Kaine Harris, 16, is a promising boxer who fought off cancer and is now staking his claim to be Britain’s youngest property entrepreneur and landlord
Kaine with his business guru Samuel Leeds. Picture courtesy of SL Education
At just 16 years old, and still living with his mum, Kaine Harris is far from your average teen. He’s a rising star in boxing who has triumphantly beaten cancer and is now quickly making his mark as one of Britain’s youngest up-and-coming property entrepreneurs and landlords.
With an impressive knack for identifying lucrative property deals for affluent investors, Kaine has already banked a staggering £14,500 in just three months – much to the amazement of his mum and gran. He’s currently tackling his most ambitious project to date – a hotel venture in Blackpool, joining forces with another business mogul.
After leaving Queens Park High School, in Chester earlier this year, Kaine found it difficult to concentrate at school. He said: “I’d wake up knowing I’ve just got school. It was so boring. I could never pay attention in class. Now I do something that I really enjoy.You won’t get one person saying that I’m a bit childish or a bit loud. But in school you’d think I was the worst guy in the world.”
While Kaine was still at school he was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. Recounting the ordeal, he said: “I had a big lump in my neck and everywhere I went, even on a bus or a train, people would say you’ve got a lump, you need to get it checked out,” reports Cheshire Live.
The young fighter tackled his illness with the same determination he shows in the boxing ring. After undergoing surgery at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and enduring months of chemotherapy, he said: “My school let me have weeks off for the treatment. But I was always in the gym. I’d never really let it affect me or stop me.
“Normally, when someone gets told they’ve got cancer and need chemotherapy they’d be like, ‘ok I’ve got three months to do nothing’. But that’s where the depression kicks in and that’s where you start overthinking and treat yourself as a victim.
“I don’t get scared about things, but all my family members were crying. I told them if anyone was going to cope with it, it’d be me. I’ve got a mindset where nothing really affects me.”
Kaine with his business guru Samuel Leeds. Picture courtesy of SL Education
Kaine’s interest in property investment came at the age of 15 after watching TikTok videos by Samuel Leeds, a successful property developer and trainer who also left school at 16. Leeds, now 33 and worth approximately £20m, replied to an Instagram message from Kaine, encouraging him to chase his dreams with even more passion.
The youngster later decided to skip school to attend a property seminar in Birmingham and, after finishing his GCSEs and leaving school, Kaine approached Mr Leeds about joining his academy with the aim of achieving financial independence. Despite initial hesitation due to Kaine’s age and lack of funds, the teenager convinced him that his nan had given her blessing and would cover the costs.
He said: “To be honest my nan was a bit sceptical about it all but she loves me and agreed to help me. I was too young to get a loan myself, so she took one out to help me.”
Just a week into his time at the academy, Kaine struck gold. He said: “I sold a property deal for £4,000 to an investor. I went to view the place and worked out it would be a 25% return on investment. If I had had the money at the time I would have put it into this but I also knew some investors by just being at the courses and speaking to people.
“So, I said, ‘well I haven’t got the cash, so do you want it? Just give me £4,000 for doing all the numbers and stuff. I’ll help you out with everything’. I got £4,000 that night.
“When the money came into my bank, I was like ‘this really works!’ I then called my mum into the room to tell her. She asked me for evidence about where I got it from. She was thinking I must have done something really stupid online. I said No, no, I’ve sold a deal. I’ve worked for it.”
His mum accompanies him to all his property viewings as he is not yet able to drive. The young entrepreneur also attends networking events in Chester, Manchester and occasionally in London.
He said: “If you meet people face to face, you automatically gain respect, especially if you can speak well. You learn how to introduce your character and then get their phone number.”
Kaine used to introduce himself as ‘a deal sourcer from Chester’ at business events. “I wasn’t going round speaking to people. I was just sat there waiting for them to speak to me. It wasn’t that I had no confidence. It was just that I didn’t really know what to do or say.”
However, he soon began networking ‘like mad’ and now has 60 investors on his contact list. He said: “I ended up selling five deals and after three months on the academy I had £14,500.”
The money more than covered his nan’s loan and he picked up vital business lessons along the way.
In addition to packaging and selling deals, Kaine controls two rental properties in Wolverhampton and London. He reached an agreement with the owners of all the properties to pay them a guaranteed monthly rent.
In return, he is allowed to rent it out for a higher amount, keeping any profit he makes. The rent-to-rent strategy has become increasingly popular amongst property investors as it can benefit both parties. Kaine improves the accommodation at his own expense, and takes over the day-to-day running of the property from the owner.
His rent-to-rent in Wolverhampton brings him £500 a month after expenses. The agreement is under his mother’s name as he’s still underage, but it was his idea and he sees himself as the landlord. He brokered the deal, revamped the place and handles all the promotional work to attract guests. His London property is a joint venture, with his share of the profits averaging £600 a month.
His Blackpool hotel project, also a joint venture, is his most thrilling endeavour so far. He said: “We’ve calculated that the hotel needs around £60,000 spending on improvements, but once that’s been done I’ve calculated that my share of the rental profits will be at least £4,000 to £5,000 a month.”
Kaine is eager to repay his 59-year-old grandmother Dariko for her support at the start of his journey. He said: “I want to retire my nan as soon as I can because of what she did for me. That’s my big goal.”
Kaine is now cancer-free and hopes to return to boxing in March 2025, exactly a year after his treatment began. When he’s in London, he trains with Mr Leeds in a gym in High Wycombe.