 Good evening and welcome to tonight's episode of the private property podcast. I'm your host as I'm doing a come on This is episode 10 of the podcast and this evening I'm joined by Michelle Kohan who's going to be talking to us about how to increase the value of your property And now of course this topic is actually quite a hardly contested one, especially given You know the time that we're finding ourselves in and how we've been saying that it's largely a bias market But in the same breath, they're probably going to be some distressed sellers So Michelle is going to be helping us know better understand valuing our property for want to sell And also just making sure that you don't out-priced yourself too much Michelle. Thank you so much for joining us this evening My pleasure good to be here So I think Michelle I mean before we even look at some of the more Cosmatic changes that one can potentially make when they want to increase the value of their property It would be remiss of us not to actually look at where we're currently finding ourselves right now in the property market I mean, there are probably some property owners who very likely may Have valued their property suppose three six months ago And they're probably sitting down and thinking the value of my property is very likely not going to be what the value was Three or six months ago How can we you know if you could just help us kind of decipher that and even help people at home? Understand that they definitely is going to be an impact on the value of their property right now given the global crisis that we find ourselves in Sure, so The truth is that nobody really knows where our markets going to be once our lockdown period is over and it would be Silly of me to even try and assume what kind of property values We'd be able to put to properties once the lockdown period is over But I can't tell you what is currently happening in the market with without without portal with our website with our inquiries People who viewed properties Two three four five months ago are now coming back to the agents online My agents are also working virtually as most are And they say you know I saw that property a few months ago. I've just gone online. I've had time I've looked at it virtually. I see the price has gone down a little bit. I'm keen to talk about it so I think the fact that the interest rate has been has Decreased twice in the last month has a huge impact on the fact that property will still sell but on the other hand It's going to sell it the correctly pressed Mark in the current circumstances and what that mark is nobody knows what property needs to be listed You need to have a really good agent who is giving you continual feedback in terms of what people from the portals are saying and Judging by what the buyers are saying and the kinds of bioactivity even in this market now where people are sitting at home and looking online That's what's going to indicate how our property prices are looking off to the lockdown period There's definitely more movement in the under one point eight one point nine million round price range The lower you go the more activity we see in terms of interest and interesting enough We've actually had one or two offers that have come in People did see the property prior to lockdown the sellers were reasonable that drop their price a little bit and the sale happened. So We still in a market where property is going to happen. There's no question about it and you know Michelle if you can perhaps give us a sense of How the percentage that these properties are going down by you're saying that these you know quite significant movement in the properties below One point eight million are you know our sellers going down by five ten percent or more and or And how much are the buyers asking for let's so when they're interacting with your agents, you know How much help bullish are they in trying to negotiate for a lower price? Prior to the lockdown period I found the whole of last year property prices were selling for between 30 and 40 percent lower than what the asking price was So that would that's a substantial amount to come down But that was also prior to the interest rate decreasing and that's also very much in the market that my company works in Which is the market from about 750 up to about three and a half four million The market above that wasn't moving at all from what I understand So I think what we're going to find is now just speaking to our sellers if they are motivated to sell And they actually have a reason that they want to sell their property They are going to sit and they are going to listen and now if they have confidence in the agent that they're working with and they Can see the person's really doing what they need to do. They will hear with that what the agent is saying It's all about the motivation to sell, you know if someone doesn't need to sell They're not going to take less for them what they feel their property is worth Now if you've just joining us at home Speaking to Michelle Kohan who's the franchise owner for leapfrog Johannesburg North East and we're talking about You know how to increase the value of your property But really more specifically looking at pricing your property I mean we're currently in very unprecedented time property wise So do you for a lot of us who are now in the property market and whether you're a seller You're trying to know Establish what the right price point for your property is and perhaps you might particularly distress seller Perhaps you're not a distress seller. You're already contemplating selling your Property and if you are buying you want to be interacting with the estate agent We want to better understand, you know the value of a property and some of the things that both parties need