looked at other well-known , privatelyrun student accommodation in Bloemfontein and Cape Town for inspiration . " I wanted to understand what made them sought after and popular with students . Safety , connectivity , and appropriate pricing were some of the key elements ." says Modise .
" I want to create something that I can leave to my children , and that will allow me to retire earlier than 65 , so I do want to build my property business , but I want to remain focussed as well , and I think there ' s a lot of potential in student accommodation ." says Modise .
" There ' s always going to be a new intake every year , and so you might have regular turnover but you ' re never going to run out of new tenants . It ' s also profitable , even though your property is unoccupied for 2 months and your leases are only 10 months , not 12 . Because so many students come from rural areas and haven ' t experienced cities before , good accommodation with access to important amenities like the police station , youth centres , groceries and hospitals will always be in demand ," Modise says .
Keeping the buildings small means Modise can build relationships with his tenants and keep an eye on how their doing , offering support when it ' s needed as they adjust to student life .
Modise ' s advice to aspiring property entrepreneurs is : " Always be handson . A caretaker isn ' t going to run your business , they ' re just there to look after the building . Secondly , make sure you pick the right property so that you can align to the university ' s accreditation requirements - a building that ' s too far away means you have to provide transport , for example , and that can eat into your profits very quickly . Doing the right conversion on the right kind of property is key ."
SOURCES TUHF
SA Real Estate Investor Magazine MARCH 2022 27