 Good afternoon and welcome to another episode of the Development Show. My name is Chad and I'll be your host. And if you haven't tuned in before, this is a show where we talk about the latest developments, how you can invest in them. And today we are going to be discussing a new development down in Cape Town called Stonewood Village Homes. And this is within the Stonewood Estate. Today I'm joined by Rowan Alexander, who is the founding member and director of Alexander SWAT Property Group. Rowan, how are you doing today? Good, Chad. Nice to have you guys here. Nice to be chatting to you, Rowan. What I'm going to do is I'm going to launch into a question I'd like to ask all the people who join us on the show. And that is, can you tell us a bit about yourself? Tell us about Alexander SWAT Property Group and also tell us what a customer can expect if they decide to go through this journey with you. Well, Chad, thanks. Alexander SWAT Property Group, we've been around for about three years as a brand. Prior to that, we were part of a national corporate brand for a number of years. We've evolved into our own brand and our own space. And we do second hand sales as one is new developments. New developments is one of our core focuses. To give you an idea to date, we've sold, I think, about 23 different residential developments in excess of 1,200 properties on a development side with a total value of close to 1.5 billion Rand. So developments, sales is something that we are very strong in and it's something that we pride ourselves in. So, you know, having different developments at different points in time. We usually cover quite a broad spectrum as to, you know, the market as to what people are looking for. And we are predominantly based in the northern suburbs of Cape Town. That's our stomping ground. That's where we like to find ourselves. I love speaking to people who are real development specialists. You've been doing this for such a long time. And I think a lot of people tuning in as well are also quite keen to get insights of people who have been specializing in developments for such a long time and selling them because really you've got all the knowledge around it. And today, we're speaking about Stonewood Village Estates. So tell us a bit about that one. OK, so Stonewood Village Rounds within the Stonewood Estates. And also the product of us, the developers are Trinity Projects, our builders are Brick and Board, and that's his agency, Alexander Swap. So we've got a very strong team on the project. We launched about a year ago and we have 106 homes, all townhouses, single stories. Everything is three bedrooms, two bathrooms, double garages. And it's within a security estate. So in the northern suburbs of Cape Town, there's there's a lot of sectional types of developments happening at the moment and quite a bit of duplexes, you know, sort of as well. So with the product like Stonewood, the Village Homes, where everything is on a single level at around the two million grand prize lot, there's not a lot of competition for the development. So we've seen that in our rates of self, you know, we I think we currently on our phase five, which would take us to about 90 out of the 106 homes. So, you know, in a space of about 11 months, considering that we've been through COVID and the lockdown and all of that, I think it's a phenomenal task that shows that the development is very well suited to the market. So three bedrooms, double garage, two bathrooms with inner security estate, all on a single level. That's sort of the basis of the development. When it comes to construction of these developments, is there something that people should know or are all these developments almost the same? So if I was going to purchase into a development, is there other questions that you would say, hey, Chad, listen, you should actually ask these questions around who constructed it, how they constructed it, who the construction companies were, or in South Africa, are all the developments almost the same? No, I think that's one of the things where the market needs education is that there are brands and developments to follow. I mean, you know, we all know and understand that if you buy clothing or you buy a vehicle or you buy something else, they're certain brands, you know, which reflect certain values. And it's the same in the development space. You know, there's almost this perception that if I buy a house, if I buy a new house, it's supposed to be the best construction, the best finishing, the best workmanship, irrespective of what price I pay or who I buy from. Whereas in reality, you know, as there is with every other product in life, property is exactly the same. So one needs to be very mindful of who the developer is, who the builder is. You know, it's obviously difficult if you're only going through this process once or twice in your lifetime. But there are certain things that you can look out for. I always recommend to clients, irrespective of who the developer is, that there's a number of ways that you can check the credibility and whether it is a project where you should be investing. I think the first thing you can try and look at is the developer's past record. So with a lot of new developers coming up, especially in times like these with the market is quite point in the development space, you'll often find that new developers into the market. So it's difficult to find a track record. It's difficult to establish whether the work that they do is, you know, of good quality or not. So be weary when it is someone new. I'm not saying that new interest into the market, you know, can't provide quality products. But looking at someone's track record, looking at, you know, the sort of value that they leave on the table, all those developments that they've done, all those clients have received good capital growth. You know, how do those projects look like a number of years down the line? Whether they're actually completed? You know, one of the things that we see quite often in development space is that the product is sold with a certain value add. You know, there's going to be certain infrastructure put in and upgrades done, the clubhouse is built and stuff like that. The very first purchaser pays and contributes towards that, but they wait five to ten years for that to actually happen. So another way for you to actually gauge whether you're working with a strong and a good