to be Considering as they make that decision if you've got any questions for us on this topic Do ask this below and we'll be sure to answer some of your questions now Michelle I actually want to look at perhaps if you've got any Tips for sellers in particular right because I think Oftentimes we've tended to find and perhaps not so much in the past in the past year because it has been a buyer's market for Quite a significant amount of time even prior to the lockdown But you tend to sometimes find that they're sellers who firstly overpriced their property and then don't want to go down So even when I suppose the estate agent has no had a sit down They've you know, they've looked at the house and they say I think you've overpriced your property And the property stays on the market for a relatively significant amount of time What tips would you give to a seller and especially at this time and let's assume this is of course a motivated seller So not somebody who has a luxury to kind of sit and wait for the perfect offer that may never come What kind of tips would you give that kind of seller in helping them price their property the right way? Well, the most important thing really is to sit down with a qualified career estate agent who can show you Data that's pertinent to where we are sitting now in the property market The good estate agent who specializes in your area will be able to show you the transfers that have registered And you must remember we know a little bit behind because the deeds office is shut one thing and another But the properties that have registered previously But they'll also be able to tell you exactly which properties in your area have sold and the price that they've sold And that's that information is more important than the information that's coming from the needs office Because that's giving you an indication of where the market was transferring prior to lockdown So a good estate agent will know the houses in your area. They'll tell you that household that household There's a sold court. This is the price that the seller achieved there and that's really a very good indication of where the market is a Lot of sellers look online and they and they look at the price that is being asked for a property And they notice week after week that price is coming down and down and down and down and they wonder why that's happening Well, it's happening because the market is not responding to the initial price that you are Asking so a good estate agent couple with common sense is what's going to give you a good indication of your properties So one of the questions that we've got coming in is from Lena Davis and it actually touches on what you've just You know briefly outlined and Lena asks can we have steps on how do we have our property evaluated? Well, that's yeah, that's a good question and Lena we cannot evaluate properties virtually The good estate agents have got to themselves very get up to working remote So what you need to do is you need to contact an estate agent in your area that you're comfortable with and you can do it online Go on to your to your local and private property portal Put your area name in look at who the agent is you selling in your area Maybe phone two or three agents telling where you live Take some really nice photographs of your house because obviously during lockdown I can't come in view but take ten nice photos of your house Email the photos to the agent and on that basis the agent can send you back a virtual evaluation and Give you a good idea of where they think your property should be fast You know, we've listed properties that we've started marketing that we haven't seen yet that we've evaluated on that basis And by listing them and putting them online we starting to see already what the responses and if the buyers are comfortable at that price And that's a very good way and those are the good steps to start in this current market Once the lockdown periods over and your agent can then come over and view your property They can then give you information about what kind of interest they've had online on the property and that gives you a really good indication They're now physically seeing the property you're meeting face to face They can give you advice on on what kind of interest there was in the property They'll show you some statistics the online statistics and then you can make a very good educated decision In a couple of weeks time after lockdowns over I think you know michelle it actually gives us An indication perhaps of where the industry is going. I mean if we're already being able to Virtually evaluate or have our properties evaluated. I've seen even a rise of Virtual tours that are on the rise and we even see some writing on private property.ca.ca Where you know estate agents do a virtual tour of the place So you don't have to you know, you don't have to just look at pictures alone But also there's also the rise of having online auctions. So not having to go to an Auction house in order to do in order to participate in an auction I think some of them are even using platforms like WhatsApp to make sure that they're keeping up with the auction So the property industry is also finding itself having to use different ways and different digital tools To essentially respond to the global crisis But also potentially where we are likely headed, you know in the future Where a lot of times maybe we might even get to a point where People who are slightly more seasoned might want to buy properties without viewing it themselves And I must say you probably need to get to being seasoned before you can do that Or not you know property you buy So Michelle, I think another one that probably had to look at is Suppose then you are not a distress seller because I actually want us to almost