Link: http://www.property24.co.za

But many people still dream of building a new home from scratch and they need to be sure that they are getting the best possible value for money.

“Clearly there are many factors to be taken into account when arriving at a realistic market price for any property, including location, design, building quality and craftsmanship,” says Realty 1 International Property Group CEO Hano Jacobs.

“However, all those factors being equal, a solid starting point for assessing the relative value of a new home is building costs, and in this respect some useful information about costs in Gauteng during the second quarter of this year has been compiled by quantity surveyors Hill Du Bois.”

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Link: http://www.property24.com

The concept of taking out credit has been given a hard time in recent years – following the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US and rising levels of indebtedness in South Africa.

However, according to Kay Geldenhuys, property finance processing manager at ooba, South Africa’s leading bond originator, if it is used in a constructive way, credit can prove to be a vital tool in building wealth creation for the future.

Here, Geldenhuys discusses the various ways consumers can use credit to their own advantage.

Property

Property is a prime example of using good credit for wealth creation as property owners use the banks' money to finance their purchase, paying off a small portion each month while the property appreciates in capital value.

“The obvious type of good credit is purchasing a property either as a main residence or as an investment property and financing the purchase through a home loan,” says Geldenhuys.

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Link: http://www.property24.com

With the residential property market still underpriced in relation to 2007/early 2008 values and with recovery in the property sector taking place only slowly, now is a good time to buy an older home and renovate.

So says Graham Leslie, MD of Greeff Properties, who adds that some of Greeff’s most successful property deals in the last two to three years have been those where the buyer has added significantly to the value of the home by upgrading it himself. “A much quoted principle here is that every R1 spent on a good renovation can, and often does, add R2 to R3 to the sale price.”

Those who buy expensive homes needing no repairs or improvements will often find that their capital appreciation rate is slower than that of a less expensive, but tastefully renovated, home, says Leslie.

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Link: http://www.property24.com

The inventiveness of the crooks in the property sector is a subject on which developers and estate agents can talk at length.

“No sooner has one loophole been eliminated than another will be found,” says Paul Henry, MD of Rawson Developers.

The latest scam to come to his attention concerns the renting of attractive coastal homes over the summer holiday season.

“Typically, an advertisement will appear on an Internet site offering a home at a rate that is well below the norm – for example, R650 per day for a home at Stilbaai with beds for ten people. This will be accompanied by pictures of a home, which almost certainly does not belong to the advertiser.

“The enquirer will then be told that the property can be his for the period he had requested. But to confirm the booking he must deposit R1k in a certain bank account.

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Link: http://www.property24.com

Although buying off-plan has the big benefit of no transfer costs, it also holds some pitfalls of which buyers need to be aware.

Paul Henry, the managing director of Rawson Developers, has warned that there is always a danger that the final product may not be as good as the computer graphics and plans have led the buyer to expect.

He said there is also a danger that the specifications list will be vague and non-specific, thereby allowing the developer considerable leeway in his selection of the fittings and fixtures.

Another possible danger, said Henry, is that the contract can be open-ended as regards the time. “With bank finance hard to come by and banks insisting on a high percentage of sales before they advance money, projects can be held up for long periods before the first work begins on site.”

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