Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa February 2014 | Page 55

INSPIRATION
The properties that I purchased were in a very
bad condition but because I had a vision and
a need/demand to reduce the cost I signed for
them and am still busy with renovations.
The experience I had with the estate agents
was not great but I tried to be patient and it
paid off on one of the properties. I had to pay
the estate agent R15 000, which was supposed
to be paid by the seller, because I wanted the
property. My guess is that they saw how
seriously I wanted the property and how I
pushed to close the deal. I have a good feeling
that she was a friend of the sellers. The other
agent was supposed to help me with the first
property didn’t take my application seriously so
I did it on my own.
Another major factor that made me want to
invest in property was, when I started working
at Komati Power Station in 2008, I struggled to
get a place to stay as my new job required that I
must live nearby in case they need to call me out
for work. At that time there were many people
from different companies who came to work at
Komati Power Station. We were renting a room
in a house but the person who was responsible
for the looking after the house was doing a
useless job. People were abused, including me,
he demanded the rent money before the due
date, failed to ensure that the house was clean,
when people flushed the toilet after using it he

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became angry, saying they will make the water
bill too high, drains would be blocked for days.
He was treating people very badly and the
situation pushed my buttons. This is when I first
thought of investing in property. I had all the
reasons I needed to do it and change the lives
of men and women trying to earn a living. By
giving them a proper welcoming hygienic home
to live in, it would not only help them but also
help me to put food on the table for my family.
The first property that I bought is a three
bedroom house, I converted the sitting room
and dinning room into two rooms and added
an outside room, the garage has also been
converted to two rooms with a separate toilet
and a bathroom in the house and one toilet for
the outside rooms. I use the rental income to
pay for the bond and passive income to do the
renovations since nothing was ever done to it.
I have learned that it is possible for a property
to pay its own bond and keep itself in a good
condition. The property was in a very bad
condition when I bought it, the people that
were living in it were damaging it since it was
owned by the company that they worked for.
Since the renovations and change of ownership
the property looks completely different.
My financing strategy is to pay more on my
bonds for early settlement, it will speed up the
growth of my property portfolio. My focus now

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is to look at modern building methods and ways
that properties can be aligned with green building.
In short there is no substitute for work. I have
learnt the most about property from the books
and property magazines that I read. If I come
across a scenario that I need more knowledge and
understanding on, I consult my books, and when
I need motivation during difficult times I read my
books. I have noticed that few people understand
property completely, even some of the consultants
at the banks battle with property issues eg they
can’t explain what the equity portion of the
property is. My financial challenges are pushing
me to learn as much as I can and come up with
good financial strategies through good property
investment reading materials. I am thinking
of doing a formal qualification in property
development next year.
The main thing that I think makes my
properties stand out and earn me a profit is
that they are welcoming to people, my tenants
feel at home. Why? Because of the respect and
treatment that I give them, they don’t see me as
the landlord who comes to collect rent at the end
of the month. They know I am not just waiting
to evict non-paying tenants. I look at my tenants
as people who need shelter while they provide
for their families. This way people will always
recommend my properties to other people. In
property investing, if you respect your tenants
they will do the same to you.

February 2014 SA Real Estate Investor

53