How much and how we bought 50 acres

[@RyanJ_]

Though it's technically true, it feels disingenuous to say you had no money, when you were sitting on property worth £850k

[@beyondtheworkbench]

You are right, I meant no money in my pocket at the time of buying it.

[@neilclarke6419]

Inspirational Rob well done on your hard work you deserve it.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Thanks Neil

[@shirecanelo]

Love the story Rob and the long format content! Not all of our attention spans are fried from reels and tiktok 😆! We're lucky to get so much content

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Thanks although I am releasing an 8 minute version tonight as the feedback seems to be people want it shorter

[@shirecanelo]

One thing I will say that definitely hits, is Alex hormozi style. So although the content is still long - he edits all of the conversation fillers and spaces out. I really enjoy watching that style

[@happyglampers9053]

Definitely well done, and I (amoungst many others) really do appreciate you sharing this information. Your ‘story’ is a testament to you both. Very few people actually tell you how they really first started. Trying to teach someone how to make money, is fine. However the info that you’ve provided is akin to how you make the blades on a wind turbine actually turn and subsequently generate electricity👍 In yesterday’s podcast, you said jump in the deep end, doesn’t matter if there’s no water.😂😂 Absolutely spot on👌 Great videography showing the rain jewels on top of the grass 👏. All that stress will soon be behind you and you’ll both look back and see that this was all worth the effort 👍

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Thank you Its beginning to feel like I can relax into the land and let the stress fall back to a more normal level. Glad you liked the podcast too!

[@grahamoliver1263]

Brilliant content, really enjoying the different ideas of living off grid, cant wait to see the hydro plant in operation. Good luck, awesome 👌

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Thanks! Its up and running now, some of our latest videos show us setting it up kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWq9hoRrg9eDqNE

[@yassminh]

So inspiring, thank you for sharing your story.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Thank you very much

[@onemanhisbackpack8571]

Brilliant vid Rob, and very inspirational. I'm putting my house on the market in January, which I've also been renting out, as we want to live off grid, hopefully in North wales. As its not to far from where we live on the Wirral, and family. I've just turned 59, ( better late than never 🙂) and have spent my life within the building game. We are also looking at building a straw bail house, to grow our own food and run a retreat. so will be continuing to watch your journey very closely😅. Love your approach, and its true, listen to the universe, as it will always take us out of our comfort zone, but lead us in the right direction🤞😂......keep up the great vids. Been following you since day one. Best Regards Ian.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Hi Ian I'm so glad you are off on your journey! I really hope it works out as you want it to and it sounds like you are going all in with growing your food as well which is amazing.

[@Mark22WiDax]

I’ve just turned 60 .. been wanting to do the same for years .. but always wondered if it’s too late and I’m too old .. but after reading ur comments it’s never too late .. thank you 🙏🏻 😊

[@yonmusak]

Posh lad, with equity and a family line of credit in a gripping 'buys farm' shocker.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

made me laugh

[@Charlie-oj4wj]

Spot on.

[@MegaHinga]

Love your approach to life mate it’s inspiring 💪

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Thank you 😁

[@zombiestyled]

I really enjoyed this. Quite engaging presentation.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@psy-op]

How you gonna handle the midges in the summer time ?

[@beyondtheworkbench]

They haven't been too bad. We had one terrible day which happened to be the same day I filmed this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIqZq518fph2rc0 Don't mind the midges that much but the bigger flies are pretty annoying!

[@johndawson8806]

i took the plunge in 2014 as was eating away at me for years rob, we now have 7 acres in scotland and has been a hard journey to get here but dont regret it one bit. theres talkers and theres doers i say and its good as if the talkers did become doers the prices would shoot up lol!

[@beyondtheworkbench]

It's so worth the effort, we keep saying the good days are definitely worth the harder days here as it's so beautiful. I agree, we were glad that being off grid isn't for everyone as the price would have been far more

[@fredmercury1314]

How much was that?

[@MrMonero]

Are you going to upload any videos of your seven acres? What area of Scotland are you in?

[@johndawson8806]

@@MrMonero tried sending rob says address not found? not very tech savvy im old skool

[@MrMonero]

@@johndawson8806 I was just wondering where your bit of land was John Dawson.

