When she was writing her third book, Tahani Aburaneh, broker of record for Urban Living Realty in Kitchener, Ont. happened across a shocking statistic. She says 80 per cent of those who are poverty stricken are elderly women.
She saw it as a sign and has made it her mission to spread her real estate investment knowledge to change those numbers. She created Females in Real Estate (FIRE), a free Facebook online community, to help women gain confidence, realize their potential and make money investing in real estate. And now FIRE has gone a step farther and will hold its first annual women-only investment conference Nov. 24.
Why women only? “Men already think of real estate investment and growing money. They are programmed to do that. Women are not used to thinking of investing,” she says.
Her online community provides strategies and tactics, and answers questions related to real estate investing. The conference will feature a number of speakers, all geared to real estate investing.
Aburaneh can relate to poverty but knows how to escape and make a better life. She was born in a refugee camp in Jordan. Her blended family of seven brothers and two sisters all slept in one room. When she was 15-years-old, she came to Canada through an arranged marriage. Two children and 22 years later, she divorced. The single mother had to think of a way to fend for herself and her children.
A broker from a nearby real estate office found her working in her brother’s dollar store and encouraged her to venture into real estate. She says she became a real estate millionaire in steps, starting as an agent then becoming an investor, securing her own brokerage, forming a development company and most recently creating an educational company.
“Every woman deserves financial security and independence,” she says. “I started with nothing and worked my way up. If I can do it, any other woman can.”
The FIRE conference welcomes every woman, from stay-at-home moms to professionals to Realtors. “Every woman has the right to feel financially secure.” Real estate is an agent’s bread and butter, but many don’t think of investing in real estate themselves, she says.
The first annual FIRE conference will be held Nov. 24 in Toronto. To register, visit www.femalesinrealestate.com.
Connie Adair is a contributing writer for REM.
