 Welcome to the private property podcast. I'm the brand new host of the show, Sibs Matiella, and we're here to talk all things property. Today on the show, we'll be discussing how to secure a luxury property in the current economy. I know, right? With the managing director of legendary investment properties, Nazreen Moosa. But before we get to our guests today, I must tell you, all roads lead to the property show. This year, we're back. In real life and virtual, with content generated in our metaverse studio, we've designed the exhibition space to replicate the world's most popular property game and added in activities for the whole family, including an indoor park and play area. The game board is divided into four journeys, namely, first time homebuyer's Boulevard, investment avenue, Sellers Street and Renters Road. Visit thepropertyshow.co.za for more information and to get your tickets today. The property show 2022, 27th to the 28th of August at the Santan Convention Center. No matter where you are on your property journey, we've gathered the experts. You heard it here first. You know what to do. All roads lead to the property show brought to you by privateproperty.co.za. It's happening on the 27th and the 28th of August 2022 at the Santan Convention Center. You can join us digitally from anywhere in the world, but we would suggest that you actually come here in person. So if you want to get your hands on a ticket, click on the link in the comments. Back to today's topic, though, we are still discussing how to secure luxury property in the current economy. We're speaking to Nazreen Musa, who is the Managing Director of Legendary Investment Properties. Nazreen, thank you so much for joining us. How are you? I'm more thanks than you. I'm doing really, really well, trying to figure out how to get my hands on that luxury property. Listen, tell me about Legendary Investment Properties. Give me some background about your company, what you guys do. Legendary Investment Properties is actually a development property that was curated for a particular lifestyle. Legendary investments brings you opulence while offering you the international trends that you aspire to have in your homes. So we don't just build homes, we build dreams and we create the dream home for you that other countries have. So we look at the trends overseas and we bring it to the homes that are here and we give you the home of your dream. Nazreen, would you mind elaborating for me on what exactly you offer? Like what kind of investments do you offer? Here I am imagining the softest life living in my dream home and I come to you. What is it that you have to offer me? The homes that I offer is of plan. So I would offer you a home that other developers don't really offer you. That'd be something different that speaks to you and your personality that calls you and says, oh my God, this is it, this is it. Those are the type of homes that I offer you and investments that I offer you. So for example, 19 on Torquay for a person that's like a loving wine, I offer a wine seller. For a person that loves, you know, that has kids and loves watching movies with their kids and spending time with their kids, I offer a movie theater. So there are different aspects that I offer to different homes that speak to you. And for the person that likes simply entertaining, I offer conversation parts and outside entertainment area with a bright area and simply being able to enjoy your home is what I offer you. You know, I hear what you're saying and it all sounds wonderful. But I mean, given the current economic climate, it all sounds very luxurious and very perhaps out of the budget. So I do need to ask you, is luxury property now a trend? You know, what exactly is it? What would define luxury property? And are we seeing, you know, an upward trend? Oh, absolutely. You know, we have the same beauties in the eye of the beholder. In the same way, luxury is in the eye of the beholder. So what I may define as luxury may not be the same thing you define as luxury. For example, you may find having a his and her dressing room a luxury. I know for me, it's definitely a luxury. I like my privacy, I like my space for dressing and I definitely do not want my spouse in the room while I'm dressing, hurrying me up or wanting to be in front of the mirror or something like that. So for me, that's my luxury. For you, it may be something else and it is a trend. It's a trend that's increasing and that it's increasing. And if you have a luxury home in a prime location, it's fantastic because all it does is it increases your price of the house when you sell it. I think what's really surprising to me is that you're describing these sort of magnificent aspirational features. I mean, everyone wants a bespoke home, right? Everyone wants to live in a place and move into a place that is made, especially for their needs and their wants. But we've just come out of a pandemic. We're still in it, actually. I hate to say we've come out of it because the effects of COVID-19 are still very much with us in 2022. So given the current economic atmosphere, how would you compare now this upward trend of people investing in luxury properties compared to previous years? With COVID, a lot of people have spent on bigger houses because they want a house that offers them an office. They want space for their children to run around in. And with COVID, the market has increased. The lecture market has increased. And with today's times being what it is, I mean, South Africa is the top five in inflation. China's leading the way with the lowest inflation rate. We look at UK, we look at the USA, and we look at Europe. And their inflation rates are absolutely off the charts. UK and USA is at 9.1%. The UK has had to increase their interest rate to 1.25%. The USA has increased it from 1% to 1.75%. And both these countries are expected to increase their interest rate. So yes, our interest rate is going to increase, but we are living in a time where we're getting value for money wherever you are. A lot of people have been investing in South Africa. We've been seeing from 80% being South Africans in this country, South African residents, to 60% being South African residents, and 40% being non-South African residents. These 40% comprised of Ukrainian, Russians, Germans, as well as the British and Europeans. So we are seeing people moving down to South Africa and wanting to live here. And with COVID making us work from home, we're seeing a trend