Jacob Waddington from Accrington bought his first two-bed house at 23 for £98,000

A man has bought his second property at just 24 years old, having put aside at least £1,000 a month from his earnings since turning 18.

Jacob Waddington, 24, has consistently saved at least half of his income since finishing college, enabling him to buy a £98,000 two-bedroom house at age 23.

Together with his girlfriend Holly, 23, Jacob from Accrington, Lancashire dedicated a year to renovating the property, before having it valued at £160,000 and subsequently letting it out.

The couple remortgaged the house and utilised the equity to snap up a second £140,000 cottage at auction, with intentions to convert this into an Airbnb.

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“The plan is to maybe buy one more house to do up and sell, and then maybe buy a doer-upper to live in,” said Jacob,

“All my friends and family say it’s amazing, and it does feel really rewarding. I’ve found a real passion for doing it and I just feel really motivated to keep going.”

After leaving college aged 18, Jacob began working for a telecoms firm, earning £24,000 annually.

This represented a significant increase from the £6 per hour position he’d held at JD Sports while still studying, making it relatively straightforward to save a substantial portion of his monthly income.

Since Jacob was still living at home and contributing just £200 monthly to his parents, he managed to deposit £1,000 a month into a savings account.

His salary then rose to £33,000, allowing him to set aside approximately £1,500 from his £2,200 monthly pay packet. To set aside such a substantial portion of his earnings, Jacob didn’t feel the need to adhere to a rigid budget.

“I’d only really spend money on going out at the weekend, but you don’t need to spend loads on that”, he said.

“Me and my girlfriend would go for the odd meal out, but we love going on walks and things like that”.

During May 2025, Jacob and Holly deliberated over how they should utilise their savings.

“We thought about buying a house together, but neither of us were desperate to move out, so we decided to buy a house to do up and then sell”, Jacob said.

Between them they placed a 25 per cent deposit on a £98,000 two-bedroom terraced property and invested £20,000 in refurbishments.

Jacob left his position to take up bar work two days weekly, bringing in £800 monthly, and dedicated the remainder of his time to the renovation venture.

They fitted a new kitchen, a new bathroom, re-plastered the walls, and installed a new boiler.

Come January 2026, nine months following their purchase of the property, the renovation was finished.

They then had the property revalued at £160,000 and extracted the growth in value to their bank accounts through remortgaging the house.

Following discussions with estate agents, they opted to let out the property, rather than selling it, as demand was strong for rental properties in their locality.

During March 2026, tenants took occupancy of the property, paying £875 in rent, more than double Jacob and Holly’s £430 monthly mortgage.

The couple then began their search for a second property, eventually discovering a 200-year-old one-bedroom cottage nestled at the foot of Pendle Hill, famous for the Pendle witch trials.

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“We’re thinking we might Airbnb this one out because it’s in a rural location”, Jacob said.

“It’s really picturesque and it’s in a historic area. It will be like a couple’s getaway.”

The pair used funds raised from remortgaging their first home towards the £140,000 cottage, securing a 75 per cent bridging loan over 12 months to cover the remainder.

A bridging loan is a short-term financial arrangement whereby, rather than making monthly repayments, interest accumulates over an agreed period.

Jacob and Holly intend to spend a year renovating the property, with an estimated budget of £30,000 for the refurbishment.

Following completion, they plan to remortgage the cottage, using the released funds to clear the bridging loan before transitioning to a standard mortgage.

“The house next door has just sold for £320,000 for a two bed, so I’m hoping to get this one remortgaged at around £250,000”, he said.

“If we can do that, we’d be able to pull out more money than we put in, because it will have increased in value by so much”.

Jacob has worked out that letting the Airbnb at £120 per night with 60 per cent occupancy would generate £2,000 monthly.

Once council tax, utility bills and the £650 mortgage are settled, approximately £1,000 would remain as profit.

“It could be more profitable than the standard rental”, he said.

Jacob intends to purchase another property to either sell or rent out following this project, before eventually buying a home to share with Holly.

He advised: “If someone wants to buy a house, whether to live in or to sell, don’t be afraid to by something that needs a little work doing to it.

