Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa September 2014 | Page 7

PUBLISHERS LETTER
FROM THE EDITOR

F

or all time, property
has
been
the
cornerstone
of
wealth. Around 70% of
the world’s wealth is in
property. The truly wealthy,
from the Queen of England
to Donald Trump, all own
huge property portfolios.
The banks and life
insurance companies also
own vast properties – from
shopping centres to holiday resorts to vacant land.
“Ninety percent of all millionaires became so
through owning real estate.” This was the view of
Andrew Carnegie, once the richest man in the world.
If buy-to-let property investment is such a simple,
easy-to-implement and practically failsafe system

FROM THE PUBLISHER

R

eal Estate Investor
Magazine celebrates
its 8th anniversary
issue
this
month. We
acquired
a
powerful
readership following for
our print magazine, plus
many investors who accessed
our website regularly and
attended our real estate
investing educational events.
Today, 8 years on we have big
growth plans.
One year after our launch,
the biggest global financial
crisis known to man unfolded. Today, the market is
still recovering. This taught us that the world is more
interconnected than most realised and that we need to
search for new emerging markets for higher growth rates.
The commercial sector was also affected. Today, large
commercial players like GrowthPoint and Redefine
are dominant commercial players in a down market,
continuing to lead the retail, industrial and office sectors
and having wisely invested offshore. Both have listed
successfully on the JSE and are giving their shareholders
steady returns. Nedbank, the biggest commercial real
estate lender in SA, has grown their loan book fourfold
from R24 billion to over R100 billion today with a default
ratio below 1%, testimony to the strength of the corporate

of creating wealth, why isn’t everyone doing it? The
reason is actually quite simple: statistics have shown
time and again that just 5% of people who know how
to do something will actually do it.
Buy-to-let property is not a new concept, it is
simply common sense. It is not even a formula that is
difficult or time-consuming to implement. So, when
it comes to buy-to-let property investment, then, the
question is not: “Why isn’t everybody doing it?”, but
rather: “Will you be among the top 5% of people that
actually do what they know must be done to create
wealth?”
Action is the key to success.

MONIQUE TERRAZAS

sector and commercial sector. This month we are
delighted to provide great insights into the commercial
market with our free 56-page annual Commercial Real
Estate Investment Guide.
The world of real estate and media is changing rapidly
as traditional media becomes digital. The introduction of
our digital magazine, and social media mediums such as
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube TV channel, has changed the
way we communicate. We are in the business of creating
communities who want to interact with us. We are
innovating how we communicate with you and introduce
new products. Follow my investment journey by clicking
on the banner on our website and submit your email to
join the group with whom I share in-depth real estate
knowledge.
This month, don’t miss our annual REIM event, a joint
venture with Rode and Associates, prominent property
consultants and valuers who have been operating for over
25 years. We are proud of this association and refer you to
the back of this issue for the exciting program of speakers.
See you there!
Prosperous investing

NEALE PETERSEN

FOUNDER

“Owning a home is a keystone of wealth… both financial affluence and emotional security”.
SUZE ORMAN
www.reimag.co.za

September 2014 SA Real Estate Investor

7