 Hi there, welcome to today's edition of the Private Property podcast. I am your host, Sibs Matiella, and we're here to talk about all things property. Today, a topic that is right down the alley for me because I need all of these questions answered. We're talking about searching for your first home and the do's and don'ts. I'll tell you our guest is a bit later, but before we get to that, listen, I need to remind you of something and that's 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 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 Santon Convention Center. No matter where you are on your property journey, we've gathered the experts. I'm going to keep reminding you every day because it's that important. You heard it here first. All roads lead to the property show happening at the Santon Convention Center here in Johannesburg on the 27th and the 28th of August 2022. You can join the show digitally and virtually from anywhere in the world because let's face it is 2022, but it would be much better if you were here in person. So you should absolutely buy a ticket. If you're looking to do so, click on the link in the comments and follow that link and purchase your tickets and we'll see you there on the 27th and 28th. Back to today, though, we are talking about a very exciting topic for me because I'm planning on winning the Powerball very soon and once I do, I'll be searching for my first home and I'd like to know the do's and don'ts of purchasing my first home and who else would be better to speak to than Carol Reynolds, who's the area principal for Durban North and Umlanga, that franchise of Pam Golding. Carol, thank you so much for joining us. How are you? That's a pleasure. It's lovely to be here. I'm very well. Thanks. I'm just going to get straight into it. You're the area principal of the Pam Golding in Durban North and Umlanga in Durban. Can you tell us what an area principal is? What is your role all about? Yes. So I basically own the franchise and I manage it. So I'm running the business as well as supporting my agents in their day to day jobs of helping our clients. So I'm a business owner, but I love property. So I'm there to support my agents as they move through the stages of helping people find their first home. Listen, obviously Pam Golding is one of the biggest real estate agencies in South Africa, hands down. Also a very iconic woman in the history of our nation as well. You and your team obviously deal with a lot of first time home owners. I'm curious as to what's the most common reaction that home buyers have, especially first, first time buyers? I think, you know, buying a home is a huge asset and it's also a very proud moment. So I love dealing with first time buyers because it's extremely exciting and very rewarding to see them acquire their first big asset. And homes are emotional purchases. Obviously, there's the intellectual side that you making a great property investment, which is good for your future wealth creation. But more than that, buying a home is really an emotional purchase. And so the buyers are so enthusiastic, so excited, but also a little bit overwhelmed. They've got a lot of questions. There's a lot they need to know about the process. And probably the most critical thing is finding out at what point they need to have funds available because buyers will need to have their costs upfront prior to the attorney being able to actually lodge the property. So they won't be able to take transfer unless they have paid for their bond registration fees and their transfer duty. So that's probably the most critical things that we need to educate our first time buyers about is not only do you need to have your purchase pass available, whether it's by bond or in cash, but over and above that, you need to have a little bit of money set aside for costs. Carol, I think finance is aside and I'm so glad you touched on this. Home buying is a very personal process. It's very emotional. You have to do a lot to get you to that point in the first place where you can check out your cart on private property. And there are a lot of things people might go into the process, not necessarily thinking, oh, let me check for the water pressure in this home, because the view is excellent, or do the drains work properly? Or is the hot water working? Or, you know, things like that. So in your opinion, and obviously as the expert on the matter, when people see their properties for the first time, what is it exactly you would advise that they should be looking for? So I think when people are buying into sectional title complex, it's very important to find out about the health of the body corporates, whether their finances are in place to make sure that there's always a buffer that the building is well maintained. That's very important. So it's critical to get a professional estate agent to help you on your journey because they will have advice about the specific complexes that you may be interested in. It's also important to look at area. You want to try and invest in the best area that falls within your budget. And then the beauty of buying property in South Africa at the moment is that there's recently been an amendment to the legislation that governs property transactions and sellers now need to have a disclosure document where they disclose any defects that are known to them. So that does give buyers a lot of comfort. And you can chat to your agents about that and see if they've got the disclosure document really available. Then you can have a look at that and discuss anything that concerns you. Most importantly, you want to know that the building is structurally sound. There's small, little cosmetic things that you can do as a buyer once you're living in a property, but you need the fundamentals to work. And this disclosure document information, although you say it's a new amendment, is completely brand new information to me. And