Video tour – Hartenbos Heuwels house

Thinking of getting a place in Hartenbos? Consider this beauty.

The large family home is situated on the sea side hills of Hartenbos Heuwels, the popular holiday mecca in the Garden Route region of the Western Cape, South Africa. It is a short drive to Hartenbos beach with all its attractions and entertainment facilities. The Langeberg Mall and the N2 highway are just as close by.

The current owners had built the home only a few years ago, and they have looked after it lovingly. As a result the property is in pristine condition and the face-brick finish offers a low maintenance, solidly built family structure. You will be able to move into the home as it stands immediately with no major renovation or maintenance required.

The home is situated on a large stand and boasts a beautiful indigenous garden. There are a number of contemporary rock features and rest areas to be found throughout the large garden. With the water restrictions recently lifted in Mossel Bay, this will offer a delightful weekend activity to those with green fingers who love to potter in the garden. If you are less inclined to while your hours away in the garden, the garden can be maintained easily.

Check out the full listing with photos on our website.

Read all about it…

The TTPS Newsletter

One cannot open a newspaper anymore without some “expert” giving his two cents on the property market, it seems. Prices are going up, prices are going down, it’s the right time to buy, it’s the wrong time to buy, get in, get out, this area, that area…

It can be quite confusing. To help you make sense of it, our monthly electronic newsletter will provide you with the correct information when you need it. It is short, to the point and will help you to stay abreast of the latest developments in the property market. This is invaluable when you are looking to sell or let your property, or if you are looking to buy or rent property.

We respect your privacy and will never sell, share or disclose your email address. For more information about your privacy, check out our website.

So, if you want to impress people with your property knowledge or take charge of your property affairs, click here to subscribe!

What can you expect when selling your home

Property sellers, this is for you. Check out the Slideshare presentation below with information on the process of selling your home. It will tell you what to expect from the process and what your property professional will do to make it a breeze.

10 Tips for home sellers

Welcome back! While 2009 is slowly getting into full swing, we thought we’d kick of the year with a few handy tips. The video below simply discusses some tips regarding the quality of your home for sale. Remember, you are trying to make your home as attractive to potential purchasers as possible!

The seller’s guide to succesful selling

Ask yourself: “Am I serious about selling?”
Serious sellers will do their homework: seek out an estate agent of experience and reputation to market their home in the shortest time, at the best price.

The clean up benefit
This is the part we don’t enjoy but it’s D.I.Y. time; considerations of style and spit and polish.
You need to put yourself in the potential buyers’ shoes and try to appeal to their needs.
Clean the pool, tidy the garden, fill the cracks; stuff you’ve been putting off for weeks but golf just seemed more appealing at the time.
Painting your home may seem like an unnecessary expense at the time but it can transform the look and feel and definitely add to the value of your home. (Remember that shocking pink may not be everyone’s first choice. On the inside a lighter choice is often a brighter choice)
Think of these enhancements as a relatively minimal financial investment with a quick and high return.
You might even consider requesting a Home Inspection Certificate.

Find the “truly professional” agent!
You’ve probably already seen these agents’ advertising and promotional material in your neighbourhood. They have big databases of potential and existing clients. They are making extensive use of the internet to reach the widest possible audience.
They are not threatened by any other agent working in their area.
Our professional agents will tell you the truth about the market. We will not overprice or undervalue your home. Any real estate professional will tell you that all the exposure in the world will not sell an overpriced home.

Everyday is “show house day”
Make a list of your valuables; even pack them away where necessary.
Remember that not all buyers will visit your home on a showday Sunday.
Keep your home especially clean and tidy over the selling period.
Eliminate clutter. The buyers must be able to picture their furniture in “their” new home. You may want to contemplate storage.
Treat your dogs to a day at the beach or even the kennels.
When you’re done with the house get out the mower and spruce up the garden.
Give the buyer as many reasons as possible to fall in love with your home.
Use a CHECKLIST that you can get from your friendly Terblanche property consultant to prepare for show day.

