input: from typing import List
  
  
  def load_and_save_properties(fixture: str, fixture_folder: str) -> int:
      """ Loads a JSON fixture file, extracts properties from it, creates 
      Property objects from the properties, and saves them to the database. 
      The saved objects count will be returned.
      >>> load_and_save_properties('properties.json', 'models/fixtures')
      3
      """
output:     
      import json
      import os
      from models.property import Property
  
      fixture_path = os.path.join(fixture_folder, fixture)
      with open(fixture_path, 'r') as file:
          data = json.load(file)
      
      properties = data.get('properties', [])
      saved_count = 0
      
      for prop in properties:
          property_obj = Property(**prop)
          property_obj.save()
          saved_count += 1
      
      return saved_count
  