Phemelo Ngcobo is a TV favourite whose real-life property speculation makes the wildest soap cliffhanger seem tame. Renting her portfolio of upmarket homes to foreign executives working here on contract, the petite actress now wants to skip from matric to MBA in her charge up the business ladder.

At 30, born in Soweto, she is navigating today’s pitfalls in the volatile property market by careful planning and financial discipline. “It’s not rocket science,” she says, while sipping tea in the Koi lounge of the Rosebank Hyatt, where the staff attend her with the reverence of lifelong soap fans.

'I’m not bringing anything new to the market; my edge is working exclusively at its very high end. My clientele expects top-quality service, no delays and no excuses. That’s the standard I deliver 24/7.'

Ngcobo starred on Generations for four years, straight out of the ad industry’s AAA school. She wasn’t looking to be a TV celebrity, she says, but it’s part of the deal, working on the country’s most-watched serial five nights a week. She made a fortune for the producers from her exposure on screen while representing the national Soft n Free hair campaign.

Standing just 1,57m tall however, they insisted she kept slimming down to fit her TV character’s low-cut jeans and midriff tops. 'I decided there must be a less frivolous way of making a living,' she shrugs. 'My first investment in the housing market was a revelation.'

That was in 2002. Ngcobo invested part of her media income in a one-bedroom flat in Sandton, which she rented out to cover the bond. 'The value of my first flat went up R200000 in six months,' she laughs.

'But the two-bedroom flats next door were selling for twice as much. At 24, I realised it was time to get serious about my business decisions. I swapped my 4x4 and Civic for a Corsa Lite and began learning about financing from banks and lawyers. I put every cent I could raise into property.'

It was a gamble but Ngcobo played the safest odds. She always geared her speculations for long-term returns and not a fast buck. She married her fiance, a pricing specialist for a cellphone company, without the usual soap-star hype, but the route she chose for her investments was the ultra-fast lane.

In just six years she now has a portfolio “in the teens” of multimillion-rand homes in prime locations, renting to the corporate market at up to R50000 a month on long-term contracts.

'As an investor I quickly learned to make decisions objectively,' she says. 'Beautiful houses that I wouldn't necessarily buy for myself are perfectly suited for clients from overseas.' Servicing the homes to match the lifestyle they enjoy in cities such as London or Paris or New York is the key to her success. 'I’m not personally hooked on material possessions,' she says, 'but I relish meeting my clients’ demands. New beds for each contract; the cotton sheets’ thread count; Persian carpets; state-of-the-art appliances, satellite TV, online access and security with sensor surveillance; my own teams installing the lines and managing the housekeeping and gardening.

'I don’t live like that; maybe one day I will and meanwhile it’s my business to provide it,' she says. In the present housing market, in fact, Ngcobo and husband Mthandeni prefer to rent their own homes. 'Owning a property and living in it is the worst decision you can make with interest rates where they are,' she reckons.

'We can live in a R5m property for a rent equal to paying off a R2m bond. We move all the time. Settling down is not a priority so we can take advantage of the best properties up for rent. Okay, we don’t have children yet, which does bother me occasionally, but on the upside I don’t hoard anything. My priority is strictly business.'

She is the youngest operator in a sector dominated by large property agencies. This makes Phemelo the most adaptable to the rigours of the present economic squeeze.

Her business plan changes constantly as interest rate hikes open fresh opportunities. 'Five years ago I invested in a lot of empty land in prime locations like golf estates,' she says. 'Today it doesn’t make sense. It isn’t generating income. It’s better to sell the prime land and invest in property that’s in demand for executive rental.'

She sees her own limited resources as an asset. 'People are in trouble with the rate hikes because they have a lot of bonds that they can’t service,' she says. 'I’m not overcommitted because I spend half my working life with lawyers and accountants planning my moves.'

'Every decision I take to buy a new house is secured by new clients looking to rent them. That’s my safety net. Sure, our interest rates are scary at 15% but I’ve structured my business to stay afloat even if they go up to 25%,' she says.

It might sound like Halle Berry’s latest can-do Hollywood epic but there are no fairytales in Phemelo’s storyline. The luxury she provides to maintain her links with multinational clients doesn’t come cheap.

'I invest up to six months of the rental income on furnishing and equipping the home for the tenant and his family,' she says. 'If I’d geared my business to people renting R500000 houses, I’d be panicking over whether they could afford the rent every month. Renting as I do in the R30000-R50000 a month category, the payments are on annually-negotiated contracts with the companies employing them. It enables me to have a long-term strategy.'

Her personal spending is structured to keep her credit rating strong. 'My business assets are money I generate and can account for,' Ngcobo says. 'I monitor every cent I spend so that I continue to qualify for the loans I take out to expand my portfolio. I draw money from different accounts for the hairdresser, the supermarket, the filling station, my accountant balances it all to maintain my credit. If I was a big company the rules of engagement would be different. As an individual I comply with the rules laid down by the finance houses I can’t even buy a packet of sweets without sizing up which bank statement it will show up on.'

As a one-woman enterprise Ngcobo is also mindful of the debt load balanced on her slender shoulders. Another major investment is on life insurance; if it all ended tomorrow every penny outstanding is covered.

'It’s another part of getting real,' she says. 'My family would inherit my properties fully paid off. They could continue my business or sell them, that’s not my concern.'

Resolutely anti-glam, even her sleek silver Jag X-type is only a paid-up business tool. Instead of budgeting R7000 a month for a new fancy car, she’d rather pay off the shortfall on one of her bonds. Every rental payment Ngcobo receives goes into paying off the property’s bond. Right now that discipline is staying in step with the rate hikes that are driving up her bond repayments.

It’s like juggling million rand eggs each month. 'One property alone this month will probably be running at a R10000 shortfall,' she sighs. 'A year ago the shortfall on that place was just R1000. Interesting times.'

As a teenager, Ngcobo was an exchange student who travelled to the US on a United Nations programme and wrote her matric in Thailand. Landing in TV straight from advertising school, she put university on hold a gap in her jam-packed resumé she’d now love to fill with an MBA.

'My husband says that I’ve learned so much already it would be two years wasted. Maybe so. I’ve gone through the management programmes of business schools in SA and overseas and I can only find two in the US with courses that fit what I do. At a cost equal to about R800000, it seems an indulgence.”

She broods for a few moments. 'But it worries me that I have nothing to fall back on, you know? It’s like I’ve come so far, so fast, by sheer chance. Perhaps what I really need for my next step is a mentor. Someone I can work alongside at the top level of this business for a while, who will give me confidence in my own instincts.'

Ngcobo still sleeps easy though, and plays the occasional TV role. She’s on SABC2’s racy hospital drama Hillside, playing a heart surgeon with a hidden life, in a cast packed with luminaries such as John Kani and Patrick Shai.

'The only thing I miss about TV is that family vibe in the studio. The between-scenes jokes and chit-chat are relaxing compared with the intensity of running a business single-handed,' she says.

Ngcobo allows herself trips abroad as part of her business planning her sole luxury. She’s just back from Singapore. 'The sales are on but the prices are no bargain. But there are certain opportunities in the property market. Financing is international if a project is viable, of course I’m interested.'

She waves away more tea and switches her Blackberry back on. 'I’m a player in a rapidly expanding market as previously undeveloped countries develop their infrastructure to compete in the world economy.

'It’s cheaper for companies to rent rather than buy homes for consultants and project executives on contract. I didn’t write this script, but I love making it happen. Until I eventually find time to have children, it’s the most exciting, exhausting life I can imagine.'

Source: Business Day