 Good evening and welcome to episode 397 of the private property podcast on the host. It's a Friday edition of the private property podcast. Welcome to the family. You tune into the only daily public show in the country catering to your property needs. And all our regular viewers from Facebook, Instagram and YouTube are welcome to us. You know how we do every single weekday. You and I have an appointment at 7 p.m. We're always in conversation with a property expert who helps us make better property decisions. And talking about making better property decisions. You know, you can tune into a whole host of other great shows that we have across private properties social media pages. As it is a Friday, you can catch Chad on the home shopper's show. Well, he takes you through incredible properties that you can find on www.privateproperty.co.za. And you can catch him on the same show every Monday at the same time. And every Tuesdays and Thursdays. 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And the more times you enter, the more times you share those insights with us, the higher your chances of walking away with the cash price. You also have to be watching us live, of course, in order to claim that price. That's all you have to do in order to stand the chance of walking away. And in David, where the person that would fall halfway through the show does not raise their hand and let us know that they are indeed watching. Then the money rolls over into the money bag. Yesterday Rosenthala was chewed in and watching. She claimed her price. This evening we're back at 500 rands and we're going to see who the lucky winner is going to be. Thoughts through thought about. And that is, of course, the things that you need to consider when purchasing a holiday home. I know that some people have certainly wanted to purchase a holiday home. More people sometimes have thought of at the very least having access to a holiday home. But I've been looking at whether some of the key features that people look out for in a holiday home. Some of the do's and don'ts when you want to go into that kind of asset class. I was actually saying to my guests that this is one of those few asset types in property that I'm not too familiar with. I don't have a holiday home in my own portfolio and in the businesses' portfolio as well. And Tom has got a good sense of what to look out for. Some of the do's and don'ts and don'ts this evening by Andrea Tagos, the director at Mortgage Me. Andrea, good evening and thank you so much for joining us on the show. Good evening. It's lovely to be here this evening. I think Andrea, before we even look at what to consider some of the do's and don'ts, let's have a look at if you could take us through what the stage of holiday home purchasing or even selling has been in the past year. Let's even make it 18 months. So since COVID, since the COVID period has effectively started relative to the pre-COVID era. So what we've experienced in South Africa over the last 18 to 24 months is an overwhelming push for a lot of South Africans to move to coastal towns. So historically, they've gone down during two or three holidays during the year. They've enjoyed a wonderful holiday anywhere near the coast, which is where a lot of South Africans gravitate towards probably as early as next week. And when the world changed, like we had never anticipated just going to in March last year, people weren't going to the office anymore. What we've seen in the last 18 months is a lot of people have, instead of looking at buying a holiday house property somewhere at the coast, for example, they've in fact just moved their entire lives down to coastal towns. So the terms of immigration we've all heard, people have moved down to zoom towns. And I think there's certainly been a shortage of properties to rent in those coastal towns because of you now find a whole lot more people living there permanently as opposed to going down for short term holidays. I think that's an important thing to take note of that for many people. The rise of the zoom towns was certainly a thing. And I've had a number of other guests who have commented about how different people are moving to coastal towns and setting up routes because of the remote working opportunities that they effectively had. Some of them even sold the properties that were living in. Some decided to keep their properties and rent them out while they of course then move to the coast. And I think when we then look at some of the things that we need to be looking out for. And I think first, just take us through some of the key things that we need to bear in mind in the event where you want to purchase a holiday home. And this is of course what people are looking to purchase it for purposes of it being an investment property as opposed to it being a property that they as a family are going to be using during the holiday period. It's always such a fun exercise to start doing. And this is the time of year. Well, I suppose the time of year was probably three months ago for you to decide where you want to go on holiday. And a lot of people either decide to go and enjoy the beach if they don't live anywhere near the coast like us in Joberg or they decide maybe a holiday somewhere north of Joberg towards the bush is a good idea. But the first thing that you need to decide is actually just a natural stick that you're going to go through when you decide to go on holiday is to decide what kind of holidays you like and where you like to go. And then book a holiday. It's just assume someone's going to look at a holiday home at the coast. Find yourself a decently passed holiday home that has got all of the features that you'd like in an area that you'd like to discover more about and go on holiday. And the process of looking for holiday destination