“If you buy something a bit more run-down, you can get much bigger returns on it, as it will have increased in value.”

He documents his renovation journey on @buildingwithjacob.

Singer Aaron Rowe, one of the supporting acts who dropped out of Ed Sheeran’s U.S. tour after Macklemore was removed for his pro-Palestine remarks, says that backlash about the controversy is being misdirected.

In a video shared on social media Friday, Rowe told his followers that the real issue lies with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who said that Macklemore was not welcome at his stadium following his onstage call to “free Palestine” amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

“I’m gonna be honest, I think youse are all focusing on the wrong person here,” Rowe said in his video on Instagram. “All I keep hearing is Ed Sheeran this, Ed Sheeran that, when youse really should be focusing on the likes of Robert Kraft.”

He continued, “ You should really be focusing on the Zionist lobbies that are trying to silence the voices of people who are shouting about genocide.”

The Irish singer then went on to stick up for Sheeran, who said in an initial statement that he was “not complicit” in Macklemore being silenced and that he was not the one to make the decision to oust the rapper.

“I know Ed’s statement could have been a lot better, and I do think that Macklemore shouldn’t have been pulled off the tour,” Rowe said. “I fully believe it was panic stations over there and they rushed the decision because they didn’t know what to f***ing do because they were getting it from all angles.”

Rowe said that he has not been able to speak much with Sheeran, but that “I fully believe he knows that was a mistake.” He added that Sheeran would not have chosen pro-Palestine acts Macklemore, Beoga, BIIRD and others if he had been against their political stances.

“All he has inside of him is kindness,” he said. “That is who Ed Sheeran is. And yes, like every other human being he makes f***ing mistakes.”

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He said that protesters should be “using this opportunity to plaster Robert Kraft’s face everywhere. Someone who tried to shut down free speech, someone who tried to silence the voices of people who are shouting about genocide.”

Rowe was one of the four supporting acts who dropped out of Sheeran’s U.S. leg of his Loop tour after the decision to remove Macklemore following his comments in support of the Palestinian people. Other acts who backed out were fellow Irish artist Beoga, Danish band Lukas Graham and Finneas.

MobLand season 2 has finally arrived on Paramount+ and stars Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan spoke exclusively about what fans can expect.

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MobLand series two has finally landed on Paramount Plus, and following 18 months, audiences were keen to witness Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan reunite as the formidable Maeve and Conrad Harrigan. The chaotic and volatile gangland drama sees the leaders of the Harrigan dynasty pursue extraordinary measures to preserve their status at the pinnacle of the criminal underworld.

Prior to series two broadcasting, Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren spoke exclusively to Belfast Live regarding what viewers can anticipate, and what the experience was like returning together to film such an ambitious production. Brosnan revealed: “It’s so unhinged, actually, it’s hard to remember how unhinged [season 1] was.

“I was very happy with the work, I was very happy to be in the company of all these great actors and to be with this beautiful, beautiful lady in my life here,” he continued, referring to his co-star Mirren.

Continuing to praise the Calendar Girls and Thursday Murder Club performer, he stated: “It is just bewitching to watch her work and to play Conrad opposite her, Helen’s Maeve makes me real as Conrad, and the writing by Jez [Butterworth] is just so rich and nuanced. It’s a joy to play.”

The programme has already secured renewal for a third series ahead of the second instalment’s premiere, and Mirren suggested it was recognition of all the performances. She emphasised particularly the quantity of powerful, female characters, noting: “The great thing about MobLand is number one, for me personally, the female roles are fabulous.

“All of the female roles are very proactive; they are in the story, they are essential to the story, they are not just there to support the male characters. I love to see that, and there are a lot of them, which is brilliant. Then we have such extraordinary actors all the way through. It feels like a very deeply talented theatre company.”

She noted that the series, celebrated for its heightened language, being “absurdist and gothic and just really extreme”, made it “incredible fun to play [a role in]”. Brosnan concurred, remarking: “It’s exhilarating to watch the work, to read the pages, to read the scenes.”