I'm so glad you brought it up because it really leads me to my next question, which would be, do you think people actually do enough research when it comes to now preparing to start buying a home? I think a lot of people research their finances. They research perhaps the area and location where they'd like to buy a home. Parents trying to be closer to schools or, you know, children trying to be close to elderly parents who live in a retirement village, perhaps in the same area. But I did not know that there was such a thing as a disclosure document. And I think what would you say in terms of prep? Are people doing the right amount? And where should first-time buyers even start when they start their search? So I think what's critical is you mentioned getting their finances in order. When you are a first-time buyer, you want to put your best foot forward. So if you can get pre-qualified, I really would recommend that. And you can go to a bond consultant. They can do a pre-qual for you and they can do a credit check for you. So try and get your credit score as good as possible so that you can put your best foot forward when you start house hunting and then investigate the areas thoroughly with your agent. So go on to the poor tools like private property. That will give you a beautiful broad sweep, generic outline of what's on the market, what you can get for the value that you're able to afford. And once you've drilled down to that sort of level of information, then you speak to your agent and they can drill down further to the details like in this particular suburb which streets are the best streets to buy in. Because you'll be a myth that one road can be excellent and literally two roads away is an area that's not so great. And you don't want to make the mistake of buying the best house in the worst area. You always want to buy the worst house in the best area. So go for area first and then go for complex within that area because one or two complexes will be excellent and have a good reputation and one or two may not be. So your agent will be able to help you with all those details that are really critical to your decision because, yes, it's an emotional decision, but you also want to make an intellectual decision. You want to invest in an area that's up and coming where there's good capital growth so that you don't make the mistake of over capitalizing in time. You know, sometimes you buy a home, you love it, but you want to add this and renovate that and the last thing you want to do is over capitalized because you bought in an area with price ceiling. So find out what the price ceiling is and then make sure you've got a good buffer to play with. So without any bias, I'm going to ask you this question. Where is the best place to start looking for one's first home? Definitely on the portals, and that is genuinely where everybody starts. So go on time and I'm serious. That's the best place to start is when you're sitting at home and you can just troll the websites, have a look through. That'll give you a good idea because you may have in your mind that you want to buy an area X. And when you go on and have a look at the properties in that area, your budget may not fit the area and then you need to rethink what you're doing. So plug the details into the portals, plug in the suburbs, plug in your price band, and that'll give you a good indication of what your money will buy you in that area. Once you know what areas you like, then you go and you speak to your agents, find an agent that you can trust, a professional agent with a good reputation who's going to give you solid advice and ask them to help you. I love this area. Now tell me what is the best thing that I can buy with this budget and which nodes in this particular suburb are the best, the most popular? Where will I have the most capital growth and get that advice from your agents? Carol, you've been in this game for a while, so I imagine you've seen a lot of mistakes that people make. And I'm sure they sometimes a first time, oh no, or a first time property buyer will sort of try and do something. And I'm sure you'll roll your eyes and be like, I've seen this so many times before, don't do it. If you could isolate maybe one or two of those like the biggest mistakes that people make in their search for a home, what would you say they are? So I think the first mistake that people make is they underestimate the ongoing costs. So it's lovely to buy a home, but remember that you've got to pay your rates and if you're in a sectional title complex, you've also got a budget for your levies every month. So that's the first mistake they make. They literally buy at the max of their budget and then they've got no extra cash flow to maintain the property and to continue to pay the rates and levies. So that's the first mistake they make. The second mistake they make is that because it's an emotional decision, sometimes they can leap into things too quickly and they haven't done enough research on the area. Because if you're playing with a budget of say a million rand in an area that's not so great, you might be able to buy what looks like a mansion, but you're buying in an area where you're never going to recoup that money. So you're better off buying a one bedroom apartment in a better area, getting your foot into the door in the property market. And then you can start growing your asset best from there. It's a sprint and not a race, basically is what I'm doing. I think what's really interesting for me when I speak to you is that you've obviously been in the property game and the property market for a very long time and built a very successful and, you know, trust worthy steadfast name for yourself in this industry that one would argue is a male dominated one. It sounds like a strange thing to ask, what would you attribute your success to as a woman in a male dominated industry? But really, I mean, it