THE VIEW
W hen I spoke to Elliott I felt I had known him all my life – he is warm, entertaining and most of all passionate about everything he works on. He was born in east London, but the family moved around a lot and he has a brother and sister and came from a very happy family. “We were a very close- knit family and my aunts and uncles lived nearby and we all went on holiday together. My dad was in the car business and he has always been my inspiration. He owned and ran car showrooms and was one of the first to export high-end used cars to the Far East markets. He was brilliant at his job – he was handsome and a true gentleman. Growing up he used to let me go to work with him on a Saturday in one of the car showrooms and I absolutely loved it! We did move around a lot – we lived in Gants Hill, Wanstead and Hornchurch in Essex and when I was about 12 we moved to Andalucía in Spain. It was such a great experience and we were there for a couple of years. My dad also bought properties, did them up and sold them on – he was a very clever man. “I was a very sociable child and at school I loved sports and was also good at maths. I even won an award for my handwriting when I was in primary school. Nowadays my writing is so bad, in fact it’s worse than a doctor's! But I won a Roald Dahl book and was very proud. After my GCSEs I left school and always wanted to be a trader on the stock market. I was lucky enough to meet one of the bosses at Merrill Lynch who gave me some work experience. It was an amazing opportunity being on the trading floor. It is interesting because some of the most successful traders don’t always come from families who have money. In those days a lot of the trading work involved hand signals, it was called open outcry trading, so some of the best guys had often come from parents who owned market stalls or worked there or in similar environments, where you had to be heard to get business done. “After my work experience in Merrill Lynch, there were two full time jobs left at a French bank called Fimat and they asked me to go through a bundle of CVs to see who were the best two. Many had been to Oxford, so I assumed I had no chance. But, to my surprise I got a job – you see it’s a real dog- eat-dog situation on the floor and you had to be prepared to be ruthless in the market place but you aren't always taught that at university, so these people look further than just degrees, they need to know that someone has the ability to take a call and make the deal despite any consequences. I loved my time on the Liffe floor. “I had spent years watching my dad sell cars and I had picked up a lot of what
"I HAD SPENT YEARS WATCHING MY DAD SELL CARS AND I HAD PICKED UP A LOT OF WHAT WAS NEEDED ALONG THE WAY"
Elliott got into television by accident – his cousin, who is Mark Wright and was already in TV, introduced him to some of his friends and contacts. Elliott had split up with his first wife and was constantly travelling from Spain to see his children. He said, “I knew James Argent very well and he invited me round to his house when I was in the UK. There were lots of the cast from TOWIE there and I got on with them very well. "The next thing was the producers of the show asked me to join the show and it made sense at the time to come over to England to film it as I could also see more of my children.” However, in 2015 he found another restaurant venture and opened Olivia’s in La Cala and left TOWIE and returned to Spain. But, after a few months he was asked to make his own show, called Playa Marbell a. The first property he bought was a two bedroom, two bathroom home in Alicante, Spain, which was all he could afford. He then went on to buy another property, which was a disaster. There was a golf course and the house was front line but there were no nets and one day his baby son was in the swimming pool and a golf ball landed very near to him. This was a wake-up call for Elliott and eventually his neighbour got hit by a ball so he decided to sell the house. “It was a lesson learnt – be careful when buying a property on a golf course, there’s nowhere the balls can’t fly from!” He now lives in La Cala de Mijas with his wife Sadie and four-year old son Billy, who is just starting school there, his eldest son Elliott Junior and their eight-month-old son Johnny. “We have been through Brexit, the pandemic, my restaurant got burnt down and there is a cost-of-living crisis but we have come through the storm and I am very positive for the future.” Elliott has some great advice for first time buyers and said, “At the moment it is a buyer’s market so work out a budget of what you can afford, where you want to buy and go for it. The market will eventually turn round. Possibly interest rates will stay around the same level for a couple of years but be realistic and don’t bite off more than you can chew. Affordability is critical but if you are in the position to buy I would definitely do it, there are bargains to be had in a bear market.”
was needed along the way. Eventually it all changed and computers took over so I decided to go to college to learn about them. I then ended up trading in oil on the IPE.” Elliott’s father moved to Spain and he managed to get a month off work after passing his trading exams to visit him. He said, “When I got there I realised family was very important to me and I had to make a choice – I chose to stay in Spain.” During 2001-2007 life was very hectic for Elliott. He and his father opened restaurants and his dad cleverly set up property company accounts so they were busy in the winter as well as the summer. Business was booming as the euro was so weak against the pound. It worked very well as people who went to the restaurant often asked if they could recommend any estate agents and Elliott and his father could help them and also suggested builders or lawyers that they could trust. They never rushed them into buying one of their homes. He explains, “I used this same ethos when I launched Elliott Wright Real Estates. My business is based on trust, after all, purchasing a holiday home is most likely going to be the second most expensive thing a client would ever buy after buying the home they lived in. So we are into building long-term relationships not the short ones, and we work with only the best developers, source the best resales, and help negotiate the best deal for all parties. "My experienced agents will help you find your dream home, they will give you only honest advice and if we don’t have exactly what you are looking for, we will find it. We also help with all the necessities with our Elliott Wright Financial Consultants team, which is a free service when purchasing through us. From legal representation, mortgage brokerage to currency exchange and notary completion, we have everything and only the best people to recommend completing your purchase. “For investors or people that want to use their holiday home as an investment too, I also have Elliott Wright Holiday Rentals where we do holidays lets and with our privileged club members, we guarantee a certain amount of weeks a year that your home will return a substantial income. I want my clients' experience to be happy and stress-free. We also cover all pockets whether people are looking for a luxury villa or a much more affordable home.”
elliottwrightrealestate.com
First Time Buyer February/March 2024 21
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