differentiate between somebody who's a distress seller because They are more likely to be slightly more negotiable than somebody who's got a bit of you know Time um on their hands. Suppose you're not a distress seller and you're somebody who has a property and you're probably looking at You know offloading it And I know you're saying earlier that you know, we kind of reasonably predict where the market's going to be One thing that's certainly been Quite clear certainly from some of the guests that we've also had on the private property podcast is that it's going to stay a buyer's market for quite a while And so I think sellers are going to probably have to find interesting ways to Make their particular property Uh, I mean lucrative or enticing to the next person What are some of those things that then sellers can do to make it slightly more enticing? So if you're looking at two relatively Identical apartments, let's say both the two bedrooms two bathrooms. They're the kind of area that you want How do you then kind of make the one better than the other? So it might not necessarily increase the value in terms of rents But it might potentially get it sold at your actual price point and faster than the next apartment I just want to go back to something that you said earlier with regard to people putting offers in Virtually without having seen the property Yes, you do need to be a seasoned buyer There's no question about that But also if someone is buying for an investment and it's a rands and cents decision to they're investing in an apartment They know what the costs pertaining to that purchase are they've done their homework They know what kind of rent they're going to get You know, they can buy that property just kind of virtually and not stress too much once they've done all of their homework And looked at everything but if you're going to live in a house You need to walk in and feel it. So I agree with you on that one Back to the question that you asked me now if you have two properties that are next to each other That are offering the same thing And you you working virtually and you working online Obviously the look of the property if it's an online virtual tour that you're doing Really has to be attractive and the photographs have to be good You know, it's better to work with a company That's going to send a professional photographer out to do a video tour to do good quality photographs Make sure that when the photographer comes through that your house is really in photo shape You know, you wouldn't go on TV without your makeup Don't let your home be shine on a portal without without it really being at its absolute best Put the washing away. Put the dishwashers away. Put the lucid down all of those things So that's the one thing you can do the other thing that I think is a really good idea Particularly in this kind of market where people are going to be more and more stretched financially Is to have your home inspected by home inspector if you're living in an older property Where people may be interested But wouldn't like to know what they buy if you have a home inspection report From from a certified home inspector as to the condition of the property and the check down the road who's selling his house same age same Cross doesn't I think that that really does give you the edge because a buyer has a level of comfort that he knows when he's buying In terms of sectional title apartments without are very similar. It's just really about the presentation Online presentation how your photos look through the person is who writes the advert When you're looking through the portals don't go with the estate agents who's making spelling mistakes and not giving the descriptions You know go with the people who are putting in what are the levies What are the costs pertaining to the property every month present your house as professionally as you possibly can online Because the person who's presenting it like that online is going to present it like that love Um, so I think that just having it look presentable be nasty clean be fresh It really takes you back much further The other thing is don't go and spend a fortune on repainting and fixing things up Because there's no guarantee that you're going to get that money back Make the house presentable keep your yard tidy sweep up make it look good But don't spend fortunes of money fixing things because the chances are the person who buys your property is going to come in And have a little bit of money to spend to make it their own and repaint the house and do whatever it is they want to do And it's so interesting that you say that Michelle because you know oftentimes or in certain occasions One of the tips that gets given to Prospective sellers or people are selling is to do minor renovations, right? Whether it's painting a place Um, or even you know, maybe redoing the kitchen or the bathroom, which are actually quite significantly expensive I think those two rooms are Yeah, sorry if I can interrupt you there There's very big differences in in those two things to do little minor repairs to paint your gutters and repair them That adds value To if your boundary wall is really really shoddy and you don't have street appeal and your garden has weeds Fix those things up But don't go and repaint and go through big expense and redo bathrooms and kitchens Because the person coming in may not pay you for that and they may want a different bathroom in a different kitchen So they might not see value in what you've done and I suppose I mean if I look at kitchen and Bathroom renovations. I've recently done that for for one of the properties. They're quite they're relatively pricey to do So if you're going to be doing it, it's either you've got You're going to be selling it at a significantly, you