reputable developer is someone who will actually add that value up front. So they'll complete the guardhouse and the open spaces and the clubhouse and all the communal facilities up front. So the very first person who moves in actually has access to everything that he's paid for. OK, so that's another way to check. And then lastly, I think or another two ways. I think one of the ways that you can do is you can look at the documentation. We find that that good developers often have very good documentation. It's very comprehensive, will be complete. You'll have all your plans or your specifications or your guarantees and stuff up front that won't leave you guessing as to the position that you have. And then lastly, I think one of the best tips that I could give is go and drive around on site and have a look at that site. It's actually scary how much information you could gather on site that a site that is well maintained, you know, cleaned up every day is presentable and under control often relates to almost always relates to a good quality product. A construction site that is sort of haphazard and, you know, material working or lying around when the site is dirty. That's very often the indicator of a substandard quality product. You know, and then ultimately, if you don't have the time or the energy to to go through that process, you need to try and look up with an agent in an area that is that is known to new developers themselves and just bounce that off them and get the inputs. Even if I'd like to believe that if that agent is is is helpful in serving the market, that he would give that input irrespective of whether it's his product or not. Well, you've definitely opened my eyes up in terms of some of the things to keep to keep out to keep a lookout for. I mean, even doing these development podcasts for as long as I have, there's definitely been takeaways that you've mentioned there that I had no idea about. So it's incredible how important it is to do your due diligence when trying to invest or trying to purchase within a development or just purchasing a home because it's such a massive purchase for you. And it's nice to know that these agents out there such as yourselves that are more than happy to run through these things with clients and to take them through the key points and to impart that knowledge. So thank you so much for that, Rowan. Cool. Is one thing that I could also maybe add is in that documentation that we that we spoke about and in the development space, while we on that, you know, a lot of people have seen boards go up and developments planned and then they never materialize or they never go ahead. I think one of the things that people miss out on is if they look at their sales documentation, it's always important to look at what conditions the developer has placed and what provisions he has made for himself with regards to the number of pre-sales he requires before he actually commits to the project, which applications he needs to have approved before he goes to go on. Because often things, you know, would be launched without the necessary approvals or pre-sales in place, which results in someone potentially selling their house or potentially you know, making financial decisions based on a project which does not get 100 per cent committed into proceeding. So that documentation that we spoke about important to always go through that properly. And that documentation, would you then be able to take that to the agent and talk to that agent about that documentation where they can point out things that you should possibly watch out for or things that need to clarification on? Yes, 100 per cent. That's the agent's role in the in the transaction is to actually interpret that documentation and let you as a customer understand exactly what you're getting yourself into. So that is the agent's role is to meet the needs of the center as well as the take the needs of the center and purchase and align them in a way in which they both understand, you know, to what they are committed. So definitely any reputable agent would give off you that advice. Perfect. Now, talking about Stonewood Village Homes, can you talk to me about where where they are based, where this development is based and also why did you guys choose that location? OK, so based in the northern suburbs of Cape Town, the northern suburbs for a free, you know, of the northern suburbs has always been a hot spot for developments in Cape Town. So coming from a big development that we did in Rackenfog, which is now, you know, in the last 10 years, grown tremendously. Land became, you know, scarce. Opportunities became scarce. So a lot of developers started looking northwards towards Durbanville, which is a very prominent town. There's been some big news in Durbanville with a the first Kiro University being, you know, established in town, known as the Stadio Multiversity. So that will be the first Kiro private university in South Africa. So a lot of focus moves towards that side of town. Likewise, studied hours and developers that we deal with. So one of the developers that we deal with, as we've mentioned, Trinity Projects, who are doing Stonewood Village Homes, they are very forward thinking in that way. And so they found land which had which had development rights or really, but was underutilized. And they believe that the market could actually, you know, maintain a better product than what was in that area. So, you know, land was scarce, opportunities were scarce, but the right product came around at the right time. And they saw the opportunity to take that, you know, reinvented and actually provide a product which is suited to the market. So it came about, you know, out of out of out of an investigation and looking for land out that way. But it came around at the right time to provide a product which no one else had in the market. So a year ago, there was no competition, you know, in that segment of the market. So that was one of the driving factors to actually proceed with that development because, you know, between the developer and ourselves as agents, there was a lot of discussions, you know, as to where the marketing, you know, what we project would be the next, you know, sort of popular trend of the swag and Stonewood Village Homes suited that need, you know, 100 percent. So so that's that's how it came about. Our site is about two kilometers from where the new university