Naomi Cleaver may have made her reputation as a high-profile television presenter and expert interior designer. But nowadays has acquired a rather more rarefied honour. She acclaims as the woman who correctly read the property market.
The elegant host of numerous Channel 4 property programmes, such as Other People’s Houses, Honey I Ruined The House and Grand Designs Live, has a distinction envious of most economists, property professionals and homebuyers. Sensing that the housing market was becoming overheated, and assessing that her three- bedroomed house in fashionable Clerkenwell was worth its peak value, she sold her home for £1.6 million in May 2007 and decided to rent a prime property in Mayfair.
From there, Naomi, 41, and her retired ad executive husband Oliver, 50, decided that they would first see how the land lay before making their next move. Freeing up their cash also allowed them the flexibility to travel to and from their holiday home situated on the Caribbean island of Nevis, which they bought four years earlier.
At the time, many property professionals thought the pair were at best misguided and at worse mad. Now, their canny decision has Naomi elevated to the status of market guru. More importantly the couples foresight has enabled them to balance their work commitments and travel – and to make the most of opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic.
With an unrivalled reputation in the design world throughout the UK, Europe and the US, Naomi’s clients have included both private individuals and huge organisations including Nike and BAFTA. She maintains offices in London and Nevis and works all over the world.
Having given up the rented property in Mayfair and looking forward to taking design and presenting opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic, Naomi gives her views on the fortunes of the property market and provides smart choices that can be made. Naomi, how do you feel to be the woman who called the market so perfectly?
I know with hindsight that we ,made the right decision. Although at the time we were by no means certain and didn’t have some sort of magic insight. What was apparent, in fact, is that huge generalisations were being made about the property market and what we did was work out what was right for us. We wanted to simplify our arrangements and reassess our needs.
What factors contributed to you deciding to sell when you did?
By nature I am reasonably cautious at the time it made sense to us to sell a property that had reached such a good value. I have seen at first hand the result of pressures on people during previous recessions. In fact, my parents I found themselves in negative equity in the 1990s and took about five years to sort itself out, so I know how tough it can be. We were keen to move and not be tied down by a large mortgage or commitments in a difficult market. There is never such a thing as a flat price or value, it depends severly on the property and locations. I felt that our particular price bracket was levelling out and the market as a whole seemed so overheated. It was all fuelled by so much borrowing too. I’m not so much of an expert as it appears. Oliver and I both felt, that a correction was in order and as a result decided to act on it.
Have past experiences shaped your views?
As mentioned, I am cautious when it comes to spending and investments. I remember tumbling into debt when I was a student and hating every minute of it. I was really quite traumatised by it and that has stayed with me. Renting is a lot more flexible and I really felt quite liberated by it.
I didn’t want to have the responsibility and burden of a large debt, including a hefty mortgage. We weighed up the pros and cons and, for us, there were so many advantages. It also gave the chance for my creative self to come to the fore and take up opportunities – design and television projects both here and abroad - if otherwise I might not have been able to.
What was your experience of the rental market?
It was different having a landlord, but a positive one. With a degree of oversupply in the market, landlords are more amenable to offers and there are many good homes on offer to rent. It was an adjustment not owning our own home in London, but it worked for us. I do think though that everyone has to judge what works for them and their circumstances. As a designer, it is my job to help people to express their desires when it comes to their home, and one of the positive things about the current state of the market is that it has reminded people that buying a house is not just a financial proposition, but an emotional one.
You decided not to continue renting in London and to spend more time in the Caribbean. Apart from the year-round sunshine, blue seas and relaxed lifestyle what was your reasons for doing so?
Yes, it is lovely being based there. But, it is also becomes an increasingly small world as communication is rapidly improving and so much can be done remotely. I am now working with T-Mobile on their range of MDA phones and they have supplied me this fantastic technology which means I can talk and work on line and still be based in Nevis. This made a major change to my way of working. It’s true that in difficult times you become creative and earn a living by diversifying and while I still have many UK based clients, I also have equivalent building and design work now in the Caribbean. For me it was always a vacation home, but now I have opportunities that very few designers have and am able to make the most of them. And I have great access to New York and the rest of the US. It may be a difficult market, but as with all downturns it can also be a time of opportunity, if you take a positive view on it.
As called right once before, where do you see the UK property market heading?
I do think that 2009 is going to be a tough year and I don’t see it picking up until 2010. But, I do emphasize that it is all about individual circumstances and there is no better or worse time to buy if it works for you, particular with interest rates so low that there isn’t so much to be gained by keeping it as savings.
One of the things I have noticed is that, during the booming years of the property market, homes became very bland, thanks to vendors being told all the time to paint their walls magnolia so that it can appeal to buyers. Now people are being more confident about making bolder design choices, especially if they might be staying put for longer than they are expecting. It’s a reflection of how people are increasingly seeing that their property is a home first and an investment second, which I believe is a very positive thing. There will also be a lot more out there to buy and therefore a lot more choice, which is also good for potential buyers
And What about your future UK property plans?
There will always be a demand for prime properties in prime locations and we are definitely keeping an eye online at the various property portals and estate agents’ websites to see what is coming onto the market. With our current demands, we have found that, for now we don’t need a central London property and we have a lovely, small boutique hotel we use as a base when in town. It’s possible our next move will be to buy a country house. When the housing market was at its peak, the market for country homes became rather hysterical and people were paying huge prices for rural houses and estates, especially if they were in commuting distance from London. It’s all less frenzied now and there are some interesting properties around. For us it would be more about going back to basics and having a bit of space. With that in mind, the counties we would focus on are Somerset, Shropshire and perhaps Wiltshire, but it would be something we would need to spend more time on and research properly. I’m also quite interested in the idea of building our own house, looking for something with a bit of land – an old bungalow perhaps, or even a rundown home that could be overhauled and extended.
In a nutshell, how to you see 2009 shaping up?
I don’t see a sudden bounce, but I do think there will be those who will be making the most of the market by turning it into an opportunity. At the moment we are not looking to buy, but if the right place comes up, you never know. I’ve benefited from following my gut instinct and it has paid off, which I’m sure many others will do the same.