know High amount and you're confident that you'll get it But if it's just a normal apartment and they're quite a number of those on like on the market Then instead it doesn't make sense to spend all that money that you could probably Use as a deposit for another property if you'd like Remember if you're at home and you have any questions around value in your property If you want to sell your property or perhaps looking for a property You can send your questions to michelle and I and we'll address them tonight We've got a few comments actually coming in this evening michelle one of the comments is from Michael for nika who actually says a good indication of correctly priced property is private property stats If you have not received any inquiries within five business days in the middle market section up to 2.5 million There's only one problem mainly giving the condition and location is decent and that would be that pricing is wrong So don't factor agents commission on top of the selling price sales values In your area includes agents commission and perhaps that's something we can talk to slightly a little bit about michelle Is your pricing your property and it's probably a topic We're also going to be talking about tomorrow about the different costs that go into selling the house But because it's just been touched on right now When pricing your property perhaps help us navigate the the commission that of course as the seller you'd be paying Your estate agent should you be pricing it in or should you just budget for that amount? You do need to price it in and there's a few other costs, but you're covering that tomorrow night I'm going to necessarily go into that But you do need to have that evaluation with the estate agent who will price all of those things in So you do price the commission in because the amount that you put your house on the market for Is the the gross amount? So it's the amount before the commission is taken off What happens after that is if you're selling your house for a million rand and you get the million rand for your house The the estate agents commission comes out of that million rand if they're getting five percent plus that The 57 000 rand will come off that and you'll get the balance into your account So you must always remember that you do need to factor the agents commission in and when you sign a mandate with someone I'm a big believer in some mandates because you then agree on a price You agree on a commission everything is in writing There can be no dispute after the fact and you understand what your net amount is And that's something very important the other thing, please if you're going to sell your house You need to give your bank three months notice They need that 90 day notice periods that you don't have a penalty So there's different things that you really need to get good advice on And when you when you factoring the commission in a good estate agent We'll explain to you exactly how to do that and what your net amount will be after the commission's paid But all the homes that you see online that are being advertised by an estate agent By inclusive of the commission amount that the seller has agreed to pay the agent So the net price to the seller will be less than what that commission is And I think then I know what they're asking for us is apologies Yeah, and I think I mean one of the things we're definitely going to be looking tomorrow at the cost of or the different costs That go into selling your property. So do tune in tomorrow evening Right here at 7 p.m We will be looking at some of them because I think sometimes you may want to sell your home But you don't actually understand that there are costs involved in selling your home And what those various costs actually are and how you can go about understanding what each and every one of them are And even the responsibility that falls on the seller side and the responsibility that falls on the buyer side So do watch out for that episode tomorrow evening another comment coming in Is the downside of pricing is that sellers go for agents with the lease commission percentage? But they sign a sole mandate when their property is overpriced price Consulate is vital. So if the price so price is correct and you should achieve at least 90 percent of the asking price Buyers know more as the industry is more transparent than ever. So give me yours and I'll prove it So of course and and that comment is actually quite interesting that you know sellers will sometimes Go for agents that have the lower percentage and not understanding that that's not necessarily where the biggest value Is or where you might necessarily get the the best sale at the right price or get it as quickly as possible So if you can just help us understand that the lowest percentage isn't always necessarily the better option to go for as a seller So a lot of the time the what you actually pay your estate agent for is their skill It's the negotiation skill their experience their understanding of the market that they're working in Their ability to effectively communicate with people In essence, it's their confidence in their own ability To market negotiate and sell your property for the best possible price So the question then really lends itself to this If the person undervalues themselves as they walk in the door to get business from you and cuts their commission as they sit down Opposite you how do you ever have confidence that an offer that they bring to you has to be well negotiated? Because that really is what part of a big part of what the estate's agent's job is I'm always a believer that in love you get what you pay for and if someone comes in straight off And is prepared to just negotiate and work for you at 50% of what the recommended estate agency of facebook