 There are pros and cons to buying, there are pros and cons to renting and it all depends on your situation, it depends on what you want for yourself, it depends on what you can have at the present moment. We glorify home ownership and it's great that we do. It's a huge step and anyone who's able to achieve that could also see you but it's a huge financial commitment. Welcome back to the First Time Homebuyer Show, I'm your host, Estie Klaasen. As you know, the First Time Homebuyer Show comes to your screens every Wednesday night at 8pm on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. And of course we have amazing content coming to you every weeknight this week. We've got Zaman Tungua Kamala with the Private Property Podcast and that's live every Monday to Friday at 7pm. And of course if you're interested in agriculture or farming or even farming stock falls while Mbali comes to your screens every Tuesday and Thursday at 8pm and Chad Vaviras comes to your screens every Monday and Friday evening at 8pm as he travels around Johannesburg all the way from Danefern to Stain City looking at amazing houses around Nzanzi and without further ado I am ready to start this absolutely amazing show but before I do that as this gorgeous lady walked into the room this afternoon absolutely gorgeous I could feel the spirit of your energy, everything. Paul Ngubes with me this evening. Welcome Paul. Thank you Estie. You're so welcome. You're so warm. Oh wow. Okay. Thank you so much. No you're absolutely, I mean as you walked in and I mean just talking to you over the past few days you know also your excitement to share your journey and we don't get that often you know we don't get a lot of people who buy first their first time buying homes wanting to share that story because it's not an easy journey. Emotionally, mentally, the steps you have to follow to actually purchase that home which you'll get into right but I just want to find out how are you Paul? I'm good. I'm excited to be here, I'm excited to share my story, I'm excited to talk to you finally. Thank you. Yeah finally. Paul has this always been a goal of yours? Always, always. I think from a young age growing up at home it's just been the message that's been drilled into my mind. I'm fortunate enough to come from a history of homeowners. Oh nice. Well women, my grandmother post the title, my mother post the title, so when the time came and I was able to do that for myself I mean I had to choose between getting a car and getting a property. Yeah. It was easy because from a young age it was just drilled into you. Yeah, the love of just having something of your own. Right. So something you can point to and say okay, I just want to work towards that, that's fine. Yeah. But that option between car and property, a lot of young people are currently sitting in that boat and I know because you have had this kind of you know powerful woman who come before you who automatically will tell you car isn't even an option here, what do you even mean? But there are people who are sitting in that boat, what would you say? How should they make that decision? Yeah and I love that you mentioned that. How the older generation would then say I mean come on a car, it depreciates in value. But I think our understanding of value just needs to be more in depth, I mean a car could be valuable. Exactly. Yeah, it introduces ease, convenience into your life. For me personally I could do without a car because you know where I was staying and where I was going to buy the property and where work is and you know the areas that I frequent I didn't need to do like a lot of travel. So I could you know handle that with the car chain. So I could do without but the reality for a lot of young people is that you probably live somewhere else and you work somewhere else. So when you're faced with that as you know a first major purchase option then you'll go for the car because it's more valuable for you you know in that moment. And that's the thing I think that a lot of the time we can't come onto this platform and tell you what you should do. No. We can't tell you buy a home. No. The hard truth is that you need to look at your own circumstances and then figure it out from there. I know that wanting a home and investing in property is definitely something that we should aim towards. But looking at your current circumstances and like you said I mean you working from home maybe as well is convenience. So look at your current circumstances and then make the decision from there. It helps to have all the information at your disposal which is why this platform is great. Someone who evaluates the situation and decides okay purchasing a home is great then the information is there and it makes things easier. You know we spoke about earlier about how what an emotional and physically mentally everything Lee the journey of buying a property and that's what I would like to actually I'd like for you to go talk to us in depth about is emotionally what was this journey like for you. I mean you know I guess because I had a lot of support and because I could go back to mom I could go back to grand us Christians they were heavily involved in the process emotionally not so much I guess the frustration comes in here and there with you know how lengthy you realize the process is and how much you need to have and the preparation and there are times where you get like these costs that you didn't even anticipate and you're like wait guys why yeah yeah yeah and you find yourself in the attorney's office you know yeah but emotionally I had a lot of support I think where it was the most taxing was financially oh yeah oh that's the only that's the only the financially the yeah saving saving was yeah a lot it was very crucial and obviously