Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa June/ July 2019 | Page 43

A
lmost 10 years ago I was blessed to get married to a
highly intelligent and very beautiful African woman
here in South Africa. And I still remember the
trepidation and curiosity of the process of lobola negotiations
that various members of our two extended families engaged
in. So when a great friend of mine from overseas asked me
recently to be one of his family representatives for a lobola
in the North-West I felt deeply honoured and excited to
experience from a new perspective such a powerful element of
the culture of many South Africans.
So what has lobola got to do with investing in Property?
To Fast Track Your Property Success you must buy Property
Below Market Value and to be able to do this you need to be
an accomplished negotiator.
These are four powerful negotiating lessons I have learnt
from lobola:
Lesson #1 –It’s all about the work
you do before you do the work
Preparation is key to any negotiation. Our delegation did
a lot of work before we even knocked on that door in one of
those authentic North-West dorpies. We had rehearsed many
aspects of the lobola, including who was going to do what,
what our “walk-away” price was, where we had latitude to
negotiate and much more How well prepared are you when
you negotiate the purchase (or the sale) of a Property?.
Here are a few tips:
•
Get a solid understans of comparable sales
•
Become an area expert to estimate sustainable rents
•
Understand short and long-term local supply and
demand dynamics
Lesson #2 -Be prepared to pay
your Ivulamlomo (“mouth opener”).
Ivulamlomo is the price paid for opening your mouth
to express the purpose of your visit to the potential wife’s
delegation; it is a key part to the lobola negotiation as it allows
negotiations to begin. We paid both with some cash and
brought the traditional bottle of brandy and this surely helped
a lot to set a positive tone for the rest of the proceedings.
In property your ivulamlomo is often a combination of
these three things:
•
Are you “pre-approved” for whatever bond you plan to
raise to execute the transaction?
•
Can you demonstrate with a suitable proof of funds
that you have the cash available to complete the deal?
•
Have you established and marketed your track record
as a trustworthy Property Investor?
Lesson #3 - Everything seems
complex and daunting when you don’t
understand something, until you get an
expert to “show you the way”.
Our lobola team had some seriously experienced family
members, both men and women; who have seen it all over the
years, from failed lobola negotiations to negotiations that were
frustrated by unreasonable uncles and poor planning. These
‘experts’ always behaved confidently though not arrogantly, as
they knew the do’s and don’ts of the process and understood
when to push and when to back off and gave in to the other
team’s demands. Being in the company of such experienced
team members allowed me to learn the intricacies of the
process without the risk of making expensive mistakes.
Lesson #4 – Celebrate a
successful negotiation.
I am proud to report that the lobola was successfully negotiated
much to the happiness of both families. The bride and the groom
are delighted and their respective families feel united in a way
that would have not been possible without this amazing tradition
called lobola. At the end of the lobola negotiations, both families
hugged and the celebrations started with some joyful singing and
dancing. Soon thereafter two sheeps were slaughtered and we
had the most delicious livers on the braai and a lot more to eat
and drink. What would life be without family and celebrations?
Work hard, negotiate fairly
and celebrate your successful
negotiations and your
new additions to your
Property Portfolio.
The big lesson for
me to share with all
my fellow Property
Fans is that I have
come to truly
understand the
African Proverb
“if you want to
go fast, go on
your own; if
you want to
go far, go with
somebody”. I
look forward to
seeing you at one
of our Property
Education Events.
SA Real Estate Investor Magazine JUNE/JULY 2019
41