tariff is When they bring you an offer you have to have a question mark in your mind Could they have bought me more did they just go the easy route? And get the first offer they could get and take it and not try and sell my house or not try and negotiate me something better Because when they initially came to see me they sat down and they said wow, I'll take three and a half percent. That's my business model You know, there's easy and there's Efficient and they don't always go together in the same sentence So I think you must also look at what the offering of the estate agent is if a person's Online presence is professional if it makes you feel comfortable if they sit and they make sense when they talk to you You can be sure that when they're representing your property and negotiating on your behalf They will have exactly the same attitude because at the end of the day you both want the same thing You want to get the best possible price for your property? I'm a willing and able buyer And a person who goes the easy route may not necessarily do that for you And we've got more questions coming in remember if you're watching us at home And you've got any questions around pricing your property and navigating the right way to go about pricing your Property do send through those questions and michelle and I will be answering them. We've got One here michelle from colani atiam who asks hi michelle How do we solve a problem of a seller who doesn't want to meet a buyer halfway? You put in a lot of effort to bring the buyer in to put an offer that is reasonable, but the seller will refuse Hello colani. I know you personally Thanks for the question How we resolve that issue is the first thing we do is we ascertain Is our seller really really selling their property? Do they have a motivation to sell are they testing the market? Are they happy to stay there for the next five years till whatever it is till the market recovers? And once you've ascertained that reason then it makes you it makes it much easier to know where you're going to go with an offer My experience has been when we've presented offers in the last eight to ten months Each time we've presented the offer the seller has kind of been very um Dispontant with the price and in the initial offer. They've kind of said, you know what even if they had a good motivation We're not accepting this because the market changed too quickly for what the sellers to to accept um What I found is that when you have a relationship with your seller and when you keep on going and talking to them and Showing them as the previous guy said the stats the online stats Showing them these are the people are bought through your property This is what they've said when the seller sees that you've put the work in They take cognizance of what it is that you say and when you sit with them with an Offer that's a really good offer from a good qualified buyer. You've then got a little bit of experience It takes time people want to know you've done the best for them So they may sit with you with the third offer that you bring them and say well You know what I can see you've really worked for me because now you've kept them updated It's not a quick process It's not a quick story that we just bring people offers that they want in the office or closing It doesn't work like that the seller wants to know that you've really done your best for him You want to know that you've done your best for him? And often it takes a little bit of time for the seller to get these head around where the price needs to be And our job is the agents Is to have the the patience and to have the professionalism and to have the negotiating ability To be able to close that gap between the seller and the buyer to make it a good equitable situation for everybody And it is quite an intricate one because in as much as uh, you know The the seller would have been the one who gets gives you the business You're also working in the interest from the buyer. So it's not Either or it's literally you're the middleman who's meant to Come together and make sure that the interests of both parties are Met as much as possible So that can I interrupt there? I think that's why that home inspectors report is going to particularly after lockdown become a more important negotiation tool I think that when your seller has shown good faith That he's gone and he's got a report on what kind of property he's selling and when you sit with your buyer You say, you know, we've got a completed disclosure document Our seller has told us, you know everything about his house But over and above that he's had someone in who's checked all the things that we can't see we didn't come Climb into the roof and check the roof process. We didn't look at the geezer But he's had someone check that so you know if you're going to pay him close to what his asking class is You know that those things have been checked and they're not going to be for your cost within the next two to three years And this was actually something michelle that we did cover in one of our episodes Just this week the importance of having that inspection in And understanding some of the things that might not be working in on in your property Because the reality is with some of these properties Perhaps it was a rental unit and the owner genuinely wouldn't know what is wrong with it especially because tenon stone always Say that this is what was wrong while I was saying yeah, so the moment you are Viewing a place that I know I've never actually viewed a place where The report was already ready upfront that said these are the things that we are aware of that needs to be fixed And we can either fix them or you're going to buy them knowing that these are Need fixing and perhaps you can use that to negotiate the price