 Hello, private property family. Excuse me. Good evening. It's 7pm and time for another insightful conversation on all things property. My name is Martha Shinga and I'm your guest host for the evening. And warm welcome to all our viewers who are joining us for the very first time. Welcome. Of course, special greetings to our loyal fans, our day ones and the friends we've made along the way. Come on in. You are right on time. We see you all from YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. And we're so glad that you could join us once again this evening. It's our month, it's still our month ladies. So happy Women's Month once again. Remember that this is only one of four great shows that private property brings you to help you make informed decisions about your property investments. You can catch our other great shows every weekday at eight o'clock. We start off with Chad on Mondays and Fridays for the home buyers show where he showcases some of the best properties that are in the market on www.privateproperty.co.za. Tuesdays and Thursdays are with Mali on the farming podcast. And in the middle, that's Wednesdays, we have Esther on the first time home buyers show to motivate you to chase those property goals. Now, I don't know about you, but our latest competition has gotten me so excited. We are getting closer to one million followers. So please don't stop. It's a whole lot of fun and you can get everyone in your circle involved. Simply comment on our post, give us a review, share our Facebook page and podcast links. And remember to tag your friends and family. Now, the cash, the cash prizes rolled over in the last few days. And later in the show, we will reveal this evening's winner of the 2000 rent cash prize. Don't forget that you can only claim the price if you are with us during this show. So will it be a rollover or will someone take it this evening? We will find out a bit later. And as you do so, remember the three hashtags that you use for the post to count. And they are hashtag one million followers, hashtag 10,000 comments, hashtag 5,000 shares. Now let's not keep our guests waiting any longer. This evening, we are looking at things we should consider before renovating our homes or rental properties. I am joined by Namke Gume de Majola, the financial and business manager at Isandla Property Fund. Happy Women's Month, Namke, and welcome to the show. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. Happy Women's Month. Thank you so very much. Now, before we start with our topic for the evening, I was reading up on your company, Elia, and I was quite impressed about the work that you do on Women Empowerment. Do you mind to share with our viewers what you do at Isandla Property Fund? Sure. So Isandla Property Fund is an unlisted property company. We are a majority black female owned and managed. So our CEO is a black female, she's a powerhouse. And then I am the financial manager. Our black female ownership comes from our broad based empowerment trust called the Entrepreneurship Development Trust. And their beneficiaries are largely women, like above 90% of their beneficiaries are women. And that's where our black ownership comes in. And then our minority shareholder is invested property. Wow, women power right there. I think that's the part that really just got me so excited. And I think really ladies, there are the opportunities, you know, we are, you know, making a mark in property. So that really got me so excited. Now, let's get on to the topic of the evening. Renovating a property can be an exciting project, you know, for various reasons that people do it. It could be for vanity. Some do it for, you know, for some, it's for major projects for flipping or student accommodation. Like if you are like one of the top friend gang members and my friends say me, and I hope he is taking notes this evening. But it really can also be daunting. I mean, personally, that is not something that I'm even looking forward to. It's I'm not even thinking about renovations. It just sounds so intimidating. Maybe let's first look at some of the main renovation projects that property owners generally do. Sure. Well, I think you've mentioned quite a few of them. You could just wake up one day and think, oh, especially now in lockdown, when we're spending more time in our homes, you could be thinking, oh, I really want to have a different kind of kitchen or I really want to create this kind of space for myself. So there's definitely from a home perspective, those kinds of renovations. There's also from an investment property perspective, perhaps you're thinking, if I changed my investment property and made it more modern, made it more urban, then I could get higher rentals for that. And so that's something you could be considering. Or like you said, it's a massive project like you buy a house on the cheap in a good neighborhood. And you decide if I modernize this and put some money in, I could sell it for a lot more and make a bit of a profit there. So there's some big, big projects that you could do there as well. It sounds like a whole project plan. And I'm just thinking now, before one things of breaking down the walls, I think some of us can start thinking that tomorrow I'm getting the hammer, that breaking the walls. But where do we start? So first of all, please don't break down your walls. Anything structural could be an issue for you. So I think in terms of just where you start, you just need to decide who are you renovating for? So are you renovating for yourself? Are you renovating for future tenants? Are you renovating for future buyers? If you're renovating for yourself, i.e., you've been in lockdown, you're tired of your space, you want to give it a bit of a lift, that's fine. But you do need to consider, okay, first of all, what project do you want to do? And secondly, how much capital is that going to take? And is that going to add value to your home? Because the last thing you want to do is to have a one and a half million-round home, for example, and then you put in another $500,000 rent, but you can't get that out of the market when you sell it. Like, no one's going to buy that back from you. So you very carefully need to consider how much are you putting in to make sure that you don't overcapitalize your home and not get a return back on that. And then that's similarly when you're thinking of a rental property. If you're thinking, oh, you know, we just got a notification now that we could be lodged shared between six and nine. So you think to yourself, if I put in some kind of inverter or some kind of battery into my rental home, I could get more tenants, something like that seems to me that you could command a higher rental in the tenant market, because that's something that not a lot of rental properties have. So you just need to consider what you're looking to do very carefully and make sure