Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa June 2015 | Page 21

TIPS FOR
HOLDING

• Don’t allow short-term fluctuations
to influence your long-term financial
plans. Maintain an objective, long-term
perspective.
• Optimise every aspect of your portfolio,
from maintenance and tenant
management to cash flow control.
• ‘Green’ your properties to ensure longterm sustainability.
• Ensure your cash flow can withstand
interest rate increases that are
inevitable given the interest rate cycle.

Countless multi-millionaires
have been created by following
the conservative buy-and-hold
strategy of picking good assets,
and clinging to them through
up and down markets, for better
or worse.

investments, consider diversifying
your property investment portfolio
into other countries or into other
property sectors.
Time to sell?
Buy-to-let property investment is
a long-term buy-and-hold strategy.
Ideally, the intention is to hold
the property indefinitely, as selling
means sacrificing future capital
appreciation and ongoing rental
income.
However, there are valid reasons
to consider selling an investment
property. Some examples include
a deterioration in your financial
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circumstances, a downturn in
the area in which the property
is located or when your financial
goals can be better met through a
different strategy or investment.
The decision to sell should not
be based on emotion, but rather
on facts and figures. Understand
the returns you are getting from a
property investment, and the likely
potential future returns. Weigh
these against the risk factors in the
current investment environment
and the likely future outcome for
the country, and determine whether
a different investment strategy
would better serve