[@adventurouscampers]

Well done !!! I m gone a buy the same , I m looking forward to buy one like yours!!!!!

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Thank you, You will love yours so much

[@BRAD87225]

Have you been in touch with Leave Curious, they may help with the reforesting as i know they are already involved in reforesting in Scotland.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

I have watched his videos for a little while but haddnt thought about getting in touch so thanks for the reminder

[@neodonkey]

You have a wildly different conception of having "no money" than I do.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Sorry, hopefully if you watch the other video I did it might make a bit more sense kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5DFhn2la9KBZ9E

[@thereisnosecondbestright8854]

Very frustrating to watch in my opinion....personally, I would say having no money doesn't not include having a big block of flats and your own flat all of which you borrow against to raise the funds to buy the land 🤷🏼‍♂️ Don't get me wrong, great achievement and something to be proud of but quite far from buying land with no money

[@neodonkey]

@@thereisnosecondbestright8854 Yeah, he seems like a genuinely nice chap though, and he's obviously worked hard, but he's clearly had some of the breaks in life a lot of us could have only dreamed of.

[@clevermusicbox3630]

Talk to the Wayleave department in the power company. If you're not benefitting from the power supply then just get the 11kV removed by withdrawing consent for it to cross your land.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

I had no idea you could do that, thanks!

[@stephenwilliamson1491]

A live in scotland. Am always looking at off grid land not a big chunk just for a challet for some were to go and reset. Have been few but nothing that jumps out at me! A work for a firm delivering building materials. See alot of people from london ect moving upto scotland for a cheaper way of life.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Its such a beautiful place to be so I can understand why everyone would want to live here

[@stephenwilliamson1491]

@@beyondtheworkbench yeah its nice but not as cheap as it used to be. Imagine down south be even worse

[@beyondtheworkbench]

I can only dream of the prices as they were@@stephenwilliamson1491

[@Hermit1903]

We live in the Highlands too, well north of you though, we are north of Inverness. We moved from England 22 years ago. @@beyondtheworkbench

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Hi! wow that is North, Ill bet its beautiful though @@Hermit1903

[@eleanorwilliams9245]

Brilliant! 😊 What a rollercoaster, though 😅 Tenacity pays dividends! Really enjoying watching the videos. Mortgage free way before retirement age is the dream, so kudos to you and your wife for just going for it!

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Thank you, it definitely was a rollercoaster but we are enjoying the peace now.

[@MikeSmith-rd9fi]

fortunate your family/friends/investors helps you buy the flat block. well done for taking the risk. video on it would be interesting.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

I know without the help It wouldnt have been possible.

[@Pie_mash]

Awesome looks amazing always follow your Dreams perfect bit of landscape wishing you both all the best 🙏

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Thank you very much

[@tezzathetracter2001]

Watched Ben's podcast which brought me over to your channel, been watching a couple of videos every night and really enjoying them. So looking forward to seeing the house build commence. When the flats finally sell and you have the money will it be enough to finance the job? Keep it going please.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Great I am so glad you like the videos. I don't think it would be enough to fund the full build but it is making me get super creative in order to be able to afford it which in its own way I think makes it better

[@PinePondCTDevilsHopyard-fy3hj]

I think I enjoyed watching the details of your dream because our path was very similar here in the USA. I had no idea how we could make our dream happen. Just do it was indeed the answer. God has great plans for us all. Now we have our AirBnB and all five star reviews in our first year. We stay here during the times we have not booked. This is my retirement project. 15 acres, reconstructed home, five acre pond, boat house, shooting range club house, state park for our neighbor.... Big plans for the future, freedom to work on what I want, every day. Walk the property and feel, this beautiful spot on Earth is all ours. Thank you for posting your dreams.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Your property sounds so beautiful and a great place to have fun with a boating lake and shooting range! and a skate park!! I am an undercover BMX'r so thats a big plus in my mind! I am so pleased you made the leap too, just imagine if we haddnt!