that a lot of people are cutting down on office spaces and using that money instead to pay extra staff. And with that happening, we're seeing commercial buildings not doing so well, but instead the luxury market doing very, very well. So for us in South Africa, now is the best time to buy luxury property. I was doing an exercise where I took a million pounds and I put it into the bank of London. And I made a loss of, looking at that million pounds next year, I made a loss of 28,500 pounds. I did the same thing, taking a million rand, converting it to pounds and putting it in Britain. And I made a loss of 78,500 rand. But then I took the same million rand and I put it into a bank in South Africa and I made a profit of 103,500 rand. But with the interest rates increasing, with inflation going off the roots in all these different countries, South Africa is the best country to actually invest in, especially your residential, your luxury residential markets, I should say. I'm hearing what you're saying. And I think you're totally right. We have seen a trend in sort of, I mean, COVID necessitated for a lot of us to work from home and stay at home and do a lot of things in the home environment. And I think it really gave people an opportunity to sort of look at their surroundings and think what can I do to optimize this space to meet my immediate needs and also to make it a place of pleasure for me, a place of relaxation, a place of serenity, for family, for growth. So I see why the move towards enhancing your home space and entering this market would have been, you know, the, I suppose natural thing to gravitate towards. And you've touched on it a little bit, but I do want to ask you Nazreen, what would you say the benefits would be of investing in these luxury properties right now in South Africa? And I asked this with, you know, we're speaking about bespoke properties right now, creating something that is uniquely for you and your needs and your wants. So I understand sort of investing and doing so in an area that is, you know, perhaps it will grow in value, but you're not really investing in this home right now with the intention to sort of sell it off or flip it. Do you know what I mean? So I'm curious as to what you would identify as being the benefits right now of investing in these luxury homes. Well, one of the benefits is we have our kids come in at the end of the day from school. Well, I shouldn't say the end of the day, but the end of the school time. And working from home, you want your privacy whilst you're in a meeting. You don't want a little, you know, five-year-old walking into a meeting and saying, mommy, mommy, mommy, can I have this? Or daddy, daddy, daddy, can we do this? You want your privacy away from them. So the benefit is you'd be able to work in peace whilst you're in there. I know with me, I simply close the door and she knows, okay, mommy's in a meeting right now, you can't go in there. The benefits of it is you're able to enjoy your home more. A lot of us don't know whether how bad COVID's gonna come back and what the levels are gonna be. So we're having to spend more and more time in the house. And you want to enjoy the home that you have, this home that talks to you, the bespoke home that talks to you. The investment, I mean, we're not gonna sell our property right now. That's obviously a given. I mean, you've just bought this amazing house. Who would wanna sell it right now? But you wanna make the best of the bespoke home in having things that you enjoy around you. I mean, when we buy clothes, do we just buy clothes off the rack because we need that, you know? We buy something that we enjoy. We buy something that we enjoy using, whether it's a pajama, whether it's a top, whether it's jeans or anything for that matter. I think a lot goes into sort of investing in the stream home, finding the right builders, finding the right vendors, finding the right lights, trying to make it green and eco-friendly. There's so many things to consider when working towards this goal. So what would you give, what sort of fundamental advice would you give to someone who's investing in property? The first thing I would ask them is if they've got offspring. Because if they've got children, location is absolutely important. To be near the schools is really something that everyone wants. Because whilst you're working, you want to maximize your time. So you wanna be able to run off just after you've finished your meeting and in between meetings and pick up your kid or know that they can walk home with the nanny from school. So location is the most important thing. I would say, if they're downsizing, I would say to look at what criteria they, why are you selling your current home? And from there, move forward to decide what you need in your next home. If you're looking at a retirement home, what are you looking for? You wanna slow down the pace of your life in comparison to what it was before. I mean, the hustle, the bustle that we go through in everyday life. So I would suggest then looking at areas that have, you know, you can walk to the beach or you can walk to Kirstenbosch Gardens and just simply relax there. And if you like hiking, being near nature, that's definitely what I would suggest. So that fundamental rule, it seems, has not changed. Location, location, location. Everything's about location. I think if I get one next to the nearest bar, that would be fine. Listen, I love the fact that you mentioned downscaling and people, because obviously, you know, circumstances have changed. The economic climate is doing what it's doing. People have to downscale, people have to downsize. You know, older people have to move into retirement villages and retirement homes. I'm so glad you touched on that because you'll find that a lot of those people might feel as though they are priced out of the market or that there aren't necessarily products geared towards whatever their needs are, whatever phase and time they are in their lives. I'm curious as to what clients are usually seeking from you and your company when they come to you? Most of the time, I've got two different companies. I should mention that to you. Okay. So Capital Wide Pty Ltd is the other company that I have with another partner in which I'm an active partner as well. So I may not be running it in the sense of being, you know, the face of it, but I am part of it, you know, in the design process, in the building processes, in the payment processes, in the choosing