Ian Lamont was interested in buying a holiday home but found that most brokers only had properties in Spain and none in more exotic locations. He realised that property purchasers looking to buy abroad had few options and therfore would be a great untapped market for him to exploit. So he launched Monty Invest.
Name: Ian Lamont
Age: 26
Business: Monty Invest
Type of business: overseas property specialists
Start date: May 2005
When did you first decide you wanted to start your own business?
I’ve always wanted to run my own business ever since I can remember and finally took the plunge after many years of working dead end jobs.
Tell us about your business
Monty Invest is an overseas property specialist that helps holiday homebuyers and investors purchase property abroad. We arrange everything from viewing to finance, making the daunting process of buying overseas easy. We sell properties from over 20 countries and not just in the more traditional places. We like to offer properties further afield. We do sell properties in Spain, Italy, and France but find a lot more buyers are looking for something different.
Was it your first business idea and where did it come from?
I’ve had many ideas over the years but never acted on any. I’d been into buy to let like many people and I did okay out of it, so I decided it was time to buy a holiday home in the sun but didn’t want the usual Spanish villa. I searched UK brokers but couldn’t find what I wanted, local property brokers didn’t have anything except Spain. I attended a few property exhibitions and still found nothing I wanted. Then when I started searching for agents in other countries and I found a number of properties I liked. I thought how good it would be to view information and talk to someone about these type of properties on the high street. From this thought Monty Invest was born.
Was your decision to start a business inspired by any other companies or individuals?
My decision was inspired by your readers, I followed the startup profiles for some time. Hearing how other people from similar backgrounds as me had taken the leap and started their own businesses gave me the incentive I needed to do it myself and I haven’t looked back since.
What makes you think there’s a market for your business?
All my research showed there was a marked increase in second home buyers with many of these being abroad and this meant that there was a market for me to tap into. With TV programmes such as a ‘Place in the Sun’ encouraging people to buy abroad, I thought ‘now’s the time’. Cheap air travel and low cost mortgages means more and more people are considering purchasing property abroad. Add to this the slowing buy to let market in the UK, and investors with money to invest in property abroad looked like the ideal market.
Once you’d decided to start a business, what did you do first?
I did a lot of research. The first 18 months was spent learning how the buying process worked in the different countries I wanted to sell in. With over 20 countries to research this took a lot of time. I then wrote a business plan and arranged to sell one of my buy to let properties to fund the startup.
What research did you do?
A lot of my research was done online and I spoke to a lot of relevant people such as: existing property agents to see what services they offered and holiday homebuyers to get their feedback on the whole process. I took their advice to offer an improved service to my clients. I also researched the marketing of the business, as there are lots of different ways and this is one of the most important things.
What advice did you seek?
I spoke to Business Link and they sent me a very useful guide that answered all my questions. I still use it today, I didn’t speak to any other agencies.
What other help did you get?
The main help came from my best friend he designed the site and the logo. He also offered me a lot of advice in the early stages.
Does the government need to provide more help to people trying to start a business?
I think the government does a good job, there’s lots of advice out there. If you look you can find what you are looking for. I didn’t need that much help but at least I knew that if I do there is help is available.
Talk us through the process of writing your business plan.
Writing the plan was quite easy. I used planning software and it talked me through stage by stage and the plan only took me a couple of hours to write. To be totally honest the plan hasn’t been that much use to me - I don’t think I’ve looked at it more than twice. It’s a good tool at the beginning to help you put everything on paper and helps you think about every aspect of the business. But it hasn’t really helped me.
How much did it cost to start the business?
£10,000
