GETTING STARTED
Are You Ready To Buy?
Taking the first steps
L
et’s say one morning you wake
up and rea l iz e t hat, yes,
buying a home is the right
thing to do for you.
You’re tired of throwing
away money
on rent and
f i g u r e t h a t it ’s
time to get into a home
of your own. But you have
reservations.
After all, if it’s your first time,
you’ve got questions. You might
be a l it t le ner vous t hat you’ l l
mess up, and it’s normal to feel that
way. You are probably spending hundreds
of thousands of rands and mak ing the most
important financial purchase of your life.
You will find that being an informed individual
about the home buying process is empowering
for you. Lucky for you that you came to the right
place.
So why should you buy a home? Well not only
does it make a great investment option but it is the
start of your early retirement plan. Property is a
great asset and will earn you money while you pay
off a bond, and once you have paid off your bond,
you can buy more property leveraging the one you
already have. And before you know it, you have 5
or 10. What should you consider before you buy
your first property? There are three things, firstly
location, secondly price and lastly, the type of
investment you have in mind with your property.
6
Residential Handbook 2013
So let’s get started buying your first home!
Location, location, location
If you’ve heard it a hundred times before, it is because
it is an absolute fundamental principle of property
investment. You may also have heard that it is better
to buy the worst property in a good location, than the
best property in a bad location. People have different
needs and what is going to appeal to one, isn’t going
to appeal to another. A single person, for example,
may well look for an apartment that is close to all the
action of city life. Those will small children are more
likely to look at quieter neighbourhoods with little
traffic, while older buyers may consider the proximity
of shopping centres, hospitals and other factors before
buying a home.
The advent of Google Maps and the like have made
the buying process easier for those looking to invest in
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