planning around your finances and just knowing where you stand financially I think one thing that intimidates a lot of us young people 100% 100% oh my goodness listen sense of topic how did you yeah how did you go about that even like push your credit score so that you could qualify for for the home loan etc all so I mean likely it's been something that's been at the back of my mind for a while yeah so then you would know that having a good credit score good credit record is perfect it's exactly what you need so it's something that I have been preparing for let's say like two years before I even went into officially purchasing my property so it's obviously and a lot of us struggle with this especially young people just credit is not always bad right it's not bad it's probably how you manage it yeah that that is the yeah that's kind of the way it becomes bad yes yes yes but credit in and of itself is not bad so I had to get over that because for the longest time especially when I started working I was just like don't get credit don't don't don't don't get anything just clean clean clean and in my mind I thought you know I'm sorted that's going to be enough but get something yeah even if it's a credit card but manage it don't go overboard that's the thing yes because at the end of the day when you go to those leading institutions they need to know that you know you're credible yeah and that I think we're not taught enough how to manage credit no you know yes it's all fun and while you go to the bank you get a credit card and I'm I'm only you tell yourself I'm only getting this thing to boost my credit record because in the next year or so I want to apply for a whole loan focus focus is so and determine and discipline discipline that's exactly it how did you do it discipline discipline and another question my follow-up question is do you think it's easy to save in your 20s it's not it's not I mean I'll use myself as an example I don't have children yet I'm not married so the only person I get to think about financially is just me but even then as a young person it's an establishing themselves I need to get certain things yeah build your own profile get certain things in order I mean you do need the money yes you do need the money but you do have the added advantage I mean if you find myself in my situation of not having like expenses that you can't necessarily walk away from so I guess the difficulty comes in that sense that you're trying to establish yourself but it's all about balance so it's establishing yourself in here now but also having a forward-looking perspective so I'm getting this now I'm sorting this out now but what am I putting away for the future yeah so it's it's always a tricky balance I mean and we always want to turn up and have a good time and spend time we do yes we do yes we do but then again balance yeah and just always being focused right and having the end goal in mind right it helps it helps a great deal because you know we we sit with this whole thing created and you talk a lot about balance and I wanted to find out from you lifestyle changes what you actually did to balance during your 20s to make this to make this home you know this dream a reality if I hadn't ordered in a week they would call and ask so it's just those small changes that you make um probably not going out as often as you used to if you have a midweek outing with friends I mean I got it all for now thanks Paul I was going to go for dinner tonight but I'm not doing that anymore don't don't if you have an end goal in mind it's just you know those small sacrifices you make between but it's it's worth it right now that this is here I mean I get to do my my midweeks now I didn't back then but now I can so it plays off I guess so exactly and I think what's so important is that um you I like that you say because a lot of the guests come on and they're like stop with this whole delivery thing change your lifestyle stop going out as much and we're in the we're at this age where again that's that thing discipline yeah because it's it's about also saying no and keeping your end goal in mind right yeah which is very important and just before the show you and I chatted and it was more about a lot of people coming to you asking you for advice so I know that you know like demographically we are kind of booming especially in our our age group buying property a lot of people in the 20s are now taking that leap of faith and actually going for a try and you making these lifestyle changes again like I said discipline is very important but what would you what advice would you give to people who currently are not in a position where they can with it with it where they they cannot save anything yeah you know um they love from literally paycheck to paycheck but they also want this I mean pace yourself it's very important to pace yourself um I think one thing that that really gets to us especially as young people is you would see the people around you doing this doing that achieving that but pressure pressure not only from the external but from yourself but pace yourself um and don't be too hard on yourself I mean if it's not possible right now it's not possible but as much as you can just just try to find those little areas we I'm sure there's something right you probably won't be able to save um at the at the rates that you you want to but trust me there's there's just always something you can cut back on um something you can adjust um where you can but but pace yourself and be patient with yourself um I mean we have to achieve these goals but we also have to be very realistic about our situations um yeah I think social media is not helping it's not it's not that account it's not it's really not let's talk about instagram it is not