Top tips for selling your house

Selling your property can be quite an emotional process: approaching sales advisors, agreeing on a selling price and finding a new home, all add to the stress. But by taking some basic measures you can remain relaxed and start preparing for your new home.

  This is according to Craig Hutchison, CEO Engel & Völkers Southern Africa, who says that probably the most important aspect would be to approach a trustworthy local sales advisor from a reputable real estate company, preferably one with a long and successful track record in your suburb.
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Hutchinson says sellers should ideally consider a sole or exclusive mandate, which maens that one agency is awarded the exclusive rights to the marketing and selling of your property.

Invest in property and build a portfolio

The residential property market is currently in an upward cycle and we are seeing a strong resurgence of investors entering the market.Looking at medium to longer term investment options, there are essentially three key factors to bear in mind: risk, return and growth.
Property has always been perceived as a relatively stable and safe investment class and indeed when one considers the market cycles, it is interesting to note that many nodes in South Africa have achieved the same sales value this year as was the case in peak of the market in 2007.
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Interest rate stays unchanged

Consumers are able to enjoy the current interest rate for a while longer, as Reserve Bank Governor, Gill Marcus, announced today at the third Monetary Policy Committee meeting of the year that the prime interest rate would remain at its current 9 percent says Adrian Goslett, chief executive officer of RE/MAX of Southern Africa. Read more on this post

5 Reasons to buy property now

 

Several current indicators are providing sensible reasons to buy property on the Cape Peninsula right now, says Mike Greeff, chief executive officer of Greeff Properties, an exclusive Affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate.
Greeff points to five reasons why buying now makes sense: Read more on this post....

 

Now is the time to buy property

According to Tony Clarke, managing director of the Rawson Property Group, the best time to buy property was 20 years ago and now.

Thirdly, he says demand in many house price categories now exceeds supply, ensuring that year-on-year house price growth remains not far below 10 percent and this will also ensure that rentals continue to rise at around 7.5 percent per annum (above the inflation rate).

Clarke points to several reasons such as the fact that the US economy is steadily recovering slowly and this bodes well for South Africa because, like that of almost all other countries in the world, South Africa’s economy is heavily influenced by the US’s economic performance.

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RE/MAX, Dream with Your Eyes Open

2014 Gauteng Homemakers Expo

The 2014 Gauteng Homemakers Expo is presenting bold, bright and individual ideas and products covering all the latest trends on the home front.

Visitors can also expect the Repurpose recycling feature, which will be showcasing an incredible new take on repurposing and up-cycled items.

From 27 February to 2 March 2014, the Coca Cola Dome in Northriding will be a showground of local talent, inspiration from across the globe and practical know-how demonstrations from the experts.

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Interest rates hike and your money

In an unexpected move last week, the Reserve Bank of South Africa (SARB) hiked interest ratesby 50 basis points to 5.5 percent per annum from 5.0 percent as of 30 January, as a result, commercial banks raised their prime lending and variable mortgage rates to 9 percent per annum from the same date.

Lezanne Human, chief executive officer of FNB Savings and Investments, says this increase brings with it an increase in the cost of servicing debt, which means that manySouth Africans will have less disposable income than before.

According to Peter Attard Montalto, Nomura research analyst, they see this hike as the beginning of a 200 to 250 basis points hiking cycle that should be completed by the middle of 2015, in fact, he says we can expect another two hikes this year and most likely in the second half.

The key motivating factor behind the decision to raise the repo rate was the deterioration in the SARB’s assessment of the inflation outlook, explains Investec’s Annabel Bishop.

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Stronger house price growth in 2014

While the average house price growth was nominally lower during 2013 than it was in 2012, the housing market is still moving in the right direction and prices are on an upward trend, says Adrian Goslett, CEO of RE/MAX of Southern Africa.

“The fact is that property remains a solid asset class that continues to provide buyers with a good return over the long term – provided the correct purchasing principals are applied to the transaction. Although property prices are currently only seeing single figure growth, the compound effect of the upward growth trend of property prices will positively impact on the homeowners net worth in the future,” says Goslett. “Potential property buyers who are waiting in the wings and holding out for the next boom are losing valuable growth as property prices increase yearly.”

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Interest rates and the property market

While inflationary concerns and global economic impacts remain in the spotlight, the Monetary Policy Committee’s stance to increase the repo rate stable was unexpected, particularly given the sluggish economic growth currently experienced in South Africa, says Dr Andrew Golding, chief executive of the Pam Golding Property group.

Golding notes that the South African Reserve Bank has hiked its interest rate by 50 basis points as of 30 January, Governor Gill Marcus announced on Wednesday.

Golding notes that the South African Reserve Bank has hiked its interest rate by 50 basis points as of 30 January, Governor Gill Marcus announced on  Wednesday.

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