accommodation is so much easier now than it was 10 or 15 years ago. There are estate agents that can help you find a holiday home to rent out for three or four weeks during the holidays. Or you can look at Airbnb or any other similar kind of website which is in effect a portal for any available accommodation anywhere in the world. So decide as a family unit or as an individual where you'd like to go on holiday and the whole premise behind a holiday home that you're looking to buy for investment purposes is that it would be great if you could use it every now and then. So finding a holiday destination and a decent holiday home in there is only going to be possible if you can go and experience what a holiday is like in that town. How easy is it to get there from where you are? How easy is it to get there for everyone else in the country? If the holiday destination is far more than Mozambique and it's really only possible to get there via flights then you need to factor that in. But if it's anywhere on the north of the south coast of Natal anyone in Drobo can basically get there within five to seven hours and it is very, very accessible for people who live in Natal as well. So you're looking at having a bigger market because if your prime purpose for this is to invest it you need to make sure that there is always going to be a market for this property. So first spend a week on the internet. Once you've decided what you are looking for in a holiday in a holiday home, in a holiday destination spend some time looking at what the options are in that particular area. And always search within a specific zone look in a specific town as well as looking just outside there because you might find that holiday homes in a town like Plittenburg Bay are very expensive but if you drive ten kilometres in either direction you might find something a little bit more remote but it might well be half the price because it's not in that specific town zone. So always look just outside of the area that you identify you want to go in because you might find some interesting opportunities or some interesting homes that you wouldn't have thought of looking for within that specific zone. And the next step once you've booked your holiday home is obviously to go down on holiday and that is always going to be a good opportunity for you to look around. You need to understand what traffic is like in this town. Does it take you an hour and a half to get from one side of town to the other during the busy December periods? Are there decent shops available that sell fresh produce? Where is the fresh produce coming from? Are you going to battle to stock up your fridge halfway through your holiday if there isn't a decent shopping network available there? What kind of people go on holiday in that holiday town? Are they the kind of people that you see in your hometown or that kids go to school with? Or is it a very different kind of person? Because you obviously want to have some commonalities with the people that you're going to see in and around on your holiday. And also then speak to people. Speak to shopkeepers. Find out if this is their busy period and how quiet things are out of season. Always get a sense when you're going to a holiday town what it's like in season and what it's like out of season. And it's always a very good idea before you make any big investment into a holiday home is to always, always go and visit that village or that town and that specific home during the off season. You want to understand what the weather's like during season and when a lot of people aren't there on holiday. You want to understand how busy and how quiet the town is at all times of the year. Because you need to get a sense of whether this is a complete ghost town for 10 months of the year and only comes to life for the other two months of the year. So just going down to an area and experiencing the specific area that you want to look in as well as in either direction or in every direction that you can go to in order to understand what else captivates people in that area and what gets people to go to that holiday town. And I think those are such key things. I know on one side you're just in a particular coastal town. I wasn't particularly familiar with it and I just couldn't find time to go down. The property prices seemed very reasonable. You'd be buying land and effectively building from the different pictures that you're seeing looking at different options and they seem reasonable but I'm very big. I'm never buying a property just based on pictures alone. You always have to go there and get a sense because as much as you can get a lot from pictures there's also quite a lot that you do not get from pictures. So it really is important to get a sense of that. Anything that was in a recent trip down the coast where I lived in an area, absolutely loved it saw the opportunity and already started tracking different properties in that area because I thought this would actually be a great place to buy into. So I like that tip of book and holiday in that space, drive around, get a sense of it. For me in that particular property I stayed there for probably the third or fourth time that I was now staying there. So I knew what it had to offer every time I always just want to make an offer but the owner is still very invested a little bit into that particular one but it's just a really, really good find. Now of course there's something looking at I'm going to bring it back just then just how we're looking at things to consider when purchasing a property and I can see some of our viewers are watching at home sending through some of those questions and comments wanna find out from the viewers at home whether or not you have a holiday home what were some of the things that we looked out for in purchasing that