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At home with: Theo Michaels
Theo is a chef, presenter and award- winning author and has a fascinating and very successful career. He appeared on Masterchef in 2014, which completely changed his life. He talks to Lynda Clark about how it all began, his passion for cooking and has some great advice for first time buyers FTB : Tell us about your first step on the property ladder? TM: Myself, my then girlfriend and now my wife, Anna, and best friend, Steve, had been renting in London for years. Initially there were five of us but that dwindled down to three and we really wanted to buy somewhere but couldn’t find anything we could afford. We then had the idea to club together and we bought a flat in Crouch End. Eventually, Steve decided to buy his own place and we bought him out and still own the flat to this day. I think we were ahead of the game though, as we thought that it was a great idea to buy with friends or family and together with my brothers we launched CoBuyWithMe. It was a bit like a dating website where we matched people together by looking at what they wanted, where they wanted to buy and what deposit they had. We launched it in Australia, New Zealand and Canada as they had a legal system similar to the UK, where they issue a declaration of trust. We were in our early 20s and didn’t consider how we would make any money from it! It was very successful and eventually we sold it, but it was great fun. FTB: Where do you currently live? TM: We have three children who are aged 14, 12 and seven and we have a family home in Hertfordshire. It’s definitely not our forever home but when you have children you are restrained by geographical anchors like schooling. I do look at Rightmove and consider selling up and moving to our dream home but the children are very settled here. FTB: Tell us about your career? TM: My father was a very successful businessman and I think I have followed in his footsteps. When I was about 11, I had a little car washing business and would charge £5 to clean a car, but I got my friends to do the washing and gave them £3 and made a profit of £2 and didn’t do
“I THINK WE WERE AHEAD OF THE GAME THOUGH, AS WE THOUGHT THAT IT WAS A GREAT IDEA TO BUY WITH FRIENDS OR FAMILY AND TOGETHER WITH MY BROTHERS WE LAUNCHED COBUYWITHME”
12 First Time Buyer February/March 2024
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