Build your Virtual Property Empire

The World’s Most Expensive Home (in London) which costs over R8billion was just bought by Lakshmi N. Mittal. More info.

I plan to make my millions through property for four reasons.

First: I’m sick of paying rent. Since I left school in 2003, I’ve been renting property and I still haven’t met a landlord/estate agent who fulfils his/her obligation on my lease. My worst experience was in 2004 when I was renting from Homelet, a Grahamstown estate agent. I arrived at my digs (off-campus accomodation) at 9pm to find a padlock on my bedroom door. Apparently, my parents had not paid rent. Rather than contacting them, the estate-agent simply decided I would be homeless for a night. I was a first student at Rhodes University, one of South Africa’s most prestigious universities, but I was homeless for that night. I knocked on my friend, Lebo’s, door and ask if I could sleep on her floor. Such experiences have led to my outright disdain for landlords and working on the Oppidan Committee, which represents off-campus students. Amongst other services, the committee offers students advice on leases. Now I’ve decided, if you can’t beat ‘em (estate agents and landlords) join ‘em.

Second: A lot of international investors are buying South Africa’s exclusive properties, particularly at beach fronts and in urban areas. It’s Invasion of the Foreigners. On one hand, it’s good for international investment in South Africa. On the other hand, it usually results in property prices soaring so citizens can’t afford to buy local property. In a sense, it’s recolonisation of African land using cash as a weapon instead of religion. How then do we implement South Africa’s land reform programmes, especially for land restitution and redistribution if local citizens can not afford the land? Basically, The Department of Land Affairs created these programmes to return land to historically disadvantaged people (i.e. non-whites). But with the property market being so competitive and SA’s current economic slump, I can hardly picture mortgages being allocated for high-risk buyers, i.e. buyers who the bank think may not be able to repay their mortgage. It’s easier to say yes when an American millionaire says: “I’ll take it – cash.”

Third: Rather than paying ridiculous amounts for transport costs, I can just browse online. Online property searches allow you to see the houses that you could buy/sell, without stepping away from your computer. In South Africa, you can check out, myproperty.co.za, property24.com, and privateproperty.co.za. You can search for houses/flats according to country, city, price-range, suburb or address, and make up your own mind without the estate agent’s persuasive speech.You can specify exactly what price range you’re looking for, without being embarassed that the estate agent will think you’re abnormally cheap. And if cheap is what you’re looking for then check out property which is on auction. These houses have usually been foreclosed by banks (often previous owners couldn’t keep up with mortgage payments) or the owners passed away. So the bank sells the house at low prices to regain revenue. So if you have a spare R500,000 lying around, you could consider putting the down payment on a little four-room in Humansdorp.

Finally: Author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad“, Robert Kiyosaki, did it, why can’t I? Seriously though, buying property in South Africa is cheap, by international standards – a two-bedroom house in Yorkshire (UK) costs almost R3mil. Comparatively speaking, our houses cost peanuts. But in South Africa’s townships we have seen the neighourhood iskhokho (high-flyer) parking his BMW’s next to his shack. Perhaps we need to reconsider our property practices and educate people to be financially savvy. Rather than buying that Hummer, why not invest in an item whose value appreciates over time – a home.