that you can make a return off of it. Unless, of course, this is your forever home and you're on planning on selling, in which case you can do whatever you want. Great. So I think we are now getting to the point about talking about what renovations add value to your property and what doesn't. And like you were saying, you must think whether you are doing it for you, because if you want to spend a little bit more on something that might not do anything to the value of your property, but you are happy to live with it because that is your home where you're planning to spend a lifetime. That is something quite doable. You've also mentioned a few things that you could do for your rental property. Are there any other things that one could do to increase the value of their property? I think it depends on a lot of things. It depends where your rental property is kind of based. I think initially, people would think I should perhaps modernize the space. I think that would always allow you to command a higher rental. But it is really dependent on where your property is based and what your market and your property is looking for. So for example, if your market is a young professional, they might not mind that this space is a bit smaller, but looks a lot nicer. Whereas on the flip side, if your market is a young family or perhaps an older family, perhaps they don't really mind that the space doesn't look as modern as long as there is more space. So it just depends what you're looking out for and who your market is. So you really need to know your market. I like what you're saying about location because that is the one thing that we're always learning here in this podcast that location is quite key because you also don't want to go and spend a lot of money in a location that will necessarily not attract the kind of clients that you're actually looking for. Absolutely. And you also just need to check that you can actually get a higher rental in that market. So you definitely need to do your market research because even if you put in an extra 50,000 or 100,000 in your property, but your rentals already at the kind of cap in that location, it'll be very hard for you to get that money back from a tenant. And I think that's very, very important. That whole concept of overcapitalizing again, I think it comes in at play. Now, Nomke, this is quite interesting, but we now need to pause for a moment, please, if you would allow us. Our viewers are dying to know who is working away with the cash prize from our competition, as I have mentioned, that we are getting to the 1 million followers on the private property podcast, as well as the Facebook page. So now the random picker will select the winner and it should be on our screens right now. So who is taking that 2000 rents this evening? I cannot wait to see that. And the winner of the 2000 cash prize from our competition, it's Zinle Zaminin. Congratulations, Zinle. You are our third winner of this competition. Well done. Do show yourself on the comment section so that the team can confirm your win. Enjoy the prize. Enjoy it. Enjoy it. Now, getting back to our conversation, Nomke. So as land ladies, and I think we've spoken a little bit about this earlier. So as land ladies and landlords, what are the home improvements that we should be doing in our rental properties? So I think earlier on when we're chatting off-stage, we were saying that last night I was watching Esther, who is the host of our first time home buyers show. And her guest, she was talking about how she is renovating some of her properties that are based in a township because she has realized that people want to remain in the township. But they want what is happening in the urban areas, the nicer townhouses and all of that. So she started investing to us then. So she has found that market for herself and she's just running with it. So can you talk to us a little bit more about that as well as what can we do as property owners to our rental units? Yeah. So I think similarly, as I mentioned before, it really does depend on what are you looking to do. So the lady in your podcast from yesterday, she's really found a great market for herself because if you speak to people, you do find that people love the township community. They love the vibe. They don't actually mind the drive, say they work in, I mean, the CBD, Santa CBD or whatever. They don't mind the drive going out there because their families are there. They love the vibe there. And so they're happy to stay there. But the places for them to stay, they prefer that they look similar to how they would in, let's say, the northern suburbs. And so she's picked a really great niche for herself in that sense. Again, I think it's very similar in the sense that if you have a modern apartment, you're likely to get more interest, especially if your market is younger. So if you have a small apartment, I'm assuming like a lot of us start out with small apartments because they're also cheaper on the cost scale. And often our tenants that we're looking out for on market is young professionals or young families and young people. So millennials, they love kind of modern urban spaces. And so if you renovate your spaces to look more modern, a kitchen does like a lot to a space, similarly a bathroom. Those are the first two things that I look at when I look at a property. And so I think if those two spaces of yours are modern and look really good, then you are proper positioning yourself in that market that you're in. But you do just need to consider, who am I renovating for? Is it for the tenants? And then you also just need to consider all the things that come with that. So the budget, the timeline, the project management, all those gray hair inducing things. Speaking of gray hairs, I think we must talk about this. I mean renovation is a project on its own. And there are those people who think they are quite brave. I know like Sammy, one of the followers that I was talking about, because it does quite a lot of renovations. And I know he does some of them himself. I think he's brave. And for me, like once again, it's something that I wouldn't attempt to do. So do you want to talk to me about the pros and cons of getting a project manager versus doing it yourself? It depends on the project, firstly. So if, for example, you are just renovating your kitchen, that's certainly something that you could take on yourself. And you do have to understand that it is a project, and you will probably get more gray hairs when the project is over than you started with. But if it's a smaller project, and you know that that's a skill of yours, like you can manage people, and you're very good with timelines and deadlines and budgets, things like that, then that's certainly something that you can take on yourself. If you know that that is not your strength, then maybe outsource it. I'm not saying to a project