When asked about the future direction of the characters, he offered: “We don’t know what’s going to happen. I have no idea where it’s going, maybe some sense in your intuition about it, but reality will be seen hopefully in the next month or so.”

Both stars revealed that the opening scene of series two at the greyhound racing track ranked amongst their most memorable to film, with Mirren disclosing: “The dog racing was a great scene and it was our first scene of the whole thing.

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“Guy [Ritchie] was directing it and we always love it when Guy is back on set. It was the first scene of the whole thing and we were all back together again, so yeah, that was great, it was a great day.”

In the upcoming series, the Harrigans find themselves battling to present a united facade as emerging competitors pose a threat to their crumbling criminal operation – with Harry Da Souza (Tom Hardy), their powerful ‘fixer’, forced to navigate a precarious path as family tensions escalate.

Paramount+ went on to hint: “As violence spills into every corner of their lives, loyalties snap, safety proves temporary, and the battle for power leaves no room for mercy.”

MobLand series 2 airs weekly on Paramount+.

‘Ugh’, I tried to adjust under my date Gareth* just before his climax, but he weighed heavily on my small body.

His sweaty torso was wrapped around mine, his head buried in my neck and arms locked around me.

I rolled my eyes as I rhythmically moved under him.

He didn’t notice me move, or maybe he completely ignored me, because he continued to thrust fast and succinctly. Like little full stops. 

These thrusts did absolutely nothing for me, but everything for him.

This was him near orgasm, and I simply had to wait for him to finish before he would release his grasp.

Eventually, suctioned in my neck, he let out a whimper like an abandoned puppy. I felt utterly disgusted.

But he was still clamped on me like a child asking for milk.

How silly of me to assume it was over.

I had met Gareth that night at a social media meet up for comedians in central London, on a cold winter night. I’m far from a comedian, but I gatecrashed with my comedy friends hoping to meet new people and laugh.

No one minded – it was a welcoming environment and people were just happy to have someone new to try out their material on.

My two friends disappeared into the crowd once I was accosted by an over-zealous comedian on the circuit, who wanted to find out if I was an agent, or a booker, or something important he could hustle a job out of.

After telling him I was simply a writer, his smile disappeared and he began to go through the motions of small talk, before Gareth butted in. 

Like the knight in shining armour, he asked if he’s met me before and that he remembered me – in fact, he owed me a drink from last time and guided me to the bar.

We walked up to the bar laughing, the new comedian but a distant memory as he began to introduce himself to me. We got chatting and before I knew it, we began flirting with each other. My friends appeared thinking they needed to save me, but I shooed them away.

Soon, we were out the door and on our way to his house for what we both agreed was a one-night stand. But I wish I never went.

I noticed his kisses were, what I then called, passionate. He pressed his face on mine as if he wanted to leave an impression of his lips permanently on mine. It was not a good kiss. For me anyway, he loved it and kept it going.

Something in me just wanted to please him – I think a lot of women have set themselves up to be disappointed, just to potentially reach a moment of pleasure. As it’s so rare and in between. Maybe these kisses wouldn’t be so bad in comparison to the sex, I thought.

I was wrong.

Back at his, he began taking his and my clothes off, while attacking my face with kisses, and before I knew it, we were having sex.

At first, he has soft and moved around my body, touching and kissing me. But it didn’t take long for him reach climax, and for him to clamp his body around mine like a vice.

After the sex was finally over – a minute later I managed to dislodge Gareth from my frame and move away.

‘That was not fun’, I said to him grimacing and wiping his sweat off me.

Turning to look at me, he said simply: ‘it’s the only way I can orgasm’ – his expression unmoving, as if we were talking about the weather.

‘Okay but it’s not how I have sex’, I fired back.

He shrugged: ‘I don’t care’.

He reminded me of the man who would only have sex with me while listening to Tenacious D. Or the one who could only orgasm if I screamed like in a porno.

They all had one thing in common – only their needs mattered. It was an eye-opening moment that unfortunately didn’t last long, since I found myself in the situation a few more times.

