The Property Thing July – Deal Trading with Paul Ribbons
And maybe, just maybe, ownership isn’t always the cleverest one.
About this Event
Overview
There’s more than one way to make money in property.
And maybe, just maybe, ownership isn’t always the cleverest one.
We all love the idea of building a portfolio. Bricks, tenants, rent roll, long-term wealth, all that lovely stuff.
But then reality starts chewing your ankles.
Boilers go.
Roofs leak.
Tenants leave.
Refurbs drag.
Interest rates slap you around.
Lenders get twitchy.
And suddenly that “passive income” starts looking suspiciously like a second job with worse WhatsApp messages.
So what if the smarter move, especially in today’s market, is not always to keep the property?
What if the win is in the deal itself?
This July, we’re joined by Paul Ribbons, property trader, auction specialist and author of Hustle Your Way to Property Success, to talk about a very different way of looking at property.
Not just buy and hold.
Not “wait twenty years and hope inflation does the heavy lifting.”
Not spending six months choosing taps for an Instagram refurb that ends up making you £4.83 and a nervous twitch.
Paul’s world is sharper than that.
Find the deal.
Understand the numbers.
Negotiate properly.
Fund it correctly.
Flip it cleanly.
Move on.
He has spent nearly 40 years in property, worked across estate agency, mortgages, auctions and trading, and completed more than 800 deals.
His approach is not about owning everything forever.
It’s about knowing what to buy, what to pay, when to walk away, and how to build profit into the deal before you’ve even picked up a paintbrush.
And in the market we’re in now, that might be exactly the sort of strategy more investors need in their toolbox.
Because making £10,000 from a clean property trade in a few months can be the same annual income as a small buy-to-let portfolio.
Except without the boilers.
Without the maintenance cycle.
Without the tenant drama.
Without tying up your capital for years while the project quietly eats your will to live.
What We’ll Be Discussing
This session is for anyone who has ever asked:
“Do I actually need to keep this property?”
“Is the hassle worth the return?”
“Could I make the same money from a trade without owning the headache for the next ten years?”
“Am I investing, or have I just bought myself an expensive admin problem with a front door?”
Because deal trading is a different skill.
It’s not about loving the property.
It’s not about putting your personality into the kitchen tiles.
It’s not about proving how brave you are with a massive refurb and a spreadsheet that looked a lot better before the builder found damp, asbestos and a structural surprise from 1974.
It’s about buying correctly.
That’s the game.
Paul’s approach is built around finding opportunities, understanding people, negotiating hard, buying properly, funding the deal, and getting out with the profit before the thing turns into a long-term maintenance pet.
We’ll be digging into:
• How Paul finds deals on the open market
• Buying from auction and selling back through auction
• Why the profit is made at the point of purchase
• How to spot a property that has been priced wrong
• Why understanding people is often more important than understanding plasterboard
• How sellers, agents, buyers and auction rooms really behave
• Why a quick £2,000 refurb can beat a vanity project
• What makes a deal worth doing and what makes it a trap
• How to think about risk, funding, timescales and exit
• Why walking away is often the most profitable decision
• How small, clean wins can compound over time
• Why trading can be a powerful strategy in a sticky market
This isn’t about pretending flipping is easy.
It isn’t.
But it is about understanding that not every property deal needs to become a lifelong commitment.
Sometimes the best deal is the one you buy, improve, sell and never hear from again.
Lovely stuff.
Speaker: Paul Ribbons – Property Trader, Author, Auction Specialist & Deal-Maker
Paul Ribbons has been involved in property for nearly four decades.
Across that time, he has worked in estate agency, mortgages, auctions and property trading, negotiating thousands of deals through good markets, bad markets and the sort of markets that make everyone go a bit quiet at networking events.
He is the author of Hustle Your Way to Property Success, a book built around his experience in hundreds of deals, his understanding of people, and the systems he has developed around negotiation, deal-finding and buying properly.
That matters.
Because property isn’t just bricks and spreadsheets.
It’s people.
It’s the seller who needs certainty.
The agent who wants the deal done.
The buyer who hesitates.
The auction room that moves faster than your comfort zone.
The investor who gets emotionally attached to something they should have walked away from three weeks ago.
Paul is best known today for his practical “Find It. Fund It. Flip It.” approach: buying property from the open market, funding it properly, and selling through auction with the profit built in from the start.
He doesn’t rely on rental income.
He doesn’t wait years for capital growth.
And he doesn’t believe you need to out-refurb everyone else to make money.
His focus is on the buying decision.
Because if you buy right, the rest becomes execution.
If you buy wrong, you’ve just bought yourself a problem with a front door.
Why You Should Attend
Because the property market has changed.
The old model of “buy anything, rent it out, remortgage, repeat” isn’t quite the free buffet it used to be.
Money is more expensive.
Refurbs are more expensive.
Regulation is heavier.
Tenants are more protected.
Lenders are fussier.
And holding property for the sake of holding property can quickly turn from wealth creation into emotional support masonry.
That doesn’t mean property is dead.
Far from it.
It means you need more than one strategy.
You need to understand when to hold, when to sell, when to trade, when to refinance and when to leave the thing alone before it swallows your capital like a broken vending machine.
This is where deal trading becomes interesting.
A simple flip that makes £10,000, £20,000, £50,000 or more in a few months can completely change how you look at your time, capital and risk.
It might not look as sexy as a massive development.
It might not get as many likes on Instagram.
But who cares?
A clean deal with a clean exit beats a glamorous project that overruns, eats the budget, damages relationships and leaves your money trapped for years.
For newer investors, this could open your eyes to a different way of getting started.
For experienced landlords, it might be the strategy that gives you breathing room again.
And for developers, it’s a reminder that sometimes the clever money isn’t in the big shiny project.
It’s in the boring little deal nobody else could be bothered to understand.
The Infamous TPT Sausage Raffle
Of course, the sausage raffle returns.
Because while property strategies change, the need to win processed meat in a hotel function room remains timeless.
Expect the usual unnecessary drama.
About The Property Thing
We’re two property addicts, Paul Million and Anthony Boyce, who got fed up with hearing the same recycled networking chat.
So we built something different.
No gurus.
No Lamborghinis.
No pretending every deal is a belter.
Just real people, real property and real conversations.
Paul Million
30+ years as a landlord & developer
Creative dealmaker & perfectionist in his projects
Host of the LOAF Podcast, interviewing inspiring figures about resilience and success
Anthony Boyce
Developer & investor with 20+ years in Architecture + Property
Founder of 81 North Design – Architecture + development experts
Specialist in commercial conversions and creating value in people’s deals
Head to www.81northdesign.com to learn more about how we can help you do more with your developments.
How to Attend
Join us in person at Blackwell Grange Hotel for the full experience.
The talk is one part of it.
The conversations in the room are the other bit, and usually where the real gold is hiding.
Can’t make it in person?
Catch-up access is available after the event. Email [email protected] or [email protected] for details.
BRING A TPT VIRGIN
It’s back.
If you’d like to bring somebody who has never attended The Property Thing before, just let us know when purchasing your ticket.
We’ll need:
• Full name
• Contact number
• Email address
to register them for the event.
It’s more than networking.
It’s The Property Thing.
See you there,
Paul & Anthony
Blackwell Grange Hotel, Darlington
Also available online (catch-up access)
Thursday 9th July 2026
18:00 – 22:00 GMT
Early Bird Tickets: £10
Standard Tickets: £17.50 + booking fee
On The Door: £20
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 11.55 to GBP 19.67