manager, but you can maybe outsource it to a family member who has that strength. Because I think a project manager adds a lot of value when it's a kind of larger project. But if I'm not sure the value that you'll get for what you're paying, if it's just a smaller project like your kitchen. So I'd say if it's a kitchen, if it's a bathroom, and you know that you're not good at that kind of stuff, then try and outsource it to a friend or a family member who is really good at that kind of stuff. If it's a bigger project, I would definitely say get a project manager, because managing a renovation or a flipping a home is like a full-time job. So if you have a full-time job, things are definitely going to fall through the cracks. So if you're managing a bigger project, I would definitely say outsource it. It is going to cost you more than you would have spent if you did it yourself. But in actual fact, sometimes what people find is that if they weigh up the time lags that they experienced by doing it themselves and the increase in costs by doing it themselves, sometimes it almost balances out and they should have just gotten a project manager in the first place. Yeah, sometimes. So speaking about the budgets and you know, some of the people that we talk about, we talked to around renovations, they tell you that, you know, they would have started with a certain amount, you know, in mind that they would have learned to spend 100,000 grand and a month later or two months later, everything has just escalated. How do you keep your budget, you know, in control? How do you manage your budget? Yeah, so the budgeting piece is really important and you have to be really detailed about what you're looking to do. So you almost have to know to the number of tiles, how many am I going to need, you need to know what tile it is, so you know how much it's going to cost you. You need to be really detailed about your budget so that you know whether what you want can work within your budget or not. And even after you've been really detailed, you still need to add a little bit of a buffer in there in case things go wrong, in case time lags happen and you have to pay people more because they're staying for longer. So I definitely say you need a 10 to 20% buffer on your already very detailed budget just in case things go wrong because the worst thing is if you're 80% through your project and now you've run out of money and now you have an 80% done kitchen, that's the worst. So definitely have a contingency in your budget of 10 to 20% to be safe. So planning is very important. You must know what you want out of it. You must know how much you want to spend on it and just build in that 10 to 20% contingency. Now, not everyone of us into owning rental properties, some are just home owners, they just have their residential property. What would you say, as a smaller project, what are some of those not so major renovations that one can do, but they make a whole lot of difference to your property? So I think definitely keeping a kind of garden area that's, I won't say landscape because that sounds very serious, but just a pretty looking outside area for the family to sit or for you to sit. But from a home owner perspective, that kind of stuff is very personal to you, to your family, to what you guys do in your home, to how you want to use your home. Some families are big entertainers and so they love to have entertainment areas, bright areas, a bar, etc. Some families really aren't like that. They'd rather spend more money on an office or a study with large bookcase and lots of books. So for a home perspective, it is really difficult to say what parts you should renovate and what parts you shouldn't, especially because you don't know who your buyer is going to be. So you could be the entertainment household and your buyer is the office slash study household. And so they will make the home into their own anyway. So that kind of stuff is really, really personal, but you should definitely go for it, making sure that you do not overcapitalize. That is the key point of this podcast today. No, I didn't say, I think we hear it all the time, do not overcapitalize. And I'm sure even on the comment section, unfortunately this evening I'm not able to see that I'm sure either. That's one of the things that are coming through. So now as we begin to actually wrap up our discussion, renovations don't come cheap. You could be spending anything between a few thousand brains to 100,000 brains. As we've said earlier, it also depends on the kind of project that you are busy with. So in terms of financing, how do we prepare for for a project like this? And are there any financing options that are available out there for home renovations? Sure. So I mean, getting a home renovation project through a bank is really difficult. I'm not saying they don't do it, but it is quite difficult for them to back that. A lot of it depends on what the value of your home they have on their side. So what is the value of your home on their side? And so if you include this, will it add value to your home or not in their books? So I mean, you can certainly test the idea with all the banks, not just your bank, you can go to all of them. But I do think that someone with a renovation plan in mind should definitely be looking at it as a short to medium term savings goal, because banks aren't really on the side of offering that up as an option, as a dead option. And if they do, I really don't think it would be at 100%. So either way, you would need to put some of your equity and some of your money in there. So if this is a project that you're thinking about, it's certainly a short to medium term goal dependent on how big the project is. Well, that's a bit of a bummer. But yeah, I think what's quite important is that you need to say for it and you need to plan properly. So if you are thinking about getting into a project, a renovations project, now is the time to save up for it. Nantle, it's been absolutely awesome. Thank you so much for sharing your insights. We truly, truly appreciate it. And I enjoyed that conversation. Thank you so much for joining us. That's such a pleasure. Thanks for having me. Thank you. And then also, Nantle, you can get in touch with them on the details that we provided on the podcast information. I believe we do not have a winner for this evening. So it looks like we are rolling over the price. So tomorrow, 2500 brands will be up for grabs. So continue to comment, post on our Facebook pages, share the page, give us a review, tag everybody. So guys, it's really been awesome as always. Thank you for tuning in. I really enjoyed my time with you this evening. Summer will be back tomorrow evening. So same time on all of our platforms. So let's head over to the farming podcast with Mbali. She will be on at 8 p.m. Until next time, stay home and be safe. Nishai Sege, good night.