This is Part 2 of a 2-part Book Review
By Casey Louw (IGrow writer)
Investment Strategies, Insights and what’s next
We hope we didn’t leave you on too much of a cliff-hanger after Part 1 of this exclusive Book Review Discussion Interview of Bricks for Chicks: Property Investment for Women Who Kick Ass! by Tanya Haffern. This post contains the final Book Review Questions from my interview with her.
If you are only joining us now, Part 1 of this Book Review gave us Tanya’s back story, the inspiration that brought her book to life, and why she chose to address her audience from a female investor’s angle.
Here, you will find Part 2 of the Book Review Guide of “Bricks for Chicks: Property Investment for Women Who Kick Ass!” We will continue speaking to Tanya about proven property investment strategies and insights. She also lets us know about her exciting plans, as an investor, author and educator, so you won’t want to miss out!
Who published “Bricks for Chicks: Property Investment for Women Who Kick Ass!?”
“Bricks for Chicks: Property Investment for Women Who Kick Ass!” was published by Penguin Random House South Africa, who also designed the eye-catching, fun cover.
In case you missed out on where to buy the book, it’s available at Takealot, at Exclusive Books, Wordsworth Books or directly from Tanya Haffern’s website.
“If you want to be a successful property investor, you need to be bold, determined and fearless. Most importantly, you need to TAKE ACTION.” – Tanya Haffern (“Bricks for Chicks: Property Investment for Women Who Kick Ass!” Page: 138)
Tanya recommends:
- Doing your research: look into all the aspects of the property you want to buy and do your homework on it.
- Running the numbers to ensure your property will be cash-flow positive: work out the figures involved with the bond repayment fees, utilities, rates and taxes, levies, gardening and pool services if there are any, security fees if necessary, property management fees, repairs and maintenance and any additional costs.
- Taking your emotion out of the equation: try not to get too attached to a property based on aesthetics (for example), make sure it’s within your budget! Be realistic.
- Getting a team of experts on your side: read books, go to events to network to meet fellow investors and learn from them.
- Being a brave investor: you learn through action and taking the first steps to property investment. (Haffern, T. “Bricks for Chicks: Property Investment for Women Who Kick Ass!” Pages: 139-141).
These are closely aligned to what Jacques Fouché of IGrow recommends in his eBook and courses, so it’s great to have this confirmation from another local investor!
This Book Review Guide wouldn’t answer your questions without looking at Tanya’s core tips and techniques from her bestseller.
Here comes the good part – read on to hear more from Tanya, the successful author and property investor, herself.
PART 2 OF THE INTERVIEW
(Book Review questions continued from where we left off in Part 1)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- About the Book (continued)
- Investment Strategy & Insights
- Final Takeaways & Personal Reflection
- What next?
1. About the Book (continued)
Casey: How do you personally navigate this rather male-driven property world of investing?
Tanya Haffern: For sure, it has its challenges, but what I do is try to own my space. I don’t try to sound like a man. I refuse to play by outdated rules. I’m clear on what I know, and I back up my knowledge with the facts. And I’m never afraid to ask questions, or to walk away when something doesn’t feel right.
You could find yourself in a meeting, for example, surrounded by a bunch of men, and you could allow yourself to feel intimidated and just not ask questions. But I’m not afraid to just go in there and ask a lot of questions.
Casey: I think that’s a great way to approach things.
2. Investment Strategy & Insights
2.1 Your book covers a variety of strategies, but you left buy-to-let investments for the final chapters. Why do you highlight buy-to-let as your preferred or most successful strategy over, say, “buy-fix-flip?”
Tanya Haffern: So buy-to-let allows you to build long-term wealth, that’s why.
Casey: How does your encouragement of the buy-to-let technique align with IGrow Wealth Investments’ philosophy, where we emphasise building long-term, passive income through retaining your properties for long periods (years) for appreciation in value and through structured property portfolios?
Tanya Haffern: I mean, flipping property is sexy, but it can be risky, and it’s definitely not passive!
However, buy-to-let properties, properly managed, could give you the monthly cash flow, hopefully long-term appreciation, and also the ability to scale through financing.
So, those are the reasons that I thought it would be better to go with buy-to-let investing to build generational wealth.
Casey: Yes, that’s so similar, it’s very interesting!