let's not talk about instagram yeah yeah because and it's always comparing you're comparing yourself to a lot of people around you in your circles and I love that you said you know just pace yourself and it can be very difficult at times but you know when you get to the point in life or even and one of the biggest things we talk about on the show is not just investing in an asset or property but investing in oneself of course and once you can figure that out it's going to be so much easier for one to teach yourself these life lessons of pacing yourself of coming to terms with the reality of what you know your financial budget is right now and maybe you cannot achieve it right now which is very important uh with the common saying is renting is literally like paying your landlord's bond so what is your kind of a sentiment around that because I'm sure before maybe oh you did say that you know you had the option of going back to your mom and grand for advice yeah but before that while you're renting that decision to buy is very difficult so kind of like what advice would you give people if they're sitting in that kind of middle such in limbo do I rent do I buy what do I do you know that phrase almost feels like the the the nine to five versus entrepreneurship yeah where it's like if you're working for someone you're helping them finance their dreams become the entrepreneur of the year yeah I mean but then again value it comes back to our understanding of them there are pros and cons to buying there are pros and cons to renting and it all depends on your situation right depends on what you want for yourself it depends on what you can have right at the present moment we glorify home ownership and it's great that we do it's a huge step and anyone was able to achieve that kudos to you yeah but it's a huge financial commitment it's a huge financial commitment and at times probably at that moment you may not be able to attain that goal just because it's so difficult right yeah so there are pros and cons to everything and renting affords you I guess a sense of flexibility you are not as bound as you would be under you know a bond exactly yeah so I mean there are pros and cons to everything but I think um evaluate your situation financially financially definitely yeah is it is it feasible is it a feasible option yeah and I mean at the end of the day there's absolutely there's nothing wrong with renting yeah it depends on you it depends on your needs it depends on your situation um I mean personally since I'm here I prefer buying for me to rob those bones for you prefer buying and I think for a lot of us um it's it's like a legacy issue yeah it's kind of ego-filled it's a legacy issue something I can have something I can point to something that is mine for some people that's not a major feat it's exactly whatever um but if that's something you want so you want to have something tangible something that you can call your own if you can handle the financial commitments then definitely go for it go for buying it also goes back to the whole thing that you were saying that people need to pace themselves of course so that's I totally agree I don't think there's anything wrong with renting um but again what are your goals in the future you know what is it that you want which is so important just earlier we spoke a lot about you know the other hidden costs and even just before we started you spoke about these surprises that come out of no end like you said sitting in the attorney's office not expecting all these hidden costs these just these surprises you know so just before I find out maybe as a first time home buy if you can elaborate on some of the hidden costs because I know you had advice you had that you know guidance and help from the elders you know what they guide you what are some other hidden costs that you didn't know about um okay there were some that hit me by surprise I think a lot of them I was aware of and perhaps I could name some of them um I know we think of property as just the property itself and then we stop at that price I know when we're browsing private property we look at the price of the property you're like okay cool I can manage that yeah boy oh boy oh boy okay depending on which direction you take personally I don't have um the free standing house okay so I'm in a gated community um you then have the cost that come with that maintaining the space um who we know about your bond registration cost we know about your uh bond transfer cost uh but a cost that hit me by surprise tell us what's the part where I have to connect to the electricity I that that that was I was like what girl and my mom was like no I thought she knew about them that mm-hmm oh wow I mean it was a relatively small cost but it was just like oh okay hey take that's on me hey take that's that's what what and then obviously the issue of insurance as well you do not want to skip that yeah more often than not I mean I'm sure your lender will make sure that you don't skip that skip that state sorry but yeah um it's it's it's way more than just the property itself it's also who I think this hidden step actually hit me a couple of months ago actually um I'm sitting in my place I'm like okay let me cook something I put on my stove and it snaps in that moment any everything becomes real I'm like I don't have I don't have anyone to call right now so hey the stove is broken can you come in and say I'm I'm the landlord you are the one I'm the landlord so uh apart from the cost associated with actually purchasing the property you also had to think about maintaining the actual property and long-term yes definitely so even in my saving I also had to factor those those issues in right so you save for your deposits for your registration your transfer