The WAGs (property) boutique

It's a whole new ball game for footballer's wife Keely Barrett... Helping relocate others just like her.

Keeley Barrett is the WAG who wants to be known for more than the flashy sex-and-shopping life-style which defines most footballers' wives and girlfriends.

Keeley Barrett is the WAG who wants to be known for more than the flashy sex-and-shopping life-style which defines most footballers' wives and girlfriends.

The 34 Year Old, married to former England player Earl Barrett, has now set herself up as a property finder and relocation expert for every new WAG who arrives in Cheshire.

The mother of three lives with Earl, 40, who is now a senior executive at Manchester City, and their children Georgia eight, India three, and Emme 19 months, in leafy Hale village - the heart of footballers' wives country in the North West.

While her luxurious four-bedroom detached house may have all the usual high-life games - massive flat-screen TV, state-of-the kitchen and gated entrance - Keeley still wanted some sort of career.

What started as a chat in the playground with fellow Hale resident and girlfriend Louise Dawson while picking up their children from school has blossomed into a serious business.

So far, Dawson Barrett's clients include Darren and Nadine Ferguson (son and daughter-in-law of Sir Alex) and Everton goalkeeper Richard Wright and his wife Kelly. They even found a house for the general manager of Manchester's Harvey Nichols and his wife when they moved up from London.

"I knew from talking to the other WAGs a lot of whom come from London, that you feel very isolated when you arrive in Cheshire," says Keely. "Your husband is out at work and you're stuck at home with the kids behind your beautiful wrought-iron gates - it's the gilded-cage syndrome." Keeley and Louise help clients settle in and find a house and everything else, from housekeepers, builders and gardeners to babysitters and the best schools - in fact, the complete social network. It's the property equivalent of WAGS Boutique - as seen in ITV2's hit show.

"The football world up here is a really small community," adds Keeley. "We make sure none of the new WAGs get ripped off - we recommend only people we or our friends have used. For obvious reasons it's very important to be recommending very discreet, trustworthy people."

Dawson Barrett offers a complete relocation package or payment by the hour, with prices for package starting from £500 but usually averaging £1,000 to £1,500.

"We'll even tell them the best places to get their nails or hair done or a spray tan," chips in Louise, 42, who used to own a bridal wear shop. "It might sound frivolous but these things are important to a woman."

They liaise with local Estate Agents who, envious of their Wag contact, have been wooing them as they are now seen as major players in the local property market. One of these is independent estate agent John N Hilditch of John N Hilditch & Co in Hale. He sold 3 properties each worth more than £3 million last year, and estimates property prices in Hale and surrounding villages rose between eight and ten per cent in 2006.

He is unfazed by the WAG's who regularly visit his offices. "I think they like Hale because it's handy for their Husbands' jobs but also they can blend into the background. They don't get bothered here as they might elsewhere."

Nadine Ferguson one of Dawson Barrett's newest clients, is house hunting in the Hale and Altrincham area after husband Darren, 35, who was with Manchester United and then Wrexham, became player-manager at Peterborough United.

The couple and their two children Charlie, eight and Grace, five are selling their detached five bedroom house in the upmarket but rather remote Cheshire village of Goostrey. They plan to buy a property in Peterborough and a second in Hale.

"I've got more friends in Hale," says Nadine, 28. "Although I employ Keeley and Louise, they feel more like friends. I love our current house but it's too far away from everything for me - it's surrounded by fields. I don't want to uproot the kids and go to live in Peterborough full-time. We'll spend most of the week in Hale and Friday to Sunday in Peterborough.

"Darren tells me I've got a budget of £700,000 to find a property in Hale - that means I'll probably spend £900,000," she laughs.

The value of her current property, which also has a separate one-bedroom gatehouse has soared more than £300,000 since the couple bought it five years ago - something Nadine put down to Manchester United player Christian Ronaldo buying a property nearby. The house is now on the market for £750,000 with Mellor Braggins. "Prices really have shot up sine that. It's a bit sad but people are footballer crazy round here, so they're selling like hot cakes now. I doubt ours will be on the market for long."

So far, she has looked at a luxury apartment with underground parking in the same building where ex-England striker Teddy Sheringham used to live in a village close to Hale, and a six bedroom detached house - "gorgeous but a bit over our budget" - in Hale itself. "We go to viewings with Nadine - she trusts us," says Keeley. "It's nice to have someone to accompany you. Usually the husbands are too busy and it's left to the wife. We can help with the decision making and because we know the area so well, we can point out such things as what the traffic's like in the morning and security and privacy considerations too.

"We generally recommend WAGs go for gated properties because of the paparazzi."

Kelly and Richard Wright have sold their converted barn in Nether Alderley to move to Hale after Kelly had twins. They are looking for a bigger property, with Keeley and Louise's help. For their four children. Keeley and Louise are now expending into overseas property. They are helping the Wrights to find an investment and holiday home in Europe, preferably in Spain or Portugal, through Your Place Abroad.

The Cheshire-based overseas property company caters to celebrity clients including cricketers Freddie Flintoff and Michael Vaughan, footballer Wayne Rooney, former soccer pundit Ron Atkinson and Olympic rower Sir, Steve Redgrave. Keeley and Louise also helped Nadines's parents find a property in Portugal. Where they now live full-time.

Now the pair are aiming to help WAG's invest in buy-to-let property and are in talks with the developers of a complex in Liverpool Docks, although they won't be drawn on the details until planning permission is approved.

Keeley is no stranger to investment properties. She and Earl own a two-bedroom flat in Birmingham and are having a three-bed apartment built in Turtle Bay, near Kyrenia in Northern Cyprus, due to be completed in July. "The development will have seven swimming pools, crazy golf and a bar and café," says Keeley. "I plan to visit three times a year with the children."

It may all sound like one more extravagance for these wives who already have everything, but as Louise says, "If the wife isn't happy, then the whole family isn't happy and the footballer will have to move. The wives always have the final say".