[@MegaKg9]

Does anyone have thw cliff notes

[@beyondtheworkbench]

It cost 320k We raised money on a business asset we raised the rest on a personal asset many attempts and difficulties along the way It worked

[@MegaKg9]

@@beyondtheworkbench thank you for sharing we are on the same journey out here in California everything is so expensive

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Ill bet but I hear it is well worth it as California must be beautiful@@MegaKg9

[@tinkersdug1969]

Did you put some chicken wire on that deck for winter rob ?? that surface is leathal in the winter

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Not yet but I have it ready to nail down. You are right though its super slippy

[@nlSpiller]

Thanks for talking down my cognitive dissonance after having my offer get accepted for 25hectare off grid in Spain 😂

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Nice job! Ill bet that's going to be amazing

[@jack14kd]

Do you have to pay council tax seeing your off grid. Also are u sort of south of the cairngorms

[@beyondtheworkbench]

We are west Scotland so yes south of the cairngorms but on the west side (near loch fyne) and yes we have council tax to cover things like bins etc

[@KiwiCatherineJemma]

So in short. the land around the caravan/future hours, about 8 acres, cost UK pounds 200,000 and an extra 45 acres of mostly bare land, with a scattering of trees UKpounds 100,000 . That's not far off NZ $600,000 so I guess I'm NOT moving to Scotland anytime soon. It's great if you are going to add more trees to Scotland, which has had so much of its tree cover cut down over the last few thousand years. Unlike some people that insist on planting ONLY "locally native" trees, consider how planting a range of other tree/shrub varieties, which can live in that climate, can be beneficial. I'm not familiar with your exact area, but especially around your future house and more cultivated garden area, consider a wider range of plants. The Chilean Monkey Puzzle Tree (Aracauria something?) which has largish cones with edible pine nuts. Been grown throughout Britain including parts of Scotland for several hundred years so should be easily available at a standard price. I'm a fan of "palm trees" and "Trachycarpus fortunei" The Chinese Windmill Palm will grow almost anywhere that's NOT an actual swamp, except perhaps the highest alpine areas of UK. Not edible as such but they look amazing, especially in a grove of them. They are widely available throughout UK, I recently saw a London bus towing video showing them used in traffic medians in the middle of the road in Central London. A "vegetable horsehair" can be stripped from the trunks. Tolerates sustained freezes of a few degrees of frost, and short freezes to minus 18 Celsius. Young seedlings will self-sprout around established Female trees (assuming there's a male close enough to fertilise the flowers). Susceptible to being eaten or trampled by stock when still small, obviously. The New Zealand Cabbage Tree "Cordyline australis" is widely grown especially throughout Southern UK. There is a limit to how much of a "sustained hard freeze" the top of the plant will survive. But they grow a big underground root and after bushfires, or hard freezes, will re-grow again from their below ground part. Not much use as the leaves are no good for stock feed (but dried leaves are great firestarters) and the trunks aren't made of actual wood, but a sorta wet pithy flesh. Indeed hungry stock can eat the soft pithy trunks as emergency food. Consider growing some of Australia's wattles (Acacia). Some are bushes and some form full size trees. Birds eat the seeds. Small blossoms often during the Winter half of the year. Many varieties from Tasmania will be cold tolerant enough for you. Plus have more Summer drought tolerance than you'll ever need. Douglas Fir "Psuedotsuga menziesii" especially the ones from the more northerly part of its range, Oregon State, up into Canada. In New Zealand it is probably the second most common plantation timber tree. Known here colloquially as "OREGON" it tolerates, indeeds prefers cooler wetter conditions and even near-Maritime exposure. The timber once milled, can be dried then used without chemical treatments and is naturally resistant to insect attacks and rot. "Oregon" timber is highly prized here, even when used/salvaged for re-use, folks always want "Oregon" timber. Trees highly resistant to forest fires. Consider unpopular plants like bog standard Willows or Poplars, which can grow quicker than some other trees, and a handful of trees can provide literally hundreds of free cuttings in future years. They can help provide shelter while other more preferred trees grow. Later can be cut down for firewood, rough mulch groundcover or whatever.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Thank you that is so much useful information! I am finding we have a lot of Alder trees so I would definitely like to add much more diversity and your suggestion about the monkey puzzle tree is great especially as it produces some edible nuts! I will be saving your comment for when I get to selecting some more species to grow. At the moment we have some aspen seeds on the go in the hope they take.