better If anything and I was even admitting this on yesterday's episode was that I've I've been burnt a little bit with buying a property that wasn't thoroughly inspected And a couple of months later realizing that oh actually This is something that was you know damaged before I even bought the property And chances are the previous owner may or may have not known but had I had an inspection in Um, then I would have probably known that this is something to flag and either have it fixed or make sure that I negotiate the price Just further down a few more questions coming in michelle We've got one from Lena Davis who asks is it a good idea to approach different agents to advertise for you You see I don't I actually don't believe in that I think the same way that you Have a relationship with one person that you trust and you you want to be with that's kind of how you need to feel about your estate agent You know, you need to decide do you want the quickest sale or do you want the best sale? So if you're an estate agent particularly in a difficult market And someone it has given you and for other people your property to sell You do you market the property you work hard on it You'll take the first offer that someone gives you you'll negotiate and you'll do your best for the seller But in the back of your mind, you know all the time. Well, you know, there's another agent at work Yeah, any minute someone else can come in to the post and then that's it You know, I don't have an opportunity anymore So I think it's really important to commit to one estate agent and I'm a big believer in working with someone who's an area specialist The person who specializes in your area because the areas do differ You can't work the whole of the greater johannesburg area and know all those areas the areas differ You need an area specialist. You need somebody who has a really good reputation If you want to to interview a couple of agents and after that knock on the door of someone who has a Board outside their house or a sold board by the agent that you've interviewed That's the best way to know who you're going to be choosing And commit to that agent and suddenly mandate and and get the feedback And work with that person and we find out a sole mandate We really find that the prices that the purchases pay and the sellers get is better because there's a level of commitment and understanding That we we conducting business and everything's transparent Um, you also want your property to be shown with one voice You don't want five people showing five different views of what your property is about what the price is what it's offering You want one message out there to the potential buyer and you want that message to be clear and concise and professional And it's actually interesting that you you say that you want your property to have one voice And I've seen with certain properties Supposedly I listed for example by two or three different agents and the price is typically not the same price And sometimes I'll go to the one Who's listed it at the lowest price to actually see if I can't get it even lower And then go to the other one and establish if you can't go lower than the other one So you're almost now trying to put, you know, the various sustained agents against each other so that you get the best offer So I suppose then as a seller you're essentially shooting yourself in the foot because if as a buyer I can already see your property listed by three different people And they're they're they're all willing to negotiate On price with me and I'm just out now to get the lowest possible price that I can I can get I've got a few comments and some questions coming in. I'll start with a comment from Howard Um, what gets I know who asks um who comments rather from the little that I've researched the more the ads one the more the ads Or the more their ads on one property the more the buyers immediately detected the sense of desperation And they'll take advantage of pricing the property down. So it's literally what I was saying just now So different agents would have started that price battle with their different commissions to start with Exclusive and sole mandate is the way to go. So really reiterating what you are saying there michelle And another one is from dural jafta who says what if you're interested in a property that is in a good area? But the home looks in a bad state But the seller wants a very high price and you know, it's not worth that that much As there's a lot of work. How do you go about? Wanting how do you go about wanting to purchase a property like that? Or do you just pass the look for something better? So I think that if something catches your eye on property, you know property if you're going to live somewhere it's an emotional bar and To answer that gentleman who's asked that question The position position position you rather buy the best property the worst property in the best area that you can afford Because you can change everything about a house, but you can't move it to a different subject So that's the first thing the second thing is I think it's always worthwhile to go and look at a property and to have a Discussion with the estate agent and to ask them the questions to say to them the house really isn't in good condition Do you have a disclosure document? Do you have an inspectors report? Has the seller had any offers on this property? How long has this property been on the market for? Those are the things as a buyer that will help you ascertain where the seller's It is and if you really want the house and you see value at a substantially lower price You are most welcome to put that offer in with the agent The agent's job is to present that offer to the seller and the seller can then reject or accept it Often if the price