A “reasonable” offer
Normally your best offer will present itself in the first three to four weeks of listing.
Know your limits; don’t risk a lost opportunity.
Have your agent help you in determining the best possible offer.

I’ve accepted: now what?
Have your agent explain all the legal jargon to you.
Make sure you understand these subtle terms: “cooling off period”,” voetstoots”, “occupational rent”, and others.
Read the fine print – “Who gets to keep the Kreepy Krawly?”

The 10 most common mistakes sellers make when selling their homes

At the moment, many sellers in South Africa (and the the rest of the world) find that their properties take a little longer to sell. Many people do not know that even in average markets only 40% of homes sell during the initial listing period. This means that a full 60% remain unsold. The reason for this is often found in the unrealistic prices that sellers want for their homes. Unfortunately an unrealistic asking price is just one of the common mistakes sellers make. Below are other mistakes sellers often make when selling their home:

1) Sellers often believe or choose the agent who prices their homes the highest. Remember, a true property professional will price your home at a price that will actually sell your home in the shortest amount of time at the highest possible price. The keywords here are “possible price”.

2) Sellers often select an agent based on the agent’s valuation rather than their track record or ability to properly market their home. Be aware of an agent who tells you just what you want to hear. The one thing you probably won’t hear from that agent is “Sold”.

3) Sellers often price their homes too high above the market value when their homes hit the market at first. This initial marketing period is the most critical time as this is the first impression your home will make on potential buyers. You want that impression to be the right one. Buyers walk circles around houses that stay on the market for too long.

4) Sellers often give a mandate to the first agent that knocks on their doors. We suggest you interview 2 or 3 agents to provide you with a marketing plan or proposal. Choose the best one or the best two.

5) Sellers often neglect to check out the other properties for sale in the same area. Remember, these properties are “competing” with your property for the same potential buyers. Make sure you give your property a fighting chance by pricing it right and dressing it up nicely.

7) Sellers often turn down the first offer because they get over-confident and want to wait for a better offer. A true property professional will tell you that the first offer is often the best offer.

8) Sellers often place a home on the market before it is in the best condition. See number 5 above. Your home may be competing with other homes in the same area that look much better. It is amazing what a fresh coat of paint and weeding the garden can do for your property’s selling potential.

9) Sellers are often unwilling to give proper viewing access to potential buyers. Of course it is unpleasant to have strangers walking through your house, but would you buy a house without having a proper look around? People want to see what they are buying.

10) Sellers often want to remove permanent fixtures from the property. For example: The buyer loved the jacuzzi on the deck. The seller wants to take the jacuzzi with her when she moves moves. We suggest the seller leaves the jacuzzi if removing it will put the sale in danger. The seller can always get another one with the proceeds of her property that was sold.

Talk to us if you want to avoid these and other mistakes that may prevent your house from being sold.

Do you know who I am?

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I remember an incident many years ago in Pretoria. I was out with my friends when a visibly drunk guy started looking for trouble with one of my friends just a few metres away from us. When the rest of turned to come to the aid of our friend, the drunk obviously saw that he was heavily outnumbered. To his credit I must say that he didn’t just back off immediately (he must have been really drunk). In fact, he was actually sizing us up… and then he decided that the numbers were just not in his favour. As he started stumbling away, he said to us all, “I’ll @#$#*! you all up! Do you know who I am?”

What’s the lesson here? Well, for one, do not drink and drive. This guy scratched his car against a little parking pillar when he tried to drive away a little later. The second equally important lesson is probably one that our friend hadn’t even planned to give us. He asked us whether we knew who he was.

“Do you know who I am?” That’s the kind of thing you should ask your real estate agent.