is going to be. So so it is it is, you know, where one wants to be and from a developer seller site as well as a purchase inside. You know, it's in a location which is great for for capital growth in the future. Well, Stonewood Village Homes, let's take a quick break so that everybody can get a good idea of what you are offering and how it looks. And when we come back, we'll start speaking about pricing, the amenities and a little bit more features around it. So we will see you back right after this break. Back to the developer show. Today, I'm joined by Rowan Alexander, who is showcasing their latest development called Stonewood Village Homes. Rowan is the founding member and principal director of the Alexander SWAT Property Group. Rowan, thank you so much again for taking some time to join us. Oh, good to hear that. Before we took that break, you were giving us some really good advice, but now we're going to come back and talk about this development that you're showcasing and you've given us a rundown of the development. You've given us a rundown of where it is and why you've chosen that location. Can you now give us a rundown of the pricing surrounding the different units in the development and what units and unit types have you got to offer? OK, great. So we've got we essentially got four different plans two being plans with firearms and two being plans with our firearms. So being northern suburbs of Cape Town, everyone wants a bribe. So we needed to make provision for that. So we've got two plans, an A and a B plan starting off at one hundred and thirty square meters and it would go up to one hundred and fifty eight square meters. The one hundred and thirty square meter houses are eight then the pricing starts at one million nine hundred and thirteen thousand four hundred and thirty square meters. And then our biggest plan in the development is one hundred and fifty eight square meters and that cost would be two million one hundred and forty eight thousand. So that spread is about one point nine to two point one five. The four different plans make provisions for different sizing and different budgets within the development. But I think that that spectrum is very close. And so it's going to depend upon clients' needs as well as their budgets as to which plan they end up going for. Our bigger product has been our most successful seller. Our D plan has been the most popular plan within their state. And I think it's just simply due to the value for money that it offers. So we also need to be mindful and respectful that not everyone can afford the D plan. So we have to keep a spectrum of options available. All the houses are three bedrooms, double garage and two bathrooms. And I think we'll probably end up chatting now a little bit more about what those homes offer. But I think that gives you a good idea of pricing. So size wise, hundred and thirty two hundred and fifty eight square meters for the homes and all the urban are roughly about three hundred square meters. Ben, when are you planning to complete phase one? Our phase one is sold out. So phase one to four is actually sold out. So phase five is currently being sold. Maybe I'm understanding your question incorrectly, whether you're asking for my sales or construction point of view, but construction phase one plans on moving in as we speak. So the first plans moved in about two weeks ago and there's about 20. I think there's about 22 homes that need to be handed over within the next month, which mostly form part of phase one and phase two. So we follow a methodology whereby every every transaction runs its own natural course. So, you know, once the bond is approved, we start with a building plan submissions as well as the transfer process for the land. So the land will be transferred into the client's land after three months and then construction would start after that. So the homes that are now being completed in phase one of clients who had already signed up a year ago, you know, due to covid, obviously that that time period was extended. Neighbors are moving in now and subsequent phases will follow. You definitely answer that question because I didn't want to lead into this where you'd mentioned we were going to talk around the homes themselves and the reason I asked about the phases is what kind of customization is there within the home? So if I decide to purchase within phase five, what can I change? Or what can I discuss with you to change? What do you offer? And then let's move directly into what do those homes offer as it is? OK, so I'll try and combine that. The homes, as we've said, really, I mean, I've said it a number of times, three bedrooms, double garage, two bathrooms, all of them. And the specifications and the finishes are of a very good quality. So you won't necessarily, you know, we find that not most clients aren't necessarily interested in changing specification, but rather choosing within the ranges that we have. So to give you an idea of the type of finishing that you can expect, these porcelain tiles throughout all the living areas, you know, these carpets in the bedrooms, we've got nice shadow line and cornices right throughout the house. All the plumbing work is lunch grower taps. We've got solar geysers. We've got defy slope of an extracted combination, but granite tops within the the kitchens. All of the exterior doors are aluminium, so you've got no woodwork to maintain. Our garage doors are all electrified and the sectional overhead areas in garage doors. And then there's been a whole lot of design features which have been incorporated into the homes just to make them more livable. And I think that's things that people often overlook. You know, for instance, the sliding door has windows next to the sliding door and might sound like an actually silly thing to be to to be mentioning. But you won't, you know, the difference that it makes to actually living in the home to have a side like to open for natural ventilation rather than having to open the sliding door is massive. And there's so many developments where there's actually just the sliding door without the sideline, and it really sounds silly to have to mention something like that. But that's the small things that, you know, that are incorporating to design, which you don't necessarily pick up up front. And we've raised the floor to ceiling heights throughout all the homes to create more volume. So we have to