Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa August 2015 | Page 54

MY STORY

Powerful Woman In Property
Property investment with additional benefits
BY MONIQUE TERRAZAS

J

enny Ellinas is the Founder and Managing
Director of Cypriot Realty, and is recognised
and respected as ‘Southern Africa’s authoritative
investment specialist for Cyprus’, as well as for property
investment opportunities in The Med.
Cypriot Realty, a proudly South African company,
has an impressive seven-year track record of promoting
permanent residency, citizenship and property
investment in Europe, assisting many South Africans in
finding their perfect home, facilitating the permanent
residency and citizenship application process, as well as
physical relocation to Cyprus.
More South Africans are looking at offshore
property investments, not only to diversify their risk
and hedge their currency risk, but also to take advantage
of the additional benefits offered by residency and
citizenship-by-investment programmes in Cyprus.
Where it all started
Married with two adult sons, Jenny lives in Cape
Town. With 18 years of sales management experience,
she has worked for a number of blue chip companies,
innovating and implementing solid sales strategies.
Before starting Cypriot Realty, Jenny was the
Western Cape Regional Sales Manager of FNB Home
Loans; and the Regional Manager of SA Home Loans
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AUGUST 2015 SA Real Estate Investor

Western Cape. She also managed MWEB South
Africa’s online advertising for multiple national sales
teams and succesfully established MWEB Namibia’s
online advertising division. She has expertise in media
sales, public relations and personnel recruitment.
Jenny is passionate about sales and marketing. She
believes her experience in the financial industry has
given her an advantage in the offshore services industry.
From tenants to investors
Jenny says that she and her husband were tenants for
many years while living in Johannesburg: “It made
financial sense at the time, as we had a young family
and growing businesses. When we moved to Cape
Town, we rented for a year to get a feel for the areas we
wanted to consider in terms of accessibility to schools.”
“While renting, we had saved up a decent deposit.
When we found the right property, we secured a
mortgage and purchased our first house in the suburbs.
We has also saved up enough to do a complete
refurbishment. We sold the property within a year,
which means we benefited from paying minimal
interest on the loan and also made a substantial profit,
so we had an even bigger deposit for our next home,”
comments Jenny.
“It was at this time that we realised the immense
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