[@Pax_Veritas]

TL:DR:- Had an offer accepted on property in the Highlands before he had money to pay for it. He got money and paid for it. The land wasn't free

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Good overview

[@roosenlodewijkwiggers4594]

I liked hearing/viewing your story but you lost me at the end saying: "With no money in the first place"....Technically you are right, but most people don't agree with it, having real estate investments that still needs to flip is not without anything. Yes all your hard work transferred in a profit/pay out with the flipping, but what I miss is how you got all those flats in the first place. Like you said, it is about stepping stones, but you let your viewer in just at the end of the stairs. The summary is just: we bought it with a starting capital. It is not a bad thing, just that you give the impression of this tough journey, but you leave out the fact that you had enough money to buy the ticket for the journey.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

I know, you are right. I think the thing is that I managed to buy that other property without having the available cash too. which is why I am saying it as I am (rather than knowing something and purposefully fabricating another tale over it) We got the seller to mortgage it directly to us without having to buy it and we then sourced finance from lenders to fund the build. I wasn't meaning to mislead anyone but I also didn't want to go into how we structured the first project as it was long enough already. I have changed the title now though removing the no money part but I can't edit the video without taking it down.

[@mc1703]

Do you think the land can generate an income?

[@beyondtheworkbench]

I'm sure that with enough creativity there could be a way to monetise it but it is not our intention, we just want to return it to nature

[@mc1703]

I suppose i started to make assumptions around how much equity you would get out of the remaining flats, the house build cost, how much money you would likely need for basic supplies that you cant grow or farm etc. Maybe that thinking is all for another day!

[@beyondtheworkbench]

I have spent a lot of time strategising about how to maximise the money and I got a bit worn out by it with the flats so I am sure once I have had a break from it I will be back to it@@mc1703

[@joobrien]

really inspiring story

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Thanks! 😁

[@howardatherton3889]

Thanks for sharing

[@beyondtheworkbench]

My pleasure

[@thecryptocrusade3252]

That was a dragged out way of saying this is clickbait...

[@paulineamandasmith4819]

I was excited to watch this but the first 6 minutes and even more had me up the wall. You say you’ve no secrets, but you’re not explaining properly about your flats, ect. So basically you did have money. Then not hardly knowing how many acres. I live in the highlands in my static. Currently got an advert up looking for someone to help me with a place to move it to settle as site is for sale, and all my money been spent over the years. Really thought this was going to be useful for me. It wasn’t, just going on about flats, lodges, profit, searching right move ( which you need money for to buy properties ) . Crazy to think I’m looking for 20 mates by 20 metres, and you can’t figure out if you have 48 or 53 acres in the beautiful highlands I live in 😮

[@johnaunger9739]

Far too much hot air to start with

[@nickdavison9771]

I appreciate your openness in this video, but given your start point of buying a property with potential for 18 flats and 4 houses by borrowing money from friends and family members, it's a bit of a push to say "you can do it and you can do it right now, it doesn't matter what position you are in". For 99% of people this route would be unattainable. How would you have secured the finance with no securities?

[@michaelramsay-fraser7076]

Claiming to have no money when you've got collateral in property is a bit disingenuous. That's not to say you haven't worked hard to get to the position you're in so well done on that score.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Sorry, I made a follow up video to cover some extra bits as others have also said the same kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5DFhn2la9KBZ9E

[@michaelramsay-fraser7076]

@@beyondtheworkbench No need to apologise. You've done very well and, as a fellow inhabitant of rural Perthshire, welcome. Just please don't do what so many white settlers do, assume you know better than people who have lived in the area for most of their lives.

[@zombiestyled]

"I forget why we did them up and moved to the next flat?" The 6 month as main home perfectly legal capital gains tax avoidance on sale profits i would think 👍

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Thats an excellent point. We owned them all under the company name though so we diddnt get away with that one.

