I cleared £24k debt in 8 months all thanks to the Monopoly board game – I followed rules in real life & now I’m a winner
ABI Hookway was divorced with two small children, and drowning in debt.
At 30, she had a good job as a senior manager at a telecommunications company but was juggling childcare with working a 40-hour week.
She says: “I felt like the world had failed me.
“Going to university and getting a good job had failed me.
“Marriage had failed me.
“And with £24,000 of debt, I had a massive financial burden sitting on top of me.
READ MORE LIFE STORIES
“What’s more, I had two little children to look after, so I was terrified.”
Living in a rented two-bed terrace house, Abi, from Doncaster, suffered sleepless nights worrying how she was going to support her son Thomas, then five, and daughter Ellie, two.
She says: “I was filled with fear and anxiety and couldn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel.
“I was embarrassed by my situation.
Most read in Fabulous
“I’d worked so hard throughout my life and by this point, felt I should have been able to own a home for my family.
“I was fed up with constantly adding to my credit card.
“I really wanted a better life for my children.”
When Abi was 31, she came across an article by a multi-millionaire property investor called Paul Smith.
“When I saw Paul’s article talking about how to finance a property portfolio, a light switched on in my head,” recalls Abi.
“I’d been interested in property since I was a little girl.
“Monopoly was my favourite board game and, as an adult, I’d started to understand the difference between earning a salary and making money from houses, which pay you rent.
“I always thought you needed loads of money to get into property.
“But it turns out you can be a successful property investor without having the capital.
“I set out to meet Paul and he took me on as a letting agent and trained me.
“I’ve never looked back.”
Abi started her journey with a huge debt and no spare cash, which meant her first venture followed the ‘hotel model’.
“I would lease a property, which I would furnish and run as holiday lets,” she explains.
She did this by agreeing to rent properties from a landlord for five years.
Abi says: “I went to the Peak District and found two little properties to rent.
“I signed a lease agreement.
“There was no deposit and no upfront rent because I was doing it as a business on a commercial lease.
“I didn’t need to pay rent until four weeks later and by that time, I had bookings from Booking.com, Airbnb and Tripadvisor, which paid for the rent each month.
“The properties were already furnished.
“I just spent £200 on a few other bits I needed.
“And I got local cleaners to go in and change the bed linen and open them up to guests.
“In the first month, I made £3,300 net profit. It was that easy.”
For each property, Abi paid £695 rent and was able to charge £130 to £180 a night.
“I had to be legally compliant.
“The landlord and local council agreed I could run it as a holiday let.
“I was still working my full-time job, which paid for what I needed to live on.
“The extra £3,000 from property went towards paying off my debt.
“After eight months, the £24,000 was cleared.
“I was soon able to start using the income to buy assets.”
Abi’s next venture saw her buy property, do it up, remortgage and rent it.
She says: “I also did property ‘flips’, where I would buy, refurbish and sell properties, making £50,000 to £100,000.
“Monopoly teaches you that if you just go round the board and don’t buy any property and keep passing GO, you go bankrupt.
“But if you go round the board and buy property, you get wealthy and win the game.
“For me, this was now happening in real life.”
Abi, now 37, is financially free and has a portfolio with a gross development value — the projected value of a property development once it is completed — of £5.2million.
She has even written two books, Profit From Property You Do Not Own and Flip Or Flop: The Ultimate Guide To Property Flipping.
Abi’s success means she can now afford the luxuries that were once out of reach.
“I own a beautiful home, I’ve taken my kids on six holidays this year and I’m looking to put them in private school,” she says.
“It’s life-changing and I feel very grateful.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
“Property is my passion and I want to help as many people as possible to be financially free too.
“With knowledge, education and the right attitude, you can achieve what others think is impossible.”