holiday home and in the event where you do want a holiday home what are some of the key features that you're looking for in the addition of that particular holiday home. Andrea you wanted to come in? It was definitely worth a whole separate discussion because we live in South Africa there's also so important to get a sense of when you're down there on holiday is what are, if there are any issues in that specific town and in the specific property that you're staying in around safety and security it's certainly not a uniquely South African problem but something that you do need to be constantly aware of and it reminds me of a holiday that I took on the South Coast of Natal a couple of years ago and I think it was an Airbnb booking that we made that mentioned a security alarm and when we checked in and met the owner we were given an alarm remote and told to make sure that whenever you are in and around the property you must make sure that the alarm is always set and it gave me a bit of a nervous feeling and of course kids run around and set up a beam and we actually spoke to the security company that came very quickly which was a certain comfort to have them come quickly once the alarm went off and we said how often does this happen and do we really need to be concerned and I said there is a lot of petty crime in the area not something that's going to be advertised on a property on Airbnb but looking and understanding those kind of subtle signs of a specific property or a specific area is just so important to do and it's something I always do whenever I go to holiday destination is either go for a walk or go for a run around the neighborhood understand what the properties look like and have a look and see how tall the walls are are they Joberg Scarha walls or are they small fences do they look like they have got a lot more security than you're anticipating but you get a lot from just a general wonder around the neighborhood just keeping your eye out for things that you should be aware of and I mean you definitely do and it's always a very big tip that I even give people who want to buy their own property to live in that you want to set up the area as much as possible I think one of the great pleasures that we now have especially with Airbnb is that you could even book a place in that same complex and live there for a couple of nights to just get a sense of how it's like before you effectively buy into it some of the love that we're getting on our social media pages getting lots of compliments thank you very much at home and all the everything say good evening, gorgeous, I love your hair Polina and Kosi watching, Sarah, Matetza watching, happiness Marulaga sings, we are your food looking good, thank you very much they're happiness a question coming from Unhati Wendu not a property related one those saying very well just wanted to know where we get Zama's lipstick so the lipstick is really rude and it's a MAC lipstick so that's the name of the lipstick I think it's one of those lipstick that every woman needs to have as part of her makeup but in the meantime we're going to take a quick break get a sense of who the lucky winner of the 500 Giants that is up for grabs this evening is and we're going to come back we're going to explore mistakes that we need to avoid when buying holiday home and we've already started touching on some of them but we really want to get a good sense of what mistakes to avoid and then also on the management side of things because one of the things about holiday homes is they're most likely of course it looks coastal towns you may be based in Joeberg so how should you be thinking about the management of the holiday home and even the viewing process we're only saying that I was reluctant to make an offer on a property that was by the coast because I hadn't viewed it and I just didn't have time at the time to go down to the coast and view that property but any time let's have a look at who the lucky winner is and we'll be back in just a moment and the lucky winner this evening is Vanessa now Vanessa now congratulations 500 Giants is up for grabs as we continue our conversation this evening taking things to consider when purchasing a holiday home and in the conversation with Andrea Tucker who is the director at Mortage Me and taking some of your questions and comments at home we've got a comment coming through from it's said by Mochiboudi saying it depends widely on the location as well I wouldn't want to have a holiday home in a busy city life because I don't want to have a holiday home in a busy city life because I don't want to have a holiday home in a busy city life because during that time you need that tranquility and anything close to nature maybe even a Gulf state and that's actually an important one because I think when we think holiday times we're probably not thinking Joburg for the most part or certain parts of Joburg they certainly are in the greater Johannesburg areas there may be instances where there might be properties that may land themselves to giving you a sense of being on holiday but not all the time Now Andrea, before the break I did say I want us to then explore mistakes to avoid you know whatever is having mistakes that people sometimes make when they push them to their home that our views at home absolutely need to avoid So you've already mentioned the first one and it is so important to not buy property without seeing it in person we've all used filters we've all taken pictures of ourselves and filtered some of the wrinkles away flattened the hair a little bit and photographers who are taking photos on behalf of an estate agent or on behalf of someone who's renting a property out on Airbnb is going to do the same you can almost guarantee that cracks on the wall are going to be filtered out and angles are so