9th September 2006
Yorkshire Evening Post – The fall and rise of a celeb developer
Grant Bovey has turned property entrepreneur and he's investing in Yorkshire.
Sharon Dale reports
Famously known for being Mrs Anthea Turner, Grant Bovey's public image plummeted to its lowest point six years ago.
He was seen as the love rat who dumped his wife, the man who took the shine off TV golden girl Anthea and finally, the fall guy for Flakegate, when it was alleged that he and Anthea had accepted payment to be shown eating a chocolate bar during their wedding.
"Looking back it was a difficult time personal time and I'm probably big enough now to admit that I made a few mistakes," he says.
There was only one way to go from rock bottom and Bovey is a determined climber, who recently emerged as one of the country's top residential property investors.
His company Imagine Homes was launched three years ago, when Bovey was a buy- to-let virgin.
The only properties he had invested in until then were his own, though he had done rather well, rising from a two-bed terrace in his home town of Nottingham, for which he paid £17,000 when he was 21 to the £6million manor house in Surrey, he now shares with Anthea.
"I did well investing in my own homes, but I always thought buy-to-let was too risky, even though I have always been a risk taker." He says.
"I had thought about property but thought it was too much hassle. I couldn't be bothered looking for tenants and mending leaky taps.
So I turned the whole, thing on its head and worked out what would make me want to invest personally.
"I wanted no hassle, good returns and I didn't want to be called out to fix the washing machine.
"That's when I came up with the Imagine model."
The scheme he has devised effectively cushions his customers for the first two years after they get the key in the door.
Like similar companies, he bulk buys apartment's off-plan from the developers at a discount, and then he sells them on to individual investors.
When the flats are finished they can be rented through Imagine for two years, during which time the owners are guaranteed a rental income of at least 15 per cent of the flat's purchase price.
"We're basically taking a risk on the rental market, which at the moment is very buoyant. About 97 per cent of the flats that we manage for customers are let." says Bovey.
For a fee of about £8,000, a two-bedroom can also be fully furnished and decorated through Imagine Furnishings.
Anthea helps design some of the furniture, known as the At home range, and the décor.
"She has a good eye for design," is all he wants to say about his wife, who seems to have swapped her position as main breadwinner with her husband.
This year alone Imagine has snapped up £500m worth of luxury apartments in Britain, most of which are being sold on to investors, with Bovey keeping a selection for his own portfolio.
The company's latest acquisition, and it's first in Yorkshire, is 33 flats at Newmanson's Victoria Mills in Shipley.
"We linked the Shipley because of its location, its proximity to Leeds and Bradford and because of the quality of the product, which is excellent.
"We don't buy rubbish.
"I really enjoy what we do mainly because it's about customer service.
"I've just sold £22m worth of apartments to a person in Dubai, but I love dealing with Mrs Smith who wants to put her savings in property and is a little bit nervous about it.
"I know if the big house builders got hold of Mrs Smith they'd frighten her to death, get her to sign on the dotted line and then she'd be on her own, whereas we can really look after someone like that."
Selling is where he started his working life, as a market trader retailing women's fashions in Nottingham, where his father was a union official and his mother was a seamstress.
At the age of 22 he decided to seek his fortune in London and landed a job at Braveworld, a film acquisition company, where he became sales director. He left to form Watershed Pictures, a TV production company, though his career as a businessman also includes two companies that collapsed.
Those experiences, he says, have helped inform him and make him more cautious.
He and his team look for quality developments in a good location and aim to buy ahead of completion for between £120,000 and £500,000 per flat.
He has invested in Bristol, Middlesex, Manchester, Edinburgh and London and having been well pleased with Shipley, he is now looking in Leeds.
"We buy in places with growth potential and even though Leeds has an over-supply issue if you buy in the right place at the right price you're okay".
He is also looking at Warrington, Newquay and Lincoln.
The rather flat housing market doesn't bother him, as he says it means he can negotiate bargain buys and the rental market is good.
There is also no shortage of investors.
Forty per cent of his clients are based abroad, which is why, as well as an HQ in Hampshire, Imagine has an office in Ireland and one in Dubai and is planning to open branches in Hong Kong and Singapore. It employs 100 people and is putting the finishing touches to a 13,000 Sq-ft showroom just off the A4 near Heathrow.
"There's a lot of interest because England is seen as the pinnacle of the property market," says Bovey.
"House prices may have had there ups and downs, but if you take a long term 10-year view, the capital growth is good.
"Massive growth is going to be difficult to achieve right now because the market is flat, but even at the bottom end you can achieve a 4 per cent growth".
Bovey wants Imagine to be the brand leader in the property investment sector and his big ideas even extend to buying land and building his own apartments.
"We are the biggest buyers of residential property in the UK and are growing at such a rate that I can see a situation in three or four years we may not have sufficient product. I'm contemplating buying land to make sure we have the stock to supply the machine," he says.
He is obviously delighted with the venture and it has had a number of spin offs.
"It's got to a point where the perception of me is as a businessman, rather than husband of Anthea," he says.
Prices at Waters Edge start at £130,000. For further details contact 0800 0194 094. Imagine Homes has a range of properties available at developments including London, Edinburgh and Liverpool. Further information is available on the company's website at www.imaginehomes.co.uk.