Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa April/May 2019 | Page 38

How to Make Money
out of a Buy-to-Rent
Property
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efore you buy a unit to rent out, you need to decide on
these two issues: how much can you lease it for, and to
whom?
‘If you're considering buying a property as an investment,
it pays to do quite a bit of research as to what rental will be
achieved, which affects your return, as well as whether the
price band will be a difficult one in terms of finding suitable
tenants who are reliable payers,’ says Nelio Mendes, marketing
manager of property company SAProperty.com
The most recent TPN report, the Vacancy Survey Q4 of
2018, says: ‘The lowest vacancy rate in 2018 Q4 of 6.1% was
recorded for the R7000 to R12 000 segment but the largest
improvement in vacancies was recorded for the Less than
R3000 segment which reduced from 12.3% in 2018 Q3 to
7.5% in 2018 Q4.’
In 2018 Q4 the less than R3000 market had the lowest good
standing ratio of 73.21% with the More than R12000 segment
recording the highest vacancy rate of 11.2%. In contrast, the
R7000 to R12000 segment offered the lowest risk in terms
of vacancies at 6.1% as well as the best payment performance
with a good standing ratio of 86.36%, the TPN report shows.
So how do you know if a property is a suitable investment to
rent out? The investor needs to go through a simple checklist,
to indicate whether he is making a good investment, according
to Mendes:
• Check the zoning of the property. Particularly if the
investor buys with an idea of using it as a short term let,
rather than long term let.
• Check the management rules in the case of a body
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APRIL/MAY 2019 SA Real Estate Investor Magazine
corporate, that these do not prohibit short term letting (if
this is what the intention is) as well as the conduct rules
for whether pets are allowed or whether there are any other
special conditions imposed. Management rules of sectional
title schemes are more difficult to change than conduct
rules, and it needs to be weighed up whether these will
affect the way the unit is used.
• Check the last four trustee minutes if the property is in a
sectional title scheme or member meetings minutes in the
case of an HOA.
• Ask for a copy of the AGM minutes in case to assess what
decisions have been made in the scheme with regards to
management as well as what the financial state is.
• Ask for a copy of financial records, if the unit is in a
community scheme.
• Check the required rental against what certain tenant
reports are saying – is this in a reliable or achievable price
bracket?
• Ensure that the price paid for the unit is not too high,
that the required repayments each month will be covered
in large part by the rental achieved.
‘Buying a property to rent can be a good long-term
investment, as long as everything is taken into consideration
beforehand and a plan is formulated as to what type of rental
you're looking to get,’ said Mendes. ‘There can be tough times
but if the proper planning has been done, it is possible to
maximise the long-term investment potential of your property.’