Mike Smith is a seasoned Landlord and Entrepreneur with a decade long track record in property investment, management, and development. His business career began in 2009 when he promoted a DJ night Society Events (2009-2011) in Cleethorpes & Lincoln, of course it was terrible business but it was good fun and showed Mike the reality of how to do business.
Following this Mike set up a Branded DJ Agency, a company who provided events to H&M, River Island, New Look and many major retailers. The first ever DJ Company to provide Branded DJ Booths & Female DJs nationwide, the client list was an A-Z of the UK’s major retailers and a great business until the retail crisis of 2017-18 changed the market.
DJing meant Mike didn’t spend much at weekends and it allowed Mike to scrape together cash get a deposit for his first house, in 2013. The only plan was his friends to rent rooms and pay his mortgage whilst he DJed at NG1 Club, a club he is very proud to be 2nd longest standing top floor resident from 2010-2019. Through the success of his DJ exploits and a big year of Branded DJs (now at it’s peak) in he saved up enough money to buy another HMO (2014).
Buying two houses in short succession meant Mike ran out of deposits, but he was determined to get more as he saw the potential of HMOs. In 2015 saw a gap in the market. Due to his club promoting background, he was efficient at filling rooms and founded an HMO Estate Agency Notts Relocate Ltd, and leveraged those skills in the HMO property management sector. Notts Relocate was an instant hit, profitable from the start and he scored some great clients who 11 years on still give Mike houses. After all finding someone who just “gets on with it” is rare in life.
Notts Relocate is a huge success and is now in its 11th year and is a stable and reliable business. The success and profitability of the business in 2016-2020 and reinvesting all the surplus meant expanded his personal property portfolio significantly. In 2019 he established MS Block Holdings Ltd a property development firm. In 2020, he achieved a high-profile property flip of an HMO, which garnered media attention, including coverage in the Daily Mail. A really proud moment for a businessman whose parents in 2013 warned “it will never work” but he ignored them anyway!
During the pandemic MS Block Holdings completed a major redevelopment, an apartment block of six two-bedroom flats. It caused many sleepless nights due to the pandemic challenges, but Mike pushed though and it ended the most profitable and rewarding project to date! During the post-pandemic property boom (2020-22) he realised HMOS were selling at unsustainable prices, so he cashed two of them for significant capital gains. He reinvested the profits into acquiring two Light Industrial units. Future acquisitions will be in the Industrial Sector as it true ‘Passive Income’ with the tenants on FRI leases.
Mike is a recognised figure within the Nottingham property community, having delivered keynote presentations at prominent industry events such as the EMPO Property Luncheon—where he spoke on macroeconomic trends and HMOs—and the Unity Property Investors Network, where he provided insights on systematising HMO business operations. As of 2026 his personal portfolio is valued at £1.6M and Notts Relocate manage over £11m of assets.
After moving to Manchester in 2021, Mike felt it was about time he bought a property for himself, previously every penny got reinvested into the company. After all, personal mortgages are really consumer debt but at nearly 40 he wanted stability. He found and developed his dream penthouse flat at Lexington in 2022. Living in Manchester and with a business in Nottingham, meant he learnt how to manage his business remotely.
So it thus was the next logical step to combine his passions for property and travel and see if he could become a Digital Nomad and travel full time. Mike knew it was technically possible as he had long been using Virtual Assistants in the Philippines to do his admin. Mike took like to it duck to water and he has been travelling managing his businesses from 24 Countries (Sept 2024-April 2026).
Being a Digital Nomad has given Mike the benefit of Currency Arbitrage, earning in GBP and living in VMD (Vietnam) is actually mathematically 3rd best business he ever ran!
It’s been a long journey over the years. Many hard lessons, many failures, a lot of late night tapping on my laptop. At the start literally nobody believed in me. Thanks to the great people who took a chance on a shy guy and to the great staff members who “just get on with it” I made it. I don’t need to name names you know who you are…