costs but then you also have to think about okay if something had to happen with the plumbing right do I have reserved if something had to happen with the circuit do I have something if something breaks if a door decides oh do I have something or do I sit without a door for a few months no hey you know you need to and were you prepared for that I was luckily I was um I made sure in my saving I took about a year to actually save before purchasing yeah the property um and I think a piece of advice that my father actually gave me was um think about or try as much as you can to estimate what you would pay per month if you were going to purchase a certain property within this price range right because you have all these online calculators you can actually do that for you um yeah and then add all these extra costs and whatnot obviously it won't be the exact amount but it gives you an idea exactly and then from your existing um whatever source of income whatever if it's more than just one great for you but whatever source of income um try to put that amount away so it trains you to actually okay this is how much this is how it's going to feel this is how my life is going to change but at the same time you're putting away money to actually finance the moves um so that helped that helped um and by the time uh the first payment went off it wasn't a huge shock it was just like oh okay cool I'm comfortable but if you're renting if you look at it this way if you're renting and you're paying that amount let's say still you it's almost that mentality of oh no I can handle this yeah I can maintain uh no I mean um yeah in some instances not always yeah the price that you would pay for renting versus the price they pay for when you're buying something of course sometimes yeah sometimes yeah that was the case for me um the price that I was paying while I was renting is below within the price that I pay now right yeah so it's probably not the best indicator sometimes yes I just think you're scared to buy paul so you're just like staring thing oh no I mean if it works for you yeah but um if you have a goal in mind yeah train yourself move yourself yeah and I think what's so important is because a lot of I've been hearing those chat quite often especially this week is that saving without a purpose are we talking about that quite often and I have you know someone in my circle who's just saving but no idea why and for me I just this is my own personal opinion if you don't know why then I I don't see the need of saving I've done that before oh yeah I've done that before and then I ended up finishing that money because I was saving without a goal in mind so I needed something an immediate expense and I was just like wow there's this money sitting around I don't know for nothing yeah yeah so um I I definitely agree with you saving with saving with the goal in mind is always 100% effective it helps you yeah it helps you stay disciplined it helps you focus yourself um and just make sure that okay you don't do what you're not supposed to exactly I think in general purpose that word purpose is important and having one is important you spoke about having um you spoke about living in a gated community and another one of the questions that you often you also get asked in your own circle is freestanding yeah a freestanding home or actually investing in developments or even like you say a gated kind of complex what is your opinion on that um yeah a lot of people tend to favor the freestanding yeah yeah because then again my thing in my space full control my first option as well yeah full control definitely it's a great option uh but then pros and cons to everything of course I think the one thing that I appreciate about a gated community especially I mean I mentioned this I'm not married I don't have kids so just feeling relaxed in the sense that okay security is taken care of you know um the chances of anyone coming in without being authorized slim to none I mean we've never had any incidents and I made sure to check on that before I actually purchased the property like okay what's what's the what's the crime like yeah um you know how many instances in the past couple of months um and especially as a as a young woman in South Africa specifically that's something you want to be sure of your safety um again it goes back to you your situation your preferences personally gated community for me right now makes a lot of sense right because I don't have to be sitting at home thinking about oh my gosh did I lock the gate did I activate the the alarm yeah I just know that even if for that one day god forbid that's never happened to me right now that I forget to lock the door I forget to lock the door the sliding door whatever I know yeah okay no when I come back home everything's going to be intact because yeah security on that note you said you know you did your checks the crime rate safety what else would you say a first time home buyer needs to look out for oh wow okay um this is specifically if you are buying within a development or a gator community um get to know what the long-term plan is in terms of the development itself I think a lot of times we're tempted and oh okay I have an example a friend that's actually happened to a friend that's why I'm cringing because I'm like oh yeah but I'm not gonna say their names okay no tell us yeah so um he buys into a development and a lot of people are like running away from it that should have been the first rate flag it's kind of old um but in his mind is like okay I mean it's it's it's rational over time they're gonna you know fish and things up and but but but but but he gets into the property buys at everything seals the deal and then at the first AGM he then discovers that there are no long-term