It was a year later that I would be in bed with a man who negged me the entire time, and wouldn’t let me leave until I was close to tears. Negging, for those who don’t know, is a form of emotional manipulation where someone uses backhanded compliments to undermine another’s confidence. It’s used to make them seek the manipulator’s approval.

I slowly started to understand my worth a lot more after that, but it took a period of healing.

But Gareth didn’t care, laying lazily in bed, covered in sweat and satisfied.

I told him he was like a man-child and needed to get a grip. Not literally.

Part of me was surprised he didn’t care, because he definitely didn’t give that impression earlier in the night.

I quickly grabbed my belongings and left, annoyed but determined not to let him ruin my next few days.

Texting my friends the update, they told me they didn’t actually know who he was, so they were surprised to see me talking to him. 

Luckily I never saw him again.

Which is good because even thinking of him gives me the ick.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing izzie.price@metro.co.uk. 

Share your views in the comments below.

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A zombie film hailed as a ‘masterpiece’ and ‘flawless’ is coming back to cinemas to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

Directed by Yeon Sang-ho, Train to Busan follows workaholic dad Seok-Woo (Gong Yoo) as he boards a train to Busan with his estranged daughter Su-An (Kim Su-an) on her birthday to see her mother.

While travelling, the duo and a group of other passengers become trapped on the train during a viral outbreak that transforms people into rabid zombies.

Train to Busan was an instant hit at the time of its release, spawning an animated prequel, Seoul Station, released in the same year, and a sequel, Penninsula, that followed in 2020.

Now, 20 years after its release, Train to Busan will be screened at select Cineworld cinemas on October 6 as part of Cineworld’s Horror Film Season.

What’s more, eager horror fans can scoop a ticket for just £5.99 when booked online, or £6.99 when brought from the cinema itself.

Train to Busan premiered in the Midnight Screenings section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and was released by Next Entertainment World in South Korea, quickly becoming the first Korean film of the year to break the audience record of over 10 million theatregoers.

It has been widely acknowledged as one of the greatest zombie films ever released, widely praised for its relatable characters, genuinely terrifying monster sequences, and its gut-punch ending.

The film holds a near-perfect 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critics consensus reading: ‘Train to Busan delivers a thrillingly unique — and purely entertaining — take on the zombie genre, with fully realized characters and plenty of social commentary to underscore the bursts of skillfully staged action.’

In their review, film critic and Shelby Oaks director Chris Stuckmann said: ‘It could not be done better. They pulled no punches with this movie.’

Daily Telegraph gushed: ‘Characters you can’t help but care about? Check. A spot of amped-up social commentary? Double check. Lashings of bloody, bite-y mayhem? Triple check.’

Little White Lies said Train to Busan is ‘Funny, scary and with its heart in the right place,’ while Entertainment Weekly thought it was ‘first-class throughout.’

RogerEbert.com wrote: ‘The most purely entertaining zombie film in some time, finding echoes of George Romero’s and Danny Boyle’s work, but delivering something unique for an era in which kindness to others seems more essential than ever.’

Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter praised: ‘Yeon Sang-ho has instantly transformed himself into Korea’s go-to-guy for zombie movies.’

It comes after Sang-ho released his latest zombie flick, Colony, earlier this year – and it’s not set in the Train to Busan universe.

The standalone film begins with Professor Han Gyu-seong (Go Su) bringing his cantankerous ex-wife Kwon Se-jeong (Jun Ji-hyun), herself a brilliant biochemist, with him to the Chains Bio tech conference in an attempt to help her land a prestigious job.

The convention descends into chaos when scientist Seo Young-cheol (Koo Kyo-hwan) injects the Chains Bio CEO with a mysterious serum that change him into a vicious zombie – and Young-cheol’s blood contains the only antidote for the disease.

As you might expect, the virus spreads like wildfire across the conference centre, forcing a group of survivors is trapped in the conference centre to work together to survive.

It’s a tall order to follow Train to Busan with another zombie film, but its a challenge Sang-ho told Filmhounds Magazine he relishes.

‘It is true that Train to Busan was a hugely successful film, and I feel that the pressure to achieve even greater success when making a movie has almost disappeared these days,’ he said.

