Estate Living Magazine Retirement Living - Issue 40 April 2019 | Page 31

P R O P E R T Y
&
I N V E S T M E N T
Extended Kitchen
We chatted to some of the first residents in the newly
launched Rondebosch Oval lifestyle development to find
out, and discovered that it can be pretty darn scary. But also
awesomely rewarding.
First resident
Debbie and Graham Radford, and their son Jaden, were
the first residents to move in, so they’ve watched every
subsequent house become occupied (only four so far).
They’d sold their Bryanston home two years before, trekked
to Cape Town for business purposes, and moved into a rental
property in the city while they looked for a place to buy. This,
they figured, would take a few months.
Wrong!
E
Debbie and Graham have bought quite a few properties
before – including off-plan – so they’re aware of some of the
pitfalls, and they had a very good idea of exactly what they
wanted. ‘We looked at the available interior schemes,’ Debbie
says, but ‘we ended up choosing most of our own finishes.’
So, while it’s very different to what they’re used to, it’s all
about attitude, Debbie explains. Rather than thinking of it as
downsizing, she says, it’s right-sizing – all based on the concept
of mini-mansions. A mini-mansion, she explains, is a medium-
sized house that is superbly appointed with gorgeous finishes,
and all the mod cons. It was a conscious decision on their part
to ‘have less space, but make it exactly what we want – the
best we can possibly do with a) a budget, and b) the space
available.’ They have less stuff now and, Debbie says, it’s as if
a weight has been lifted off her shoulders. ‘We have what we
love, and what we need.’ And no more.
Firstly, you struggle to sell a Bryanston property, and expect to
buy a similar sized property in Cape Town with the proceeds.
So they sensibly set a budget, and started looking. And
looking, and looking, and looking! And, when they found out
about Rondebosch Oval, they almost decided not to look at
it because they didn’t want to be tempted to go over their
budget. Well, they were. And they did, but they most certainly
do not regret it.
They also made a few layout changes but, she says, Rawson
were amazing. ‘Their go-to response was “no problem, leave
it with me,” or, in a worst-case scenario, “That may be tricky;
we’ll have to figure it out and get back to you.” And, invariably,
they did. I can’t think of a single thing we wanted that we
ultimately didn’t get,’ she says.
Bedroom with outdoor social space