Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa February 2014 | Page 37

SMART MOVES

BY TRACEY COOPER

Sage Advice On Investing
Peter parts with his secrets

P

eter Sage has just returned to London
from INSEAD, the only non-graduate
member of the Entrepreneurship Advisory
Board of the elite business school outside Paris
who, a few times a year, shares his expertise
lecturing and mentoring students in developing
entrepreneurship skills.
Despite having dropped out of school at the age
of 16, Sage is amply qualified in this role. A wellknown serial entrepreneur with over 20 years’
experience in growing fast-paced enterprises, he
has launched and operated over a dozen companies,
several of which were large enough to qualify for the
global Entrepreneurs Organisation membership.
An energetic self-made multi-millionaire,
he continues to seek out and invest in different
industries. His latest venture, Space Energy, is a
multi-million project focused on the generation
and transmission of clean energy and the
commercialisation of spaced-based solar power.
Back on terra firma, Sage shares his thoughts on
wealth creation and personal experience with
property investment.
“Property is an incredibly interesting market and
is the underpinning investment of any decent asset
base. It doesn’t require entrepreneurial skill and
doesn’t take much learning with all the information
sources available today such as social media. Unless
the property is in a bubble, which you shouldn’t be
anywhere near anyway, it really doesn’t swing much
more than 25 points,” he comments.
Sage first got into property investment in
his early 20’s. He recalls, “I wanted to find out
everything I could about successfully investing
through property so I called every major
landlord in the phone book. I told them I was
doing a project on successful landlords and
asked if they would give me 30 minutes of their
time to participate. Whether it was through
the genuine goodwill to add value and help an
eager young man, or stroking of the ego, I was
able to get the people best qualified in the field
to answer my questions and to part with their
insights for success.”
www.reimag.co.za

Through this dedicated research
process, Sage was able to distil a
number of key strategies. One of
the biggest and possibly the most
important lessons he has to share is
that what you really need to know is
how to recognise a motivated seller.
“One in five are usually desperate to
sell, for whatever circumstance. It
could be a bereaved family needing
to get rid of a property, divorce or an
urgent need for cash. The key here is
finding the deals that are under 20%,
minimum 15%, of market value,”
says Sage.
Originally from Leicester in the
United Kingdom, Sage is now
a permanent resident of Dubai.
For a man who will be visiting 19
countries this year, this is an ideal
base location. When it comes to
property, a restless Sage in his late
20’s moved on to building other
enterprises and no longer owns
a propert y refurbishment and
investment company. However,
this has not diminished his personal
interest in the global market and, ever the
entrepreneur, his keen eye is always looking for
fresh opportunities.
Always one to be ahead of the curve, Sage’s
advice is to avoid the crowds and look for
upcoming regions and cities that have been
validated. By this he means to look at areas
where governments have committed to large
infrastructural projects. For example, where a
World Cup tournament or the Olympics is due
to take place. “The World Trade Expo coming
to Kazakhstan is a perfect example of an area
that will see a big increase in value due to the
huge investment being made ahead of the event,”
shares Sage. “Other regions showing great
promis