plans to actually develop the property um yeah so I mean what's the value in that right yeah so from his story I made sure that when my turn came you like I so are they like any long-term plans like develop the property um you know upscale make things fresher and then when I knew when that was confirmed I mean I also got a look at the previous minutes my agent was able to actually organize that for me yeah um yeah and then just get a sense of you know what what am I investing into you're very important that's crazy that all of that happened to but I also you know besides that you spoke about location you chose a certain location also again it like you you said it goes back to what you want your needs um but besides security location you know long-term plans I think also what are your long-term plans as a being like you're saying you know everything's fine now because you don't have kids you don't you buy awesome but what are your maybe personal long plans because what if like you do want kids in the next year of course um and I I mean in the Gator community that I'm in right now beautiful community but it's great for like a single young person okay I know for a fact that in the future if life does get serious and I do have a husband and kids I don't want to stay there so even in buying the property that I have right now the idea has always been okay somewhere down the line I'm gonna end up being a landlord um and I a goal is to have a bigger property right and I've given myself um about four years to accomplish that we're really preparing for it putting things aside looking trying to estimate as much as we can how much the move would require um but yeah and I guess that also informed my choice of you know the property the location because if you're thinking about being a landlord in the near future or in the long term you want your property to be in a place that is you know prime location right uh trust you uh schools and more and this and that's central you know accessible perfect so that was very important for me personally when I was purchasing the property and oh praise be I got that I got that but um definitely long term to be a landlord and to move into a bigger property well you talk about the importance of having insurance right and what would you say uh if one doesn't have insurance right what would they down for be in the long term especially and no insurance is key it should never get to the point where you don't have insurance it is but what could happen in in a case like that I mean first of all is see you're not raven and you can't seem to the future raven win last um you never know um and you can't discount um any uh disasters or anything bad um happening to your property especially if you find yourself in a freestanding situation right um something unfortunate takes place something unfortunate happens you want to be sure that I'm covered yeah I'm going to be good I know you want to cut costs and we want to cut corners but when you think about it in the long term it's going to save you a lot yeah if you come against a situation that requires a lot of money from you something unforeseen you're going to have to either leave the insurance yeah so rather save yourself the trouble and don't take that risk no don't I read something recently where they said everything is a negotiation everything right so I just want to find out from you how far can one go especially when it comes to buying your your first home yeah when it comes to negotiating I am a fan of negotiating it's here first I grew up in Durban you go shopping in the markets that is like a bad stereotype no we go shopping in the markets you know Sundays um this is how much I have how much can you you know I love I love I love I love I love negotiating oh I love a bargain I need to take you with me I love a bargain I mean it requires a bit of sweet talking yeah I think you could do I think you'd be perfect we practice no really you don't even need any practice I feel like you've got it at this point just yeah so um perfect I was able to shave off uh yeah from the yes yes that is insane yes so it's possible yeah it's possible yeah a lot of people don't realize that it is but it's possible right but I think what so I think the feel comes with negotiating is because of negotiating at a market is very different so negotiating for your property your home you know so I don't know I don't want to ask what the skills are that you need or what the tactics are that you know because there's no I don't think there's a book for this like a manual but I think it's also just the confidence uh the ability and I think it's the knowing just the fact that you know now that you can negotiate especially when it comes to things like this is now that's when you start trying yeah yeah and I mean I can't advise for everyone's circumstance I can only advise from the point of what I've been through and um I was lucky enough to actually find out that the person I was buying the property from has been trying or had been rather trying to um get rid of the property for a while because she couldn't she she I think at that point she had already moved overseas oh so she just wanted to close the chapter get it over and done with um a week before I had put down my offer to purchase someone had put down their offer and the bank said no um so I think she was at a point which was just like okay I'm a bot I'm ready right so from that point I hate I hate that I did this and I hate that I just outlawed this I'd like the situation like that but I mean um do what you must try doesn't hurt to try um but yeah earlier you said it took quite a while you didn't know it would take this long how long did it take um I mean lockdown definitely made things difficult because I got my property