‘I have become more interested in making more unique films. Of course, since a project like Colony involved a considerable budget, a certain level of box office success is very important, but rather than the pressure, the desire to create more unique films has grown.

‘I think that is what led me to start a project like The Ugly last year, which allows me to create a unique story on a much smaller budget.’

Train to Busan will be screened at Cineworld cinemas as part of its Horror Film Season on October 6. Tickets can be booked online.

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Earl Spencer has insisted he is ‘telling the truth’ about a phone call with Prince Charles in the days following the death of his sister Princess Diana.

In his new autobiography – exclusively serialised in the Daily Mail – the Earl claims  Charles told him ‘we’ll forget her [Diana] soon enough’ during an argument over William and Harry’s involvement in her funeral. 

Royal aides have acidly suggested that grief had clouded Earl Spencer’s ‘reason, judgment and memory’ in response to the book, while friends insisted Charles would never have spoken that way and was consumed by grief when she died.

But the Earl has insisted of his account, detailed in his tell-all account Swan Song: Diana, My Sister: ‘I can tell you here and now, those are exactly the words he said.’

Speaking to the BBC‘s Laura Kuenssberg from his Althorp estate in Northamptonshire, Earl Spencer said he had told friends and family of Charles’ alleged words at the time, labelling them ‘monstrous’.

‘I’ve only ever had two calls on the line with Prince Charles at any stage of my life,’ he said.

‘I was hyper alert to what he was saying and those are precisely the words that he said and I promise that to you now.’

Alluding to the Palace’s statement, he added: ‘Genuinely, that is what he said. I don’t hear him saying he didn’t say that.’

His explosive memoir – Swan Song: Diana, My Sister – is one of the most anticipated books of the year and is due to be released next week

The earl claims Charles ‘went ballistic’ and ‘ranted for a while’ after he tried to tell the future King that Diana would not have wanted William and Harry to walk in her procession.

‘And then he stopped and I thought, oh now, now he’s gonna pull himself together and say something more appropriate,’ he said.

‘And then, he said, “we’ll forget her soon enough”.’ 

Earl Spencer added that the remark ‘stunned’ him, and that he hung up.

The book’s first astonishing extract made headlines around the world and is splitting society, with rival camps backing either side.

In the first extract, published online yesterday and in today’s Daily Mail, the earl claims:

• The late Queen dramatically offered to restore Princess Diana’s royal title on the day of her funeral;
• Diana told her father she could not go through with the marriage to Prince Charles a month before the wedding – but he told her it was ‘impossible to pull out’;
• The day before the wedding Charles told Diana that while he was happy to marry her, he was not in love with her;
• Diana was so unhappy that she considered suicide and drove herself ‘more than once’ to Beachy Head cliffs in East Sussex;
• Charles sounded ‘giddily elated – like a lottery winner’ shortly after Diana’s death.

Announcing the book last month, Earl Spencer said that, ahead of the 30th anniversary of Diana’s death next year, he wanted to write down his own thoughts and memories ‘rather than having the discomfort of again reading the opinions of others’.

Prince Harry and Prince William, aged 12 and 15, ultimately did walk behind Diana’s coffin in her funeral procession in September 1997 alongside Charles, Prince Philip and Earl Spencer.

Prince Harry stands between Earl Spencer and Prince Charles outside Westminster Abbey during the funeral procession for Princess Diana on September 6, 1997

Harry would later tell Newsweek magazine of the decision: ‘My mother had just died and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television.

‘I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don’t think it would happen today.’

The Duke of Sussex, newly returned to the UK with his wife Meghan and their two children, is ‘aware’ of the book but has not read it, sources have told the Mail.

He ignored questions from reporters about it last night as he attended the inaugural Invictus Spirit Awards at the historic Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

Swan Song: Diana, My Sister is due to be published next week.

However, several copies of the book were stolen from a lorry parked in a lay-by in the Netherlands earlier this week. 

The tomes had been wrapped in black plastic to hide their contents, but publishing insiders believe they may have been deliberately targeted in an audacious bid to steal them before the official release.