Make choosing your first home easier.

By
Nats
Published: February 12, 2009Posted in: Buying property, Property improvement, Real Estate InvestingTags: , , , , ,

Nobody wants to buy their first home and realise later that it was the biggest mistake they ever made. When choosing your first home it is very easy to be swayed by emotion and end up over-extending yourself or having unrealistic expectations of the property.

A good way to keep on track is to formulate a checklist of things you feel are necessary in your home and stick to it! This will serve as a sounding board when you feel overwhelmed by the estate agents smooth talking and sales tactics.

Here is a basic checklist that you can amend to suit your needs:

1. Do you want a flat, townhouse or a house.
2. Do you want to live in the city center, suburbs or a more rural area?
3. What is the minimum amount of rooms you will need?
4. How many bedrooms do you need?
5. Will you still be happy with the property 10 years down the line once you have extended your family?
6. Is a garden important to you, if so must it be big?
7. Would you prefer a new build or something that has alot of history?
8. Are you happy to renovate or extend the property?
9. How close would you like to be to facilities such as schools, shops, public transport, parks, beaches and hospitals?
10. What is the maximum amount you can pay, if you are being realistic ?

Sit down with your partner, if you have one, and answer these questions carefully and honestly, you will probably regret not taking an objective approach to this process. Also visit any prospective property more than once at different times in the day. This will give you a good idea of your neighbours’ habits and whether it is an area you can live in.

Remember, buying a property is serious business and you need to make sure you will be satisfied with it.

Zimbabwe switching to the rand is a possibility.

By
Nats
Published: February 9, 2009Posted in: Buying property, General Interest, Real Estate InvestingTags: , , , ,

Our ever-troubled neighbour to the North, Zimbabwe, may switch from the Zimbabwean dollar to adopt the South African rand.

This is due to the fact that the country is experiencing super-inflation, the last time the national inflation figures were made public prices had increased by 231 million percent.

Those figures were released in July last year and financial analysts agree that at this stage those inflation figures are very conservative and realistically inflation probably stands at several billion percent at the moment.

Zimbabwe is also currently tackling a terrible cholera epidemic that is ravaging it’s people.With seemingly little being done by the Zimbabwean government to aid its people the disease is spreading, reportedly into all of South Africa’s provinces aswell.

What many South Africans will be wondering is what kind of effect this currency shift will have on South Africa’s economy.

Will it have no effect whatsoever? Will it devalue the rand? Will it help Zimbabwe? Is this the first step towards making Zimbabwe a part of South Africa? What does South Africa get out of it? Does the average South Africans’ opinion on the matter count?

All these questions and more will be occurring to South Africans and Zimbabweans if this  currency shift looks likely to happen.
Robert Mugabe is still in power even after being accused of heinous acts against his own people, this will make many South Africans very skeptical of entering into any kind of deal with the leader.

Hopefully the problems facing this once prosperous neighbour will come to an end soon. The Zimbabwean government first came into the spotlight about ten years ago when it apparently encouraged and condoned forcefully redistributing land owned by white farmers to black war veterans. This very likely caused a steady decline in investor confidence in the country as no one was sure if their assets would be safe.

What are your thoughts on the subject? Should Zimbabwe switch to the rand and what will the effects thereof be?

Election questions.

By
Nats
Published: February 5, 2009Posted in: Buying property, Real Estate Investing, Real estate marketTags: , , ,

With the whole country waiting tentatively to see what will happen with the upcoming national elections it is a sense of being unsure that seems to be prevalent.

Questions abound, will the ANC still win with the current legal situation the party president finds himself in?

Will Jacob Zuma be granted a permanent stay of prosecution?

Will he be spending alot of his possible Presidency facing criminal charges in court?

And of course how will this strange situation affect South Africa and it’s people?

Many foreign countries and investors will view this in a very negative way because if Jacob Zuma is elected and then later convicted it would cause a massive upheaval in the country. South Africa has a well known problem with fraud and corruption and having a President that has been convicted of such crimes may just spell the end of foreign investors.