about three meter floor to ceiling heights in the bigger plans, which really gives you a nice sense of space within the homes. In terms of what you could then choose and customize, we go through a process with every client looking at their needs and what they would prioritize. But they essentially have the opportunity to choose the floor coverings, the cupboards within the house, the different colors of the tops. You know, those would be the standard items, which you would choose from, you know, within suit of ranges. And then also we afford clients the opportunity to make changes if they want to add a door into the main bedroom, which leads out into the garden, we can do things like that. You know, we can do certain customization. You know, we can't entertain the client designing his own home in your home within the estate because they are designed by lights. And there's also a reason why we can offer this product at this price, you know, because there isn't a level of standardization. But we can make it your own. We can make it unique, you know, as to the way that you would want to as an owner occupy, you know, you want to make it your own. And we understand that and we do allow that. But the way the way you've offered this is, in my opinion, one of my favorite ways to offer development, whereas you give them different options, you give potential clients different options with the inner certain framework. So also it's not mind boggling the amount of stuff that you can change. And you don't need to worry about possibly not changing something you feel like you want to change down the line, because you've already thought of it when you mentioned the windows next to the sliding doors, I understand exactly what you're talking about because I've come from a house that just had the sliding door into a house that now has windows next to the sliding door. And it's one of those things you don't notice until you've got it. You can have that security of having your sliding door locked with your windows open and having that ventilation. It's really nice to see that the developers thought of these little quality of life offerings, and that's great to see. Yeah, then maybe just to touch on sort of the answer, you know, we've spoken about the inside of the properties on the outside, what we do is, you know, we cover the entire earth with grass, as well as, you know, paving the patios, driveways and walkways into the house. And then we have the gardens in the front of the homes. So on the verge along the road, we have gardens, which are all landscape, and they are also irrigated from the dam. So you'll see on all the imagery, which we've sent to the clients or which we can send to the clients and you guys want to have on your site, you'll see that there's a lot of open space within the development. That's probably one of the most unique features of this development is that there's a lot of open space, you know, there's a massive dam. There's about a kilometer of walking paths within the estate. So there's a lot of space where people can live outside. And we've tried to make that one of the features of the development is that the outside living is something to which, you know, you'd want to focus your home. So the outside space, you know, as I said, those gardens, we all put in the irrigation and the irrigation is actually done from the dam. There's also a borehole, which pulls up the dam. And again, this might not sound that relevant to people sitting throughout the country. But we have to remember that just 24 months ago, Cape Town was in the middle of a serious drought. You know, so having things like this that will allow your garden space and your properties to look presentable right throughout the year, you know, with its own sustainable source is something that's very, you know, that's important nowadays, as well as the security. You know, I think that's something which we need to touch on, you know, with regards to particular properties. It is within a security state. We have man security, you know, with patrolling guards. His biometric fingerprint access to the state. Every guest is signed in chicken and called, you know, to the property only before they're allowed in his electric fencing surrounding the entire state. And then also, you know, a camera system. So with that focus being on creating quality of living, you know, within that space, it's important that that space needs to be secured too, because we find a lot of young families moving into that area. I think security is one of the biggest things on everybody's mind when they're moving to development. And I think it's also a key selling feature for development is that you get that security that freestanding households just don't have or can't offer to the same extent, specifically within the price points you offer your developments from. But keeping to the outside theme, what other amenities are available to customers that are going to purchase within this development? OK, so within the developments, I think, you know, we've covered the things like the walking paths, you know, the parks, the kick about, you know, the dam and a lot of beautiful landscaping throughout. So that that would be within their state. And then around, you know, the surrounding area, there's a lot of shopping facilities. I mean, I think within one kilometer radius, you'd cover brands like the words, checkers, pick and pay, spa. You know, one of the major brands have prominent shopping, you know, within the vicinity. There's good schooling. You have a number of schooling options, especially from the Kiro group, which is very popular up this way at the moment. There's two different Kiro schools. And then I think the biggest draw card in that area of future potential is the fact that the university will be constructed two kilometers from our doorstep. So it is an area which is undergoing a development and transition with a lot of, you know, offerings in the area and which would still be established from an accessibility point of view. It's nice because, you know, if you're based in Cape Town and heading out out of the northern suburbs of Cape Town, or even the prominent landmarks being the Brackenfall, Durbanville, Balboa, Tiger Valley areas, all of those are very easily accessible from our site. There's also a hospital, private hospital just down the road and a medical hospital. So it's really a very sustained area. So we have