At IGrow, we also have a philosophy that you should try and buy a property through us, and then build a portfolio and retain your properties over the years. So your properties will appreciate in value. You get secure passive income over the years. That will secure your financial freedom. We also have great property investment tips to share in Jacques Fouché’s eBook (IGrow’s CEO & Founder) that help you create a scalable property portfolio.
Do you believe in property portfolio diversification?
Tanya Haffern: Yes, diversification in terms of properties, in terms of areas, in terms of everything. Listen, the world is completely mad! We’ve never lived in times like these, where everything is being thrown into chaos all the time.
No specific route is guaranteed to give you wealth anymore. So, I think that the more we can diversify and hedge our bets, I think the better off we’ll be.
Casey: Yes. I think that’s why we also say don’t stick to just one suburb. Maybe there’s also an emerging suburb that’s good to look at before it takes off.
2.2 What key advice do you have for all beginner investors in regards to your book?
Tanya Haffern: For me, it’s always important to start and begin investing from where you are. We’ve created this culture of waiting. So I say, just start where you are. You can learn the basics. You can build your team, and then you can take that first step, and with you guys at IGrow, people have a great team that they can just align with.
Casey: Yes, we do have a full-service team to accompany you throughout the entire property investment process. We take care of things from financing to purchase, to property management, all under one umbrella: IGrow Wealth Investments.
Tanya Haffern: So I think it’s not about being perfect. It’s just about being consistent and getting yourself educated.
It’s really, really important to feel empowered instead of overwhelmed, and I think education gives you that.
Casey: Jacques has got a huge IGrow Wealth Investments YouTube channel and all these online articles, such as “How to Build Your Property Investment Empire” and an eBook, and he is busy writing his own book too.
He also believes very strongly in giving free educational material to help his investors acquire as much knowledge as possible.
He’s also passionate about getting everyone to understand more before you just launch into the whole investment world. I think you both align on that sort of thing.
Tanya Haffern: Yes, absolutely. I mean, education is everything. The more we can push it out there, the better!
2.3 Do you believe the South African property market is still easy to break into for young/ first-time investors in current conditions?
Tanya Haffern: I think it’s tougher than it used to be. But I do think that with the right strategy and mentorship, it’s still possible.
There’s always going to be pockets of opportunity everywhere. I think it’s really about analysing the deals, knowing how to work your financing smartly.
Casey: Yes, that’s a very good point that some people maybe brush over.
Tanya Haffern: Particularly if you’re doing the buying, it’s never about timing the market. It’s more about time in the market. So, it’s about doing your research. It’s about figuring out where to invest and figuring out what you can do without.
I’m always very clear- don’t put yourself into a financially vulnerable position so that you can’t get out. I mean, just for the sake of going to chase a dream. There are ways of doing it right.
i’m never a fan of buying a buy-to-let with anybody else. I would always prefer to hold it myself because I think that that can easily end in tears. People always have different visions for the future and we might be aligned today, but in five years we could be chasing completely different goals.
So you could potentially start flipping with other people to build up some wealth, and then go start investing in a more broader market.
But I think the clear message is: don’t be afraid to start!
Get out there and start investing, and don’t be too attached to one particular strategy.
If you need to do a couple of flips with other people to build up some wealth… go ahead and do that. If you need to buy something for the short term with somebody to build up a credit score, do that.
I think there are many different ways to look at it, and I think the important part is getting curious about it and finding out how you can make it happen.
2.4 What common misconceptions do you perceive people have about property investing? How does Bricks for Chicks aim to bust these misconceptions/myths?
Tanya Haffern: I think that part of my book was to just share real, messy and honest stories about what happens when you’re building a portfolio. There are going to be mistakes. There are going to be errors. But, how are you going to deal with those?
So, I think one myth is that you need to be rich to start.
Another huge myth is that property is passive from day one. It really isn’t.
I think that there’s the idea of instant gratification or instant billionaire, which is all over TikTok, all over everywhere. And property is not passive.
And then only men are good at property. Of course, I’ve definitely wanted to bust that myth.
Casey: Yes, I think you definitely got that one right. Even I was like, I think I can do it now, too!
Tanya Haffern: I’m sure you could.
3. Final Takeaways & Personal Reflection
3.1 What key takeaways do you want readers of your book to walk away with?
Tanya Haffern: My main goal was to be relatable and leave readers feeling empowered, thinking, ‘If she can do it, so can I.’ That’s the outcome I was aiming for.
