12th June 2007
Aldershot Mail & Regions – 12th June 2007
High flyer Grant is in prime location.
To many people, Grant Bovey will forever be known as Mr Anthea Turner, the man who lost to Ricky Gervais in a boxing match.
Now the chief executive of an innovative property company called Imagine Homes he has his head quarters in Templer Avenue, Farnborough Business Park.
As a qualified helicopter pilot, Mr Bovey finds the location on the edge of Farnborough Airport is ideal for the commute from his home in Dunsfold, Surrey.
His company was founded in 2003 and has found considerable success working on and marketing a simple concept.
A lot of people now buy a house or flat with an intention of finding rent-paying tenants.
Taking the buy-to-let principle one step further, Imagine Homes offers a buy-already-let scheme - guaranteeing buyers two years of rental income at 15% of the purchase price.
“What we do is slightly different from what everyone else is doing,” said Mr Bovey.
“The question people have is ‘what if I buy a property and can’t rent it for the first three months?’
“We came up with the idea that we would take the risk. It leaves people with very little to worry about. We try to make it very simple and hassle-free."
"For people who are nervous we are trying to alleviate their concerns from every conceivable angle."
From humble beginnings, Imagine Homes now has 100 employees and £300million turnover.
It targets new developments and buys them from the builder, then sells them to investors. At the end of the two year guarantee period investors can inherit the tenant, rent the flat out, move in or sell.
Mr Bovey said there were no signs of the buy-to-let property market collapsing. "It is common knowledge that growth across the UK, particularly in central London, has been significant in the last 18 months," he said.
"My own view is that growth will slow but I don’t think it will stop."
Grant and Anthea have already forged connections with Farnborough. They recently gave £15,000 to the Samuel Cody School to help the school for pupils with special needs reach specialist status.
Mr Bovey said: "The location for what we do has worked extremely well. The slightly special reason is I am a helicopter pilot. It certainly makes it a lot easier for that. Farnborough has been a great location."
Now the company’s success has been recognised by the industry. Mr Bovey was nominated as one of the finalists in the National Business Awards Entrepreneur of the year in the South East category.
"It is personally gratifying that people are beginning to take notice of what we are doing and how we are doing it," he said.
The company expects a turnover of £350m this year and controls 400 properties in London. For more information, visit www.imaginehomes.co.uk or call 01252 533204.