Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa March/April 2020 | Page 7

PROPERTY ADVICE
Millennial real estate
investors
Q
What should we as the youth be
doing to prepare for a future as real
estate investors?
JACO GROBBELAAR
Founder of Prosperity Enterprises
A T
he most important thing you can do is to edu-
cate yourself. The more you invest in yourself,
the more you can produce. There is so much ed-
ucation that you can get from reading this magazine
monthly. Also attend property investment seminars.
Focus on seminars that focus on content.
The best exposure to property investment you can get
is if you can find part-time work for a property investor or
someone who sells property. You also need to understand
concepts that can help you become great in property
investing or selling property. Understand economics,
finance, accounting, and marketing. You don’t
need to study at university, you can also learn
about these subjects in more informal ways.
View properties, and not just online, but go to actual
viewings as well. Learn how to use formulas to
determine whether an investment is a good investment
or not such as the formulas for Gross Rental Yield, Net
Rental Yield, Shortfall Amounts, Return on Investment
(ROI) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR).
In other words, learn everything there is to know
about the property investment industry. The more
you know and can do, the better you’ll be at property
investment.
Financing for
investment in student
accommodation
Q
A
DYLAN WALLS
Marketing Manager Bitprop
Y
I am very interested in Investment
property, particularly student
accommodation. But My biggest
frustration and stumbling block is
funding. Where can I solicit financial
assistance?
our personal loan is indeed your most pressing
challenge at the moment, but If you are paying
off your other loans regularly and on-time, it
shouldn’t be too difficult to find financing. It is nev-
er good to overburden yourself with debt, but if you
have experience generating rent from your property
and can receive a bit of mentorship to enhance your
skills, it may be a good investment decision.
There are very few options of philanthropic
organisations that invest in upgrading private property
for rental. You are more likely to find help with alternative
small-scale building loan providers. Have a look at
companies like iBuild Home Loans, Thuthukani or The
Kuyasa Fund. Each has its own requirements and may or
may not be applicable to your circumstances, given your
existing loans.
A company that comes to mind that might be
relevant for you is Bitprop (www.bitprop.com). They work
specifically with individuals that do not have access to
finance or don’t have enough income to build flats on
their property. For someone that has the space to build,
but not the means, Bitprop secures the funding to help
you build flats on your property at no initial cost to you.
SA Real Estate Investor Magazine MARCH/APRIL 2020
5