of the finishes, the, you know, every part of it. So Capital Wide looks at that aspect of it. When you want to downscale, you would come to Capital Wide and you would be looking at that. So we look at the medium-scaled markets, you know, people want to downscale because they can't afford their homes anymore. So they would come to Capital Wide and they would buy off plan a home that suits their needs. It may not be a bespoke home, but it's a home that we can cater to and that we can change or do small changes that they require in that home. For legendary investments, it's more the high-end market, you know, people moving from Johannesburg to here to, you know, retire, and let's admit it, if you're in Johannesburg, you're making more money than you are in Cape Town. Yes, that's why we moved here to begin with. Yes, so if you're moving here, you want to be in Camps Bay or Sea Point, you know, to enjoy that atmosphere. So legendary investments is all about that area as well as upper clear mountains. It's more about the expensive areas and prime location. I've got you. Listen, what do you think the luxury property market is going to look like in the next five years? I know there's a lot going on right now. I know people are trying to rearrange their finances and their investments and, you know, their portfolios and trying to diversify in ways that are safe, given the turns and the dumbbells that we've taken in the last sort of two years. When you look at this market, what do you think is going to happen in the next five years? It's growing. It definitely is. But it's to a selective clientele. So whilst people may think, OK, Camps Bay is like way out of my reach or hen and chicken in upper clear mountains, way out of my reach, it is growing. As long as the price, the asking price, marries the value of the property, it is being sold. That essentially is what's happening. In the next five years, we're looking at changes in not just our portfolios or in the luxury market. We're looking at things like smart blocks being added to our homes, definitely, because 8.9 million units were sold in the year 2020. And they actually said 20.4% is the increase in it that they're expecting compounded annually. Of this 8.9 million units, 65% was actually sold to residential homes. Artificial intelligence is becoming something that every home wants to have. At this moment in time, 14.7% of the homes have it. By the year 2028, they forecast that 93% of the homes in the world are going to be having artificial intelligence. But would you say that this is the direction in which legendary property investments is heading? Yes, it is. It is heading in this way. Those are things I want to bring to the market because I haven't seen it yet. In any of the developers' specs at the moment, maybe in Johannesburg, but I'm not cleared up on the Johannesburg market. I'm cleared up more on the Cape Town market. And having smart ovens, lighting, technical devices, those are things that we want because often what we want being a mother and being a business woman in two different companies, I look at my daughter's needs and what do I want her to have at the end of the day is a healthy meal. So I want to buy a smart oven and that is what I am going to install in my home because that essentially meets the needs and criteria that I have for myself. But we are going to be seeing this because it makes our lives very, very easy in the future. At this point in time, you're getting the vacuum cleaners that are robotic so you don't even need your domestic to plug in your vacuum and start vacuuming your house. I definitely hear you, Nazreen, and it sounds like a lot of exciting things are on the horizon, both for the property market and for legendary investment properties. That is Nazreen Rusa, the Managing Director of Legendary Investment Properties. Thank you so much for joining us this evening and you've given us a lot of food for thought. I'm definitely into this AI direction we're headed in. So I hope to speak to you soon about more of that. Definitely. And one of the things I should mention is now is the time to invest in solar. It may sound expensive at the moment, but in the long run with the power cuts and the shortages of power, it will pay off. We're seeing even in the USA, they had a six hour power cut in San Francisco. In the UK, the prices of gas has gone up tremendously that during the winter months, no one actually applied the gas heater or switched on the gas heater for fear of the gas balls. So my advice at this moment to end the program is solar panels all the way. Definitely going to take that on. Thank you so much, Nazreen. That's the Managing Director of Legendary Investment Properties telling us about harnessing the power of the African sun and going solar. I'm sure we'll have more time to explore that. At a later stage, because I am the new host of the Private Property Podcast and we have very, very many more episodes to come. I told you, all roads lead to the property show. That's happening on the 27th and the 28th of August, 2022 at the Santon Convention Center. You can join us digitally from anywhere in the world, but like I said, you should be there in person. Today's winner is Glad Shirenda. Glad. You are the lucky winner of the whopping 500 grand and a ticket to the property show happening on the 27th and 28th of August, 2022. If you want to be one of the lucky winners to win what Glad has won, all you have to do is tag your friends, share this post, and keep watching and engaging with the Private Property Podcast every weekday to find out if you're that lucky viewer. Five viewers are going to win one ticket each and also the 500 grand. How's that for a property snack? So never miss a single episode. I'm your brand new host, Sibs Mateela. Thank you so much for joining us and we'll see you again tomorrow. This year, we're back. In real life and virtual with content generated in our Metaverse Studio. We've designed the exhibition space to replicate the world's most popular property game and added in activities for the whole family, including an indoor park and play area. The game board is divided into four journeys, namely, first time home buyers Boulevard, Investment Avenue, Sellers Street, and Renters Road. Visit thepropertyshow.co.za for more information and to get your tickets today. The Property Show 2022, 27th to the 28th of August at the Santan Convention Center. No matter where you are on your property journey, we've gathered the experts.