A house is in all likelihood the biggest investment many people will ever make in their lives. They bond it and pay that back over the course of twenty or thirty years. That’s a commitment almost as serious and it will take as much time as raising a child right through primary school, high school and university while paying all those fees as well. Some other people can afford to buy a second property at the sea for holiday purposes. Some others buy many properties to let so they can generate an income stream from those properties. Some others want to find that perfect little place to retire.

Point is, we all have different considerations and circumstances when we look at property. Does your estate agent take the time to find out what those things are? Does he/she know that you have a three-year old that needs to go to a crèche and primary school in 3 years time? Does he/she know that you have a 65-year old mother who stays with you who probably won’t be able to use stairs much longer? Some of these things can easily be overlooked and/or forgotten if your estate agent is focused on his commission so much that they ignore what’s best for you.

Does your estate agent know you? Do not be afraid to talk to your agent. Do not be afraid to ask questions. Debate with them, argue with them if you must, and differ from them. A good estate agent will welcome it because they are as serious as you are about finding the right place for you.

At Terblanche Property Solutions we like to get to know our clients first. That’s why our clients come back to us as friends.

* Copyright: velux.com.au

The human touch

I recently made a phone call to a company I do business with in my private capacity. It was very clear that they recently installed one of those automated telephone systems. You know what I’m talking about: “Good day. For help with ______, please press 1. For help with ______, please press 2. For help with_______, please press 3.” Etc. Etc.

If you’re anything like me, and I am definitely not that unique, all those automated options are great, but I also want the option to speak to a real person. You know, if you cannot fit your particular problem into category 1 to 8, you would hope that there is an option to “…hold on for a consultant”. A real person.

In this day and age of cost-cutting, employee down-sizing, automation and efficiency, I sometimes get the impression that businesses do more and spend more to remove themselves from their clients. Sure, words like customer relationship management (CRM), client feedback, regular communication, and so forth are still thrown around, but do they really actually still mean something? I do not want to speak to machine or to some third language English speaker in an outsourced call centre in India, 5000 kilometres away from here. I want to speak to someone who knows something about his or her business, the areas they operate in and (do miracles still take place?) me, the client.

How does this apply to real estate? Modernisation, better websites, automated marketing, bulk text messages, mail merges, etc. These are the buzzwords in real estate offices all across the world these days. They’re great ideas and there is definitely a need to modernise. We have one of the most modern back-office systems and websites in this part of South Africa. Those tools are a great help to our agents and clients. They will, however, never replace our human touch, our friendly voice or a knowledgeable agent that takes you to your dream house.

Contact us if you’d like to speak to a real person.

Time for a sale

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Hi there,

Every now and then the property market – like any other market or store – has a sale. Some call it a “correction”, others talk about “low growth levels” and some others warn of an impending “property bubble”.

According to Absa Bank’s latest House Price Index, house prices in South Africa were up by 14,5% in nominal terms compared to 15,2% in 2006 and 22,6% in 2005. However, compared to recent years, house price growth was only 3,8%, year-on-year in November (5,3% in October). Property analyst at Absa, Jacques du Toit, said this is “the lowest real growth since the 4,2% recorded in December 2002″. The average house price is now R964 000, according to Absa’s measure.

What does this mean for you? Bear in mind that many economists are expecting the growth in house prices to taper off even further this year due to scary things like the National Credit Act, rising interest rates etc.

Well, for one this means you’ll probably get properties now for bargains you wouldn’t have seen in the last 4 years. Properties are investments with a lifespan of a number of years. If you make the right investment now, it will pay off when you sell. Of course, rental income generally is also growing again as more and more people in South Africa are forced to rent because they cannot afford to buy. This is also true in Mossel Bay and many of the other towns in the Garden Route.

Profit is made when you buy, not when you sell. Prices are growing slower now, which means that it’s becoming a buyer’s market again. The smart investor will talk to his property advisor now to find those gems. Talk to a knowledgeable agent at Terblanche Thomas Total Property Solutions for advice on finding those smart property investments now.

Don’t follow the herd.

*Copyright 2001-2008 Architel