important it comes to photos of rooms and photos of the front of properties so don't assume that any property is exactly as it looks on all of its photographs online so make sure that if you are really serious about buying a property that you have to go and see it yourself you need to go there with a very critical eye have a sense of what you saw on the photos on a posting for example on a property portal but make sure that you can go there and just with a critical eye look at the size of the rooms look at what direction the property is facing look at how close it is to the ocean if you're at the coast look at the size of the walls around the property look at where it is specifically on the Gulf Estate look at the neighbouring properties go there with a critical eye and ask all the questions that you feel that can be to ask there's no such thing as a city question when you're engaging with an estate agent and don't stick to one estate agent you might well see a property avatar on the portal make contact with that estate agent but always talk to two or three others they're always going to give you a personal sense of where a neighbourhood is going they'll give you a sense of any issues that you might anticipate just through their normal business interactions selling properties or you might even find that you're lucky enough and that you've got a state agent living in that specific time they'll be able to give you very personal insight around the kinds of questions you should be asking and those likely to be honest answers from there and it's also important at the same time to get a property valuation much like you would if you're buying a property where you live at the coast or anywhere where you're looking at buying a holiday home make sure that you get a sense of how much that property is valued so that you don't overcapitalize and end up with a very expensive asset that you're now paying off over an extended period of time and you might not necessarily have the income or short or long term rentals in order to cover that large expense so make sure that you don't make an offer that is too much above evaluation but know that if it is a particularly attractive looking house you might well need to make a competitive bid but know what the property is valued at understand that in relation to your ceiling and make sure you don't go above that I think that's such an important one because so many people tend to overcapitalize which is very unfortunate and I mean you can see this with general investment properties outside of even holiday homes and honestly you need to be careful of that because the moment you want to offload that particular property you're going to have a lot of issues you're going to be hard pressed to find it you're going to be hard pressed finding buyers who will buy it at your particular price point because you're always going to have to end just how much money to spend putting on all those pretty additions that when you look at some of the comparable properties unfortunately your neighbors didn't put it on and yet when we then look at what are some of the key things that people who book a lot of holiday homes effectively look for one of the things that we're realizing is when you even go to apps like whether it's a bookings.com or Airbnb there's so much stock on the market even for trying to book accommodation for holidays what are some of the things that tend to stand out that will make more property especially in the sea of so many different offerings that we find out there so I've already spoken about photos those are critically important and the more honest the photo looks and the more realistic it is the more repeat the more holiday bookings you're going to get from the same people all the more referrals you're going to get you don't want any unpleasant surprises as someone who's now just driven or traveled all the way to holiday destination to find that the carpets are a bit dirty and the pool is green and no one's mowed the lawn for a little while so make sure that those photos you take are attractive looking but also as realistic as possible when it comes to a holiday home that you purchase for investment purposes you're obviously looking to rent it out spend some time in the property before you do any possible renovations on it and if you can spend some time there in winter spend some time there in summer and get a sense of for example whether ceiling fans are enough or whether this place gets cooking hot in summer and you might well need air cons in every single room for anyone who's going to rent it from you is looking for comfort they're looking for a home away from home they're looking for for all of those kind of homely features that they've come to expect and if you can use your adverts and your photos to push those kind of homely features they certainly do so and if you can't take photos of them list them all people if they're traveling for example with kids are looking for a dishwasher and a washing machine I want to make sure that I don't have to spend my whole holiday washing dishes and my kids are dirty they're going to need to wash their clothes every second day so those are two very key features in a kitchen just as much as someone is looking for a decent frying pan sharp knives and nice glassware so you don't want to ruin the aesthetics of a holiday home by putting in cheap things and it's all about comfort and it's all about making it feel as I said as homely as possible so good quality linen that is easy to wash and doesn't stain easily you're looking for cotton linen in that case you're looking for dark towels people make up off with towels and the darker the towels the more you can get away with when it comes to the age of those specific towels you want a comfortable bed and something that is always something