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How Living on Less Grew Over Time Into So Much More
Betty Gardner, her husband and their partner own close to 1,000 apartments and townhouses in the region.
(Photo By Frank Murphy)
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But when her friends approached her, Betty said, "I had very little experience, but I thought: What did I have to lose?"
Betty and her friends each invested $500 in the business. Betty would drop off her 3-year-old off at the nursery and head to the office, where she would sell real estate for three hours before picking up the child before noon.
After her two business partners left the area, Betty Gardner took over the firm.
The Gardners' four children went to public school and Betty's real estate earnings went toward the purchase of investment properties, with Mitchell, one of her husband's friends, as a 50-50 partner.
"Everything we pulled in, we turned into real estate," she said. "It didn't take that much to save up because homes weren't that expensive."
The Gardners and Mitchell started gradually, buying and selling a few detached homes in McLean. In the early 1970s, they bought an eight-unit apartment complex for around $75,000. They paid as large of a down payment as they could afford and the seller loaned them the rest.
"We worked out payments where we assumed the [seller's] loan," Gardner said. "We always looked for assumptions so we didn't have to go to banks for the money."
Gardner said the current downturn presents opportunities for smart real estate buyers. "People have dropped their prices, making it more realistic for buyers," she said.
The Gardners have also ventured out of real estate. They were one of the early investors in Virginia Commerce Bank back in 1987 and now own around half a million shares. Mitchell is on the board of directors.
"We have worked hard and are thrifty people," said Gardner, who drives a 2002 Chrysler Concord. Her husband drives a 10-year-old Ford Navigator. "We never had anything given to us. We have done what we have said."
Betty still runs her Gardner Homes Realtors in McLean, and the partnership with Mitchell, MG, has expanded from simply owning apartments to managing apartment complexes for others.
"We have never bought to flip," she said. "We try to buy at market value, and real estate has historically gone up. So if you hold it, it's going to grow for you. That's what happened here in Washington, and we grew with it."
