WIN!
Join our Facebook Group
to enter our monthly draw

Portrait In the saddle - Elizabeth Kretschmer

Elizabeth Kretschmer runs a discreet, boutique agency. Wildly successful, but very understated. Not for her the glitz of glamorous trappings. Instead, business happens on the ground floor of her elegant home in Oranjezicht and the only modern piece of furniture in her office is her chair. 'Furniture has got to be old; have a story to tell,' she says firmly.

Kapstadt's office is just around the corner from Leeuwenhof, the residence of the premier of the Western Cape. It's quite hard to find. 'I had a sign outside once,' she says, 'but someone stole it. I don't really mind; our success is partly due to our discretion.' A statuesque blonde, who says she's more comfortable on horseback than in the office, her company is nevertheless responsible for almost half the property sales in the City Bowl.

Elizabeth and her engineer husband Wolfgang, from Germany, started the company in 1987. Until then, they'd bought and renovated properties for fun. And prior to that, they spent nine months sailing around the world – taking in the Azores, England, France and the Caribbean - before returning to South Africa, settling in Johannesburg, where they opened a bicycle import business, and starting a family.

Elizabeth, who hails from a farming family in Paarl (her father, Wynand Malan, was also an MP) was desperate to get back to the Cape. She takes up the story: 'I was six months pregnant when I wrote to an agent in Cape Town and told him I had a bond approved for R100 000. He said he had a house in Gardens, for R95 000, that didn't even have skirting boards and was falling apart, but it had 14 rooms. So we bought it. We were about half way through the renovations when an agent for Seeff, Geraldine Thatcher (who now works for me), said she had an offer of a further R100 000 on top of what we'd paid. I'd never sold a property in my life. So we sold. And soon, friends of Wolfgang's in Germany started asking us to look for houses. So I did a CRS course and that was it. I've been selling houses ever since. But this is the 11^th house we've lived in since moving back to Cape Town, as renovating is something we both love.'

For 10 years, she worked on her own, Wolfgang taking on the role of silent partner. 'I'm a bit of a loner; not really a team player.' But with the scope of the business growing, she had to take on more agents and by 2002, had opened a second office in Blouberg. 'My lawyer advised me against it. But I just had a feeling. I said to Francois (van Aswegen) who persuaded me to open that office, and who runs it, that if we couldn't get a beachfront office, I wasn't interested. Later that afternoon, we got one. I work 99% on intuition; in fact someone once said to me: “whatever you do, don't think!” So I went with my instinct on Blouberg, and two years later, I was proved right. It's doing so well.'

She currently has six agents in Blouberg, and two in the City Bowl. 'Good agents are born,' Elizabeth claims. 'It's about passion, attitude, living for the job. Even when I'm riding, I have my phone on because who knows what properties might come your way. Like today, I saw four places that I didn't know about yesterday. That's what's so exciting.'

She demands that her agents have the same passion for houses, if not horses. 'I do have a horse on this property, my Great Dane, Oscar,' she laughs (a trainer stables her other seven, real Saddlers). 'Seriously, agents must have empathy. People's homes are their assets, and they're emotionally tied to them, so you've got to respect that. I'm an absolute pain sometimes. My father would never accept mediocrity and I'm the same. I would rather train agents myself than hire anyone with bad habits.'

Like? 'Like only being in it for the money; like over-valuing properties and giving the seller false hope; like not respecting the buyer or the seller. Some just want to make money, and it's not about money.'

She says, in the current market, that sellers expect prices that are 'way too high'. 'We've got to price realistically; if it's correct, the house will sell in six weeks. If it's too high, it gets over-exposed and doesn't sell. People think Kapstadt only sells high priced property. We don't. We sell properties we believe in. That's the trick.'

Elizabeth and Wolfgang have just returned from the World Saddlehorse Championships in Kentucky, US. 'For me, the world champs is like a Muslim going to Mecca,' she laughs. And then dashes up the stairs to show me two things she couldn't resist: a false tail for showing saddlers, and a beautiful black patent leather harness for one of her champs. 'I'm going to sell a house to pay for this!' I have a feeling that won't be a problem for Elizabeth Kretschmer.