I look for and ask looking have you got blackout curtains if you've ever gone on holiday on the north or the south coast in KZN in summer you realise that the sun rises at about three minutes past four in the morning and if you've got pretty impractical Gaul's curtains you're going to be waking up shortly after that and your day begins very early so blackout curtains, comfortable bed lovely cotton linen all of those bedroom comforts that extend into the bathroom and I'll take it even a step further if you don't have a comfy couch people aren't going to want to sit in a lounge and enjoy themselves as a family unit so it's all about the comforts and making sure that you've got good quality comforts that can outlast a number of guests over over a good length of time and that's such an important one to always bear in mind we've got O'Nati Wendy Boys saying yes, holiday home sounds like a good investment but location and the state of the home comes as well and that's such an important one and I think Andrew as we begin to close of how do people at home also then pick the right one suppose it is in the relatively same area the price point is relatively the same and this of course goes back to that sentiment around how do you make your property stand out in the sea of so many others that are available at least with deciding which one to go for and you've got quite a few that you can play around with in the same area and the price point is not really that far off how do you work out making the decision are there any factors that you should probably just take an extra thought of when you decide to make that decision so I'm presuming that everyone here who's looking for a holiday home is going to have done that all important affordability check and even started to look at any holiday homes for investment purposes so you want to make sure that you can afford this property if things go bad so take the worst case scenario you cannot rent your property out for 12 months, can you cover the bond as well as rates in taxes and water and lots on that specific property for a 12 month period you can always hope and assume that you never get to the worst case scenario but make sure that you've done an affordability check you've understood what your current financial situation is if you're buying with another family if you're buying with your spouse make sure that you've all had that open and honest conversation about what happens if we don't earn enough money to pay off the property expenses and assuming you've had those conversations and the answer is a positive one you would also then hopefully have a good sense of what you can afford and stick to only looking at those properties that you can afford otherwise you might be tempted to pay a little bit out of your of your affordability range but once you've picked that range you've looked at 10 properties how to decide on which one of those 10 is probably quite a personal decision you might well find that two of those 10 are places that you would really like to go to yourself and you're going to get a very good gut sense of those kinds of places that you'd like to go to and if you can narrow down your 10 property search down to because you would like to go to both of those specific properties then I suppose it's going back onto the internet and getting a sense of how much similar kind of properties are rented out for and then you can go back to that calculation to say we're going to make an offer of approximately this if that offer gets accepted this is what it's going to cost us on a monthly basis do we think that for at least half of the year we can cover bond payments maybe in some of the months you can cover those with a little bit of extra to cover some of the more lean months but it's often going to be down to which one of those properties if you can find a similar one is looking to give you the best return in terms of the rate that you could rent it out on a monthly or on a weekly basis and Andrea as we begin to wrap up any final subscribe years for people who are contemplating buying a holiday home in the new year a little bit too late to look for those holiday homes now if you haven't really booked your holiday but for those that are looking at going down to a coastal destination or going somewhere on holiday with the view to bar is talk to as many people as you can not just professionals in the industry talk to the locals talk to the people at the beach talk to God at the gate talk to people and get a sense of what this neighbourhood and what this property is all about and a final comment there from women today is saying design hygiene upkeep price and location those are my non-negotiables on property especially a holiday property and that's something that so many of us often look for when we're looking for a holiday property Andrea we're going to leave it there this evening thank you so much for joining us on the show just lovely to be here and that's Andrea Takose director at mortgage me wrapping up the Friday edition of the primary property podcast with myself because I don't want my law and I will bring up Vanessa now was indeed watching us live and she dropped us a text so she walks away with that 500 rounds in cash congratulations to you at home Vanessa and if you want to be just like Vanessa all you have to do is to drop us a comment on the pinpost of our Facebook page and of course the more times you comment on the great property advice and insight that you have learned while watching the show the higher your chances of potentially being a winner well for myself as I'm not doing well that's it from us to this week we're back on your screens tomorrow I'm not tomorrow on Monday rather at 7 p.m. you can look forward to the whole shoppers show with chat at 8 p.m. until then hope you stay home and stay safe