can't have been easy for you to get this far up in the game. So what would you say, you know, were the leading factors in that? No, thanks for that question. I'm actually grateful that I work for Pam Golding because Pam was an icon in her time. And I think what she brought to the industry was empathy, compassion and all the soft human skills that women have naturally. And so I like to emulate Pam and her values. And I think that stood me in good stead because people want to deal with a human at the end of the day. They want to deal with somebody who's relatable and somebody who cares about them. I'm not deal driven at all. For me, what I love about this business is that I'm helping people and there's nothing more rewarding than helping somebody find a dream home. It's one of the most the biggest watershed moments of your life. So I'm very relationship focused, very people focused. I don't worry about all the other stuff as long as I can help people give them solid advice and make sure that they're making the right decision for them. That's what's so critical. I think to success, generally in business, I think more and more we wanting the human touch, we wanting those soft skills. And I believe that women have them in abundance. While we're on the topic of dismantling the patriarchy, have you seen an increase in sort of, you know, women buyers, women buying for themselves on their own for the first time? What would you say is the attributing factor to this? Encouraging to see that women are now wanting to become financially independent. They want to be career orientated. And so they are making their own decisions. I mean, women are so equipped to do that. I've got a daughter and a son, and I'll tell you hands down that my daughter is far more conscientious and organized. So women have got all the skills that they need to be successful entrepreneurs, career women and professionals. And and they now are in the marketplace and they're earning good salaries and so they're able to get into the property market and they can do it on their own. And it's really, really exciting to see. It's it's it's what the world needs. We all need to be financially independent. We need to build our own successes so that when we are eventually married, it's an equal partnership. There's no resentment. Everybody's there's no gender roles. Those days are long gone. It's all about equality and everybody having the opportunity to make a success of their lives and to be the masters of their own destiny. And women are doing it for themselves. I'm very excited to see more and more of that happening. And I hope, you know, we see more of a boom. Just strong, independent women doing it for themselves. Sorry, I don't know if I'm allowed to sing on this podcast. I really was about to break out into song. I'm thinking she works hard for her money. Do you know that song? Hundreds, love that song. That's all I was thinking about as you were speaking. Let's work hard for our money and buy our houses. Listen, the last thing I'll ask you is that is what are the are there any other little bits of advice you'd give to someone starting out on their search for the for their first time home? So I think first thing to do is get your house in order. So maybe you need to check on your credit score. So find out if you might have an old retail account that you haven't settled and that's going to negatively impact your credit score. So sort out your your own house, get your credit score sorted and check on your affordability. Find out whether a bank will finance you and at what level. Once you've done that, start researching the portals like private property. Scroll through, find out what areas appeal to you. Then narrow down the areas. Once you've narrowed down the areas and you've got your budget, then approach your agent, speak to your agent about the best pockets in those areas and most importantly, have fun. It's such an exciting, empowering decision. And I honestly believe that the sooner you can get into the property market, the better, because property generally inflates over time. It's a lovely, stable, medium to long term investment. And once you get into the market, banks are more willing to lend you on your to you on your second purchase. And so you start to actually build up your credibility in the financial world as well. And I believe that property is still the best way to create wealth in the long term. So my advice to you, if you want to, if you're thinking about buying your first home, stop thinking and just do it. Get into the market as soon as you can. I'm definitely going to take that advice, Carol, but it definitely means I have to start answering some of the private number calls that keep coming onto my phone and get my house in order, as you've suggested. All collectors, I will start taking your calls. Thank you so much, Carol Reynolds, the area principal for Durban, North and Omshanga franchise of Pam Golding and Pam Golding properties. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you, sirs. Lovely to be here. Thanks for having me, too. It is competition time. You know what that means? Someone who watches the show on a daily basis and has entered by clicking on the link in the comments is about to take home 500 rand in hard-called cash. Is it you? It's you, Glyst Stevens. Yay! Congratulations. Well done. You also get a ticket to the property show happening on the 27th and the 28th of August, 2022 at the Santon Convention Center. If you want to be like Glyst again, click on the link in the comment section where you can also buy your tickets to the property show in case you are not a winner. But Glyst, your 500 rand is coming to you. That was today's edition of the Private Property Podcast. I look forward to seeing you 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 Santon Convention Center. No matter where you are on your property journey, we've gathered the experts.