOs<\/strong>: 4
\nBiggest Benefit<\/strong>: More time with his young family<\/p>\n

After suffering life-changing injuries while in the armed forces, Stephan bounced back by creating his own property business.<\/p>\n

October 22, 2009 was the day that changed L-Cpl Stephan van Niekerk\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Three years into his military career and on a second tour of Afghanistan, Stephan stepped on an Improvised Explosive Device (IED); his injuries were serious!<\/p>\n

Stephan lost both his legs, as well as suffering a broken arm and losing, or seriously damaging, five fingers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent the next five years at Headley Court in Surrey, the recovery centre for military personnel,\u201d says Stephan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a bit of a roller coaster ride at the time. I\u2019d also just married, so after I was injured, my wife and I really had to think about what we were going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he was rehabilitating, Stephan got talking to a friend who shared his interest in property.<\/p>\n

OVERCOMING SCEPTICISM<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d seen Platinum Property Partners at a show he\u2019d attended,\u201d adds Stephan.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first reaction was \u2018Why would you want to pay someone to tell you how to invest in property? You buy a house and renovate it \u2013 it\u2019s simple!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I was intrigued enough to go along to a Platinum Discovery Day with him and that\u2019s when I realised where the real value of the franchise is.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife and I had been through so much, so we wanted to make sure that what we did next was de-risked and that\u2019s exactly what joining Platinum does.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know what I didn\u2019t know \u2013 everyone thinks it\u2019s easy to buy a property, renovate it and rent it out.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I learned so much that I thought I knew, but didn\u2019t, just during the Discovery Day. I\u2019m the kind of person who if there\u2019s an expert in something, I\u2019d much rather get advice from them and learn than try something and learn from a major, costly mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing part of Platinum has given us so many options as a family \u2013 and certainly me as an individual\u201d<\/p>\n

INCREDIBLE SUPPORT<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Stephan joined Platinum in 2013 and quickly built up a portfolio of four shared living properties in Taunton, Somerset.<\/p>\n

That portfolio has meant both Stephan and wife Sadie are able to spend more time with their four children, with the business fully supplementing their previous household income.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing what we have done with Platinum has given me the ability to spend a lot more time at home, watching the kids grow up and being able to have a much bigger influence in their upbringing,\u201d adds Stephan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe often say we don\u2019t know where we\u2019d be if it weren\u2019t for the support of the Platinum team and their amazing knowledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m resourceful, so I\u2019m sure I could have created a property business myself, but it would have taken me much longer, would have required much more effort and a lot more stress trying to learn everything on my own.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe support has been phenomenal, especially throughout the pandemic.<\/p>\n

TIME FOR GROWTH<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a testing time, but Platinum have really managed to stay ahead of the curve and make sure all of us as Franchise Partners are equipped with everything we need and the knowledge we need to deal with it all.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing part of Platinum has given us so many options as a family \u2013 and certainly me as an individual.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do a lot of cycling now, mainly for charity events, but also I haven\u2019t closed the door on sport. I got on to the transition programme for wheelchair fencing and there\u2019s the possibility of doing something with skiing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re also actually now at the stage where we\u2019re looking to grow the business again. So, my next target is to get to eight properties.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tried and tested model that works and the support from Platinum is huge, so I\u2019ve got no doubt we\u2019ll get there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joined Platinum Property Partners: 2013 Previous Career: Armed forces Portfolio Location: South West Number Of HMOs: 4 Biggest Benefit: More time with his young family After suffering life-changing injuries while in the armed forces, Stephan bounced back by creating his own property business. October 22, 2009 was the day that changed L-Cpl Stephan van Niekerk\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9788,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[242,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-platinum-property-partners","category-property-estate-agent-franchises"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/PPP-Fr5.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}