last year um it took a total of about four months okay four months okay in my mind I don't know why in my mind um I was reading these uh online guides and they're like yeah I'm like sixty sixty um eight weeks everything should be okay I'm just like yeah let's go yeah yeah um and then you have these um unanticipated delays here in the um yeah and then it took as long as it did but I mean it was worth it was definitely worth it we spoke about um negotiating especially with financial institutions or negotiating with the current landlord but which whichever case I feel like negotiation within property is quite broad you know you can do it at every different aspect even with regards to the hidden costs it's quite a there there's a way to navigate that negotiation um but now in terms of a loan and applying for a home loan or personal loan to buy a property which one would you suggest I mean a home loan yeah takes a lot more space yeah I mean more often than not with uh a personal loan I don't think you're as flexible when it comes to the amount of time that you have to I mean if you've got the money if you've got the money you know yeah and I mean go for it but um yeah it just makes sense to to to go for a home loan it allows you the time to pace yourself and um in instances where you know you want to pay more um within a certain amount then you have the flexibility to do that but it just it gives you enough time um to to to achieve what you need to achieve a personal loan I personally feel like it's a bit limiting right um maybe for a really small purchase a really small property then perhaps you could um but yeah home loan home loan is definitely the way to go and this is actually the frequently asked question on quite a few property platforms is can you reduce the payment terms have you tried have you wanted to I want to okay I want to um I know there's quite a lot of ways you can go around it but the most popular is to pay more yes yeah to increase your payment on yeah the amount of money rather that you pay on your your monthly bond agreement so that's something I definitely want to try um I haven't quite as yet because I've been trying to furnish my place okay so that's been taken yeah a lot of the weight of financially and then saving for the future obviously yeah but I definitely want to get that done I mean who doesn't want to shave some time you know what I mean yeah all of us yeah and the fact that it's possible who are take that opportunity exactly but also with regards to you know purchasing the property and yes there were many surprises on the way and hidden cross that you had no idea of what other challenges came or obstacles even came in your way that you had to deal with and overcame okay um spiritually it was a bit much yeah um I think even deciding to go into the property buying journey for me I mean I'm Christian so it is a very spiritual journey um praying for it before praying for it during and these delays and there are moments where you feel like oh no it's not gonna happen you know um I think that was the biggest challenge for me okay um and obviously the financial side of things where you have to adjust a few things here and there where you have these surprise costs bringing up and you didn't necessarily budget for that but okay I'm gonna take it out anyway because I don't have a choice another month of no overeats oh damn okay I'm gonna have to cook now oh but personally those those were some of the biggest challenges I'm fortunate enough to have had a really solid support system people already to some extent knew what I needed right what the journey was going to require but I think from you know a personal level where your mother and your grandmother can't be involved it's a very emotional very spiritual journey yeah um yeah it's yeah something else but you're still going through it and you're still obviously you know because it's the praying after as well that also comes with that spiritual journey and it's amazing because I mean you said you only bought the property last year and yet here you are we need to do like a one-year anniversary episode this is actually my man oh really we should have been shooting this in our in your home that's amazing um congratulations again just to close off the show I'd like for you to some advice to first time home buyers who are scared but they are able to afford their first home but they're too scared to do it to me to look at that's the one you have taken this very long difficult step this difficult journey listen to me pace yourself you've already said that pace yourself be honest about your circumstance but be willing to adjust your lifestyle to I guess shift around your current circumstance to reach your end goal in mind and listen it's very important to prepare prepare prepare prepare read read read research research research I think a lot of us sometimes don't know what the journey entails apart from the discussion that we had today I know probably because of time we were limited and we couldn't cover absolutely everything but the information is actually there I know AC has a bunch of episodes here on this show there could also a lot of your questions but it's very important to promote yes very important to research very important to prepare to know what you're going to be up against and um you can you can you can it's possible thank you so much Paul for you know taking time out of your busy day and coming and talking to us about your you know home ownership journey and again congratulations one year this month of being a homeowner well done congratulations and to everyone watching the show take that leap of faith buy that property let's stay together remember we're live every Wednesday night at 8 p.m on instagram facebook and youtube take care