is just so far lower than what the seller accepted They feel really insulted and they won't even entertain a counter offer But you are most welcome to put an offer in at the price that you see And expect that you may may get a counter offer back So don't just walk away from the property because you think that the price is wrong And I think particularly in the market that we are now We're going to find when this lockdown period is over It's going to be very interesting to see the kinds of offers that will come in I'm not saying that the market is going to tank or go down much further than what it is now I don't know, we have to wait and see Logic tells me that our interest rate is lower People are going to be able to buy their dream house They're going to be able to move in the area that they want But they're going to do it at a price that suits them And I think you know one of the one of the things I've picked up along the way is Sometimes just don't be scared to put in a cheeky offer You'd be surprised how many sellers end up going for that cheeky offer and don't even do a counter offer So I think uh, that's the tip that I've gone with when I really want to place And I think it might be overpriced that put in that cheeky offer and it might seem like it's crazy because the asking price is so high Now Michelle, before I let you go, you know, what what kind of delays can people who've already Sold their property right now expect given that you know, we're in lockdown And that for example, the deeds office is currently closed. What kind of delays are they actually looking at during this period? So there's a number of delays from the top to the bottom So if we look at the top the people who sold a number of months ago who waiting for their property to register The deeds office is closed So the deeds office did really make an attempt to register as many properties that they had and they could register Um prior to lockdown But obviously there are still properties that are busy in that process because it is a process that can't rush it The municipalities are closed Which means that even before the property gets into the deeds office when an attorney transfers a property They need a certificate of clearance for the electricity the rates the taxes So the deeds office can't issue that so there's a backlog on that um Moving further down a person whose bond was granted and is now the you know The attorneys are waiting guarantees if they hadn't prior to lockdown gone and signed their bond documents Those guarantees can't be issued. So there's a delay there Moving even even further down to that the person who has put an offer in During the lockdown period the banks are a little slower than what they were previously So all of those processes are moving more slowly What's really interesting is that the vast majority of transferring and bond attorneys that we're doing business with are working virtually So they're really doing as much of the process as they can But documents do need to be signed in person by buy and seller and that you can't get past that The other thing in front of the commission of us. So you can't get past that situation The other thing is that the the banks are working remotely The bond originators are trying their best to work remotely and get documents in from purchases And estate agents are working remotely So as much of the processes can be done Is being done, but without the deeds office communities the ability to sign documents Unfortunately guys the process too is in lockdown You know, that's how it works. So the delays are you're a month behind on everything And and that's very true right now. Michelle. I mean, there's even Uh, you know talks around the lockdown potentially been longer. So in the event where you find yourself Being affected by this lockdown and those delays being placed as a possibility that it may actually be longer now Sorry, can I can I jump in there? Has been a request by the estate agents body revolsa and by the various law societies and the bond originators Of South African various organizations stakeholders in the real estate sector They have they have been requests to the minister to actually allow the deeds office and municipalities to start working Um, we're waiting to hear what the outcome is on that. There's nothing firm yet But hopefully there will be a positive result on that and and you know, they will be able to work on skeleton staff And get at least those processes going And we'll definitely be monitoring that michelle. Thank you so much for joining us this evening That was michelle cohan who's the franchise owner for lead frog Johannesburg east and she was joining us right here on episode 10 of the private property podcast now just to You know, I'd already mentioned this earlier tomorrow We will be talking about the costs associated with selling your home So if you're looking at selling and you're not quite sure what the different costs are Then we'll be looking at that tomorrow, but on friday We're going to be having ask private property where we'll be having a representative from aps of bank So if you have any questions, particularly around bonds, you know, whether it's, you know difficulty or questions that you've always wanted to ask the financial institutions Around that bond application process what banks are looking for when they grant a home loan How do you go about getting a hundred percent home loan? Then do send through your questions and we'll be sure to address them That is on friday after friday evening right here at seven o'clock. We'll be looking at ask private property So do send through those questions. That's it for me this evening on the private property podcast I hope that you are staying home and staying safe and until tomorrow evening. Good night