a first time buyers show that is on Wednesdays. And if you're on that first time buyers show, speaking directly to people who are looking to purchase their first homes, what would you say that makes developments one of the better choices for somebody looking to purchase their first home? OK, so I think something that people need to to consider is we always speak about the saving, you know, when you buy a new house. So to say, well, if I buy a new, I'm not going to be paying transfer duties. So that's a substantial saving. There's a number of things which that actually unlocks. The one is that the cash element that's needed to actually become a property owner. That requirement is a lot less, you know, because traditionally, if you buy a second at home, you'd have to finance those costs. So looking at a new development, you know, the fact that you need this cash to actually enter the market. I think that is one of the attractive points to to to be in a new development. Another thing that you or that you need to look at is it's not just that cash element. If you go and look at how long it's going to take your bond to capitalise the equivalent of the transfer duties. So if you're saving 100,000 or 80,000 or transfer costs, if you take a loan, it's going to take your bond to reduce by 80,000 red. It's about the equivalent of three years with the repayments. So you're not just saving the 80,000 red as a large effect on that overall ownership cost. But then again, new developments, there's a lower life cycle costing within that first five to seven years, you know, 10 years. Your maintenance costs would be a lot lower than on a secondary cost. So again, it's that cash element that it needs to invest in, which would be a lot lower. You know, previous generations stayed in homes for 20 years, you know, worked a certain job for 20 years. You know, that was a lot more the tendency in the past. Nowadays, people are moving homes every five to seven years. That's on average. So if you're buying in a new development and you fall within that framework, what it does allow you to do is to actually move without having costs of upgrade, you know, five to seven years down the line, the property would still be new enough to achieve a good model failure without having to to invest in what we also find is that new developments, areas where there's new developments, new development nodes tend to have good capital growth because it's driven by the cost of construction, the replacement cost. And the replacement cost drive will always be there. So that helps you achieve good capital growth. So new developments, there's a lot of pros, you know, for it, especially for first time buyers, where the interest rates, you know, as an O is what they are now, if you're able to find a project which suits your needs and, you know, the accessibility to that market due to not having those upfront costs, I think there's a huge role. Absolutely. I think also a lot of people try and try and mitigate that savings if they are all purchasing within a freestanding household on houses that maybe looks like the out of date, thinking that the money they're saving on purchasing this house that's slightly out of date, they'll utilize then on performing different refurbishments. And then they realize that life kind of gets in the way and they don't have the time. And a house that looks kind of out of date now looks very, very out of date in 10 years time when they decide to move and you and you completely avoiding that if you decide to purchase within a development, because you guys are already providing houses that are cutting edge, super modern, really nice and speaks towards the people now looking to purchase houses where they don't need to worry about trying to renovate or trying to change things. They're purchasing a house that has already been made according to their needs. You're offering them different packages. And in 10 years time, not only have they saved on their transfer duty, they're leaving knowing that they've got an investment. You know, they've made some capital gains. You've mentioned how the university is being built. There's schools there. There's all these things that speak quite big into the investments of these properties. Yeah, and I think something that we can never retrofit is modern design guidelines. You know, there's things, there's certain framework within which new homes are developed with percentages of window space to law area for heat transmission and heat and loss in and out of the homes, which makes your house more efficient from an energy perspective. There's things that the solar uses and that, you know, just from a design perspective, which you would never be able to retrofit or you could retrofit into an existing house but the cost would never outweigh the benefit. And so from a new perspective, you ensure that you're always buying the latest design guidelines, which would help with efficiency and the life cycle costing off of those homes. So now to close off, I wanted to ask your own, how is private property and your relationship with private property influenced the way you market properties as agents? It's been, it's been great, a bit of background about myself. I was actually with a private property group a number of years ago before I started art as an agent. So, you know, it's been awesome to be able to continue that relationship even once we had moved along. So private property has been, been core, you know, in most of the development work that we've done, but a very good working relationship with a group in the brain. And one of the portals where we can really showcase, you know, what we have on offer. So it's been great. So thanks for that. You know, it's always good to work with you guys. We're looking forward to continuing this fruitful relationship. So that is Rowan Alexander from the Alexander SWAT Property Group. And he was showcasing the Stonewood Village Homes, which is in the Stonewood estate in the Northern suburbs of Cape Town. Rowan, thank you once again for making some time for us on this interview. Cool. Thanks. Thanks, Sharon. So for everybody tuning in, please don't shy away for taking a look at this development. You can see it on private property. All the details will also be within this podcast. Thank you so much for coming on this journey with us. And I look forward to seeing you all again this time next week. Thank you. And goodbye.