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Melissa is a television presenter and has been on numerous shows including Escape to the Country , Countryfile and Get A New Life on the BBC and Britain’s Dream Homes on Channel 4. She is also a trained counsellor and life coach and has recently published a book, Mastering the Single Parent Game. She talks to Lynda Clark about buying her first home, her fascinating life and has some good advice for first time buyers Photos: Jonathan Farber At home with: Melissa Porter
it. After six months I decided to put it on the market and made £90,000 from the sale. I gave the money my dad had given me back to him, and his response was, “Where’s the interest?” Unbelievable! FTB: What work where you doing at that time? MP: I was working as a marketeer for Kodak. They had set me a project, which ended up not taking off, but they wanted to rebrand disposable cameras from the existing model to be used for weddings. I was so disheartened when they dropped the idea and I decided to leave and set up my own company doing exactly what they had planned – selling disposable cameras for weddings. It was a huge success and meant that I could buy more properties in Streatham and renovate them and sell
which cost £137,000 and was all I could afford. I had watched my parents buy and sell properties all my life so I wasn’t afraid of being on a building site! I had to renovate it and I made some terrible mistakes along the way. It was a massive learning curve, especially when I knocked a wall down and the ceiling fell in because I hadn’t realised it needed an RSJ! I had a good job and a good salary and I paid for the renovations as and when I could afford
FTB: Tell us about your first step on the property ladder? MP: When I was 21 my father gave me £10,000 and told me to buy some new dresses. He was such a male chauvinist and very sexist too, so I decided to show him that I was made of stronger stuff than dresses and decided to invest the money in a house. I managed to get a mortgage and bought a three bedroom, mid-terrace house in Streatham Vale, south London,
“IT IS FAR BETTER TO LOOK AT UP-AND- COMING AREAS, WHERE THE PRICES ARE MORE AFFORDABLE, AND THEN ASPIRE TO MOVE ON AND UPWARDS”
14 First Time Buyer April/May 2024
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