Casey: That’s exactly it, those are almost the words that I would have said… Because you can do it. I feel like I can also do it.
Tanya Haffern: I think it’s important to have a practical roadmap, not just theory, but real steps that you can follow to build your portfolio. That’s what I wanted to do in my book.
Casey: I also think the way that you structured the book – the way that it was written, chapter by chapter, made it more interwoven with the stories in it.
And it was just a nice flow and synchronicity to understand property investment basics, through to the final chapter, and be able to understand what was going on. It was great!
Tanya Haffern: Thank you so much.
3.2 How has writing “Bricks for Chicks” changed your journey as a property investor and educator? Would you call yourself an educator?
Tanya Haffern: Yeah,definitely. I used to mentor people. I haven’t done that since I moved down here. I’ve just been stepping back as part of taking it more slowly. But it definitely made me realise how many women are craving this conversation.
And writing the book gave me a louder voice and a bigger responsibility because now I can reach people, to teach them, to mentor them, to encourage them, on a broader scale.
And that’s really a privilege that I don’t take lightly.
4. What next?
4.1 Do you currently do speeches on investing?
Casey: Are you still involved with the “Rich Dad Education” lecturing?
Tanya Haffern: They don’t do trainings anymore in South Africa, so I’m not involved with them.
I do still work with SA property investors such as Andrew Walker. And yeah, I go along and speak at some events.
At the last women’s event I spoke at, there were some people from ABSA there too.
Since then, ABSA has bought copies of my book to share them with women they support through the home loan process.
4.2 What are your property investment plans for the future?
Tanya Haffern: So, I had been focusing all of my energies in the UK. I think the Western Cape is probably the place to invest in South Africa.
And, I mean, I’m living here now, but I do think that you’ve got to be careful in the Western Cape because the demand is pushing the prices completely out of whack.
Casey: I forgot to ask you a question. Did you do any sort of formal education or degree after you finished school?
Tanya Haffern: Yes, I went to WITS and I did a BA in industrial psychology, hilariously enough – to help me with my IT career and my property investing career! I just keep telling my girls that university isn’t always about your career in a direct way, it’s more about education and the fact that I’ve got a degree has opened doors for me.
It’s not necessarily in related industries at all, but just the fact that you’ve got a degree shows people you know how to focus.
Casey: That’s awesome, so cool! Thank you so much, Tanya.
I really enjoy chatting to you, and getting more background information about you as a property investor and how you fitted your fun and engaging investing experiences into your book. I think your readers can learn a lot, as I did, from your insights!
Tanya Haffern: Thanks so much. Been fun chatting to you too!
– END OF BOOK REVIEW INTERVIEW-
Final Thoughts
This Book Review (consisting of two parts) offers a unique window into Tanya Haffern’s world (View Part 1 if you’ve missed it). I’ve discovered her passionate and determined mindset, vision, and techniques by reading her book. I’ve also so enjoyed having such a wonderful discussion about her career with her.
Her positivity and passion for property investment and educating others come to life through both her written and spoken word. Tanya’s advice in “Bricks for Chicks: Property Investment for Women Who Kick Ass!” is very practical and her resultant success is a testament to the power of wise, proactive property investing.
If you had as much fun as me through this book review discussion, the IGrow team highly recommend diving into the full book: “Bricks for Chicks: Property Investment for Women Who Kick Ass! Get your copy now!
Follow Tanya Haffern on Facebook and Instagram, or get in touch with her directly via her website.
At IGrow, we already align with some of Tanya’s teachings in her book, through our core shared philosophies of using the buy-to-let property model to secure your financial freedom.
If you’re looking to begin your property investment journey, our IGrow property strategists are here to help you get started! We also encourage you to explore IGrow founder, Jacques Fouché’s, eBook for insider knowledge on how to make wise property investment moves and grow your property empire!
Are you SELLING great investment properties?
Are you an estate agent, property developer, property fund manager, or private investor with residential developments, sectional-title buildings, or large-scale buy-to-let portfolios you’re ready to sell?
Call us today on 021 979 2501
Email directly: acquisitions@igrow.coza
If you own and would like to MOVE fantastic income-producing residential real estate, then IGrow Wealth Investments is your perfect solution!
We specialise in swift, straightforward, and substantial acquisitions. IGrow has successfully purchased over R5 billion worth of residential developments to date, and we’re looking to add another R2 billion in 2025!