Also if the charges were somehow dismissed they would never the less remain with Mr Zuma long into his presidency. He would be known as the president who was above the law, who managed to escape prison by being a presidential candidate.

South Africa is already starting to feel the effects of the global financial crisis and one wonders how a huge political scandal would push us closer towards total loss of investor confidence. The property market is not yet showing major improvement and now there is also the very real possibility of major job losses as companies try and save themselves financially.

I suppose again we can only wait and see what will happen over the next year and hope for the best. What are your views on the subject, maybe there is a positive slant to this that isn’t very obvious. Let us know what you think.

Investors and first time buyers consider their options carefully.

By
Nats
Published: January 29, 2009Posted in: Buying property, General Interest, Property growth trends, Real Estate Investing, Selling real estateTags: , , ,

Smaller, cheaper houses in the residential market were apparently the hardest hit by last years dismal performance by the property market. Smaller,cheaper houses were defined as two bedroom, freestanding homes that cost an average of R332 000. This segment of the market saw a 9.6% drop in the final quarter of 2008, although a large contributor to this was the fact that most of these homes are in low-income areas.

According to FNB’s homeloans department it was likely that investors were reluctant to buy because of the bad growth experienced last year, therefore affecting the buy-to-let market negatively, and by first time buyers not making purchases. Investors and first time buyers usually buy smaller houses as they are easier to rent out and more affordable.

There could be many different reasons for first time buyers not to purchase, tougher regulations because of the NCA  making it more difficult to obtain a bond and perhaps even personal choice to remain where they are until the current economic turbulence settles down, all this could have influenced their decisions.

Tips to invest in real estate.

By
doublef
Published: January 29, 2009Posted in: Real Estate InvestingTags: , , , , ,

Real estate can make you and your family very wealthy, if done correctly. There are many experts that will say the stock market is better, but there are just as many that prefer property. I think the thing about real estate is the fact that we ALL deal with real estate in our daily lives.

You go home to be with your family and have a place to sleep. You go to the building where you work and we ALL go to shopping centres and other businesses.

But the biggest mistake many make is to thing hat it is a free ride when you invest in property. So here are a few rules you can apply to make real estate investment a realistic possibility for you.

Long-term investment

That;’s right, property is a long term investment. you can not get rich, wealthy or financially free over night when you invest in real estate you need patience. you should always focus on building your wealth in real estate over a long periods of time, years in fact. If you do you WILL be financially free one day. The great thing about long-term investments are that short-term fluctuations do not really affect them and you will be able to sleep at night. Be careful of get rich quick schemes. They seldom actually never work.

Cash flow is king – Income vs capital growth

Many investors underestimate the importance of cash flow. Without it you will go bankrupt. For this reason it is a good idea to focus on generating income from your property portfolio, the capital growth is the cherry on top. As long as you can pay the bonds, with the rental income, your property can keep growing and when the bond is paid up you get to keep the income as well as the capital growth.

Slow and easy…

Take your time when looking for that special property. The days of finding bargains at the drop of a hat are over, even when the economy does poorly. You have to keep your eyes open and find those properties that can give you positive cash flow immediately, this is difficult I know, but if you keep looking, you will find them. The other option is to buy really low risk real estate, property that has a minimal shortfall. As long as you can afford to py the shortfall out of your pocket you’ll be fine.

Become the expert.

Choose your property type and learn everything you can. Because people tend to think real estate is too difficult or even risky you can become an expert by getting the right info. Research areas and get growth reports. Many sellers don’t know how to research property so you could potentially get bargains because you have the information.

Use your raise to invest.

If you still have a day job you probably get raises through the year. instead of upgrading your life style buy real estate. In a few years you won’t need to work any more and you will be glad you decided to invest in the future and not instant gratification. This is probably the most difficult thing to do but if you motivate yourself you can and will do it.

So. Go out and start looking for that property, always plan first though…

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