[@pixies64]

easy to do thing with no money when you own a block of flats

[@WhyHandlesNow]

Let me shorten this for everyone to come. He says he has no money... "happened to own a building" of 18 flats, built 4 additional houses, flats have no mortgage, sold the last 5 flats worth 600k and mortgage free 250k free personal flat. - Got a mortgage on personal flat for 175k got a mortgage on 5 flats for 330k.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Thanks for your thoughts

[@dmcc757]

Dont pull down the trees, the animals need the trees for shelter, thats why myself and plenty of others like me are against the killfinan community forest, this is why so many deer are being killed on that road👍

[@beyondtheworkbench]

What's going on at Killfinan community forest?

[@debbymorgan1499]

This is meant to be

[@beyondtheworkbench]

We definitely feel so especially now we are here

[@Building_Bluebird]

It seems like banking and real estate in the UK is an even bigger racket than it is here. Sounds oppressive.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Yea its a nightmare

[@clovermark39]

Solicitors are terrible.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Tell me about it. Now we are clear of it I am so glad to be done with them,

[@johnbewick6357]

I got bored after the first eight minutes, couldn't watch any further.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Well thank you for the 8 minutes even if thats all you could bare

[@mc1703]

Bit of a blunt comment but there is probably something in here around aiming for a shorter format

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Yes you are right and I have taken that feedback on board for future videos. Didn't want to make a compressed one about money as I wanted the story in there too but I see people want things to be more snappy@@mc1703

[@williamterry3177]

That is why God gave you fingers and a remote. I found it very interesting and inspirational. Many people need to be encouraged to follow their dreams. To take chances, strike out on a path that may be dangerous but could be very rewarding.

[@allisterbanks5423]

There are so many golden nuggets in this video especially for young people coming from lower class backgrounds. I will be forwarding this video to them. I guess you can't please all of the people all of the time. But huge thanks to you for making this video

[@stephenjones9153]

You say I had no money but you had properties worth over £1,000,000 😂😂😂😂. Jesus what a joke I'm skint because I have very little money and don't own any properties.😢 Now that's what having no money realy means. 😊😢

[@beyondtheworkbench]

I am sorry you feel that way. I hoped to add some hope that difficult things are possible with this video. I did a second video explaining the money a little better kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5DFhn2la9KBZ9E

[@Charlie-oj4wj]

Never heard such waffle masquerading as ' how we did it from nothing '.

[@kentneil7100]

Stop waffling and speak in clear and people will listen and follow you on your journey my friend

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Thank you, I have learned from this kind of feedback. My most recent video is much more concice if you wanted to see how we have progressed kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXqshIJmjceNg5I

[@kentneil7100]

@beyondtheworkbench that video was interesting and a pleasure to watch my friend 🧡 Consider taking some tips from Kris Harbour who is an off grid guy with lots of subscribers and loyal followers like me.... I follow lots of off grid channels on the tubes and good for you for taking feedback brother

[@johnaunger9739]

I have stopped watching I now just watch paint dry

[@WhyHandlesNow]

The whole spiel you gave in the other video being holier than thou about how people always show you how they got the second fast car but not from a banger to a fast car... and you are going to be different. Not at all. Your story start with you owning 18 flats?! this isn't a rags to riches story no matter how you portray it, its a riches to different type of riches and you're BS pretending to be different.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Thanks for your thoughts

[@BruceBrendon]

LOL

[@beyondtheworkbench]

👍

[@MrMonero]

You got planning permission to cut down and mill the trees on your land and permission to build non standard construction using cob walls?! Hmmm I have spent most of my life in Scotland. Many years around Fife & Perthshire but now up in the North of the Highlands for the past 8 yrs. I have spoken with planners about such proposals many times on various pieces of land that are semi rural and incredibly rural. Pretty much anything using cob, straw, recycled materials, even fully eco Earthship type designs are just a straight no without question. It would be very good to hear a video on the process you followed to get permission for something so wildly different from the usual construction types and exterior looks the planners insist upon.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Really! I will have to look into that as we are going through the application at the moment. I am planning on making a video on the design and planning so we will have to see what their response is.

[@MrMonero]

@@beyondtheworkbench well in that case I wish you good luck and hope you can pull it off. If you do I will follow your method and try again.