...(unlike Bradford & Bingley, the bank that gave the awards - it's gone bust).
That was the rather lengthy title of a surprisingly upbeat article in yesterday's Mail on Sunday, by Duncan Farmer. Thank you Duncan for your follow up piece on the ladies who were given awards a year ago by the B & B for their achievement as BTL landladies.
As Duncan says " one year on, B & B has collapsed and been broken up and there are no awards in 2009 - but amazingly, the women who triumphed last year are not only surviving, they are thriving." Amazing perhaps to Duncan, but not to me, they are professionals, they bloody-well know what they are doing! I am hoping it wasn't Duncan's intention to patronise them like that. We'll give him the benefit of the doubt, for now.
Duncan's article features Hasmita Reardon, 45 year old former nurse and mother of three, who owns more than 80 properties in her home town of Sittingbourne, Kent, mostly let to tenants no other landlord will touch. I've just sent her an email asking her to come and speak for us on 21st March at our Property Extravaganza day as I am sure she will be very inspiring, especially since she specialises rehousing women on the run from violent husbands - now there's a niche!
Also the article features winner Teresa Galley who owns 20 properties in her native Doncaster and Fiona Macaskill, the Bristol student landlady who now owns 40 houses in the Fishponds area worth an estimated £9m. Fional is frustrated by the credit crunch since its slowing down her rate of acquisition and says "there are fabulous bargains out there".
Nicola Cairncross always reminds me that women "get" property easily, it's a home after all and we've all had them, we know what makes a good one, and how important it is to have a nice one. It's an instinct not peculiar to women but let's say they often look at property investing in this light.
Helen Currie from Leigh in Lancashire also wants to buy more but regards the cost of mortgages as too high "the lenders want two or three per cent above the base rate and a huge arrangement fee". And Sandra Cook from South Wales has doubled her portfolio and also seen her mortgage repayments shrink.
Duncan concludes his article with: "Since winning the awards, the women have heard only once from Bradford & Bingley, which was taken over by the Abbey-Santander banking group, but whose mortgage book was handed over to taxpayers: it was to ask them to switch to another lender."
Oh, don't start me...
If you want to be a woman of property and follow the shining example set by Hasmita, Teresa, Fiona and Helen, you definitely want to be at our Property Day in March, book your tickets here.
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