 Welcome to the developer show. My name is Chad and I'll be your host and if this is the first time you're tuning in, this is a show all about developments and how you can find yourself living your life in one of the latest ones. Today I'm joined by Andrea Santiriello from Arcus. Now Andrea is presenting their latest development called Belito Village. Andrea, how are you doing today? Fantastic, excited to be here Chad. I'm keen to have this discussion with you Andrea. The first thing I'd like to start off with and this is through all of the different interviews I've done and that is just give us a brief rundown of yourself, give us a rundown of Arcus and talk to me about what a customer can expect if they decide to go down this route with you. Fantastic, thanks Chad. So yeah, my name is Andrea. I head up the sales for us at Arcus Properly Development currently based in Belito. This is where our new project is going to be built. Obviously as you've mentioned it's called Belito Village. Right now we've got quite a small team. There's just three of us but combined we've got about 40 years experience in the property development industry. Our main focus is obviously on residential property so our company is geared to bring affordable quality homes to the market both for investors and primarily for new first home owners. We've actually created a super simple process for customers to buy our products. We've got so much experience in the market and in industry that we understand the challenges and complexities and generally the daunting nature of buying properties. So we've created a really simple process and we like to make sure that we bring a really good quality product in a prime location to our customers. I'm very excited to talk about this product Belito Village. Could you give us an introduction to it? Yeah definitely Chad. So basically we're bringing a product into the heart of Belito. We nestled right in the middle of Belito. We central to everything that's happening but quick and easy access into schools, shopping centers, hospitals, all the main conveniences that one would need for living in a complex and in the heart of Belito. We're going to be building about 480 apartments with a wide variety of ones, twos and three bedroom apartments and basically it's a core story walk-up development and like I say we've got a huge versatility in our apartment. So you've got one beds in a variety of sizes and different levels. So you know one could purchase a one bedroom apartment on the ground with a beautiful garden or on the very top floor with amazing views and similarly so with the two and the three bedroom apartments. Our development construction is set to start early next year in about March, April of 2021 and we'll hand over the first phase about 18 odd months later in about July or August of 2022 and our first phase will also incorporate our clubhouse and all the features that are in the clubhouse which is really really nice. So the guys that move in into phase one will obviously have all the facilities and amenities right there. You know you've mentioned quite a few things I'd like to unpack here and the first is Belito on in you know in and on itself is obviously a household name and brings quite a few unique opportunities. The first one that comes to mind is obviously from an investment sense but who are you really targeting this development to when you guys started looking at this? So Chad it's a great question. I think you know like you've just briefly touched on our Belito is generally that has been seen as a bit of a coastal town, a small city but the North Coast has seen such amazing growth in the last couple of years and you know it's actually one of the fastest growing cities in South Africa at the moment. So you know not only is it an exciting opportunity for us as a development company but you know we're bringing a product to an extremely fast growing market and I think mainly our two primary customers are split into two main groups. The first one being investors obviously guys looking for fantastic real yields and obviously huge capital growth potential and in the North Coast and in particular in Belito there's huge opportunity for the development and obviously the assets to grow. Huge demand for rental properties. There's been a bit of a gap in the market at the in the last couple of years so there's a lot of development going on at the moment and as I mentioned you know we're bringing affordable housing in a wide variety of products so your one bed or two beds and your three beds. So a large variety of people and investors can buy you know the entry level side and you know maybe looking for something a little bit larger and obviously put that on to the A, B and D markets if they have an appetite for that or obviously just your long-term your long-term rentals. And then our second category is my favorite category and it's the more exciting one I guess and that's your first time homeowners. You know already we've had plenty of customers that have bought their first home you know guys that are getting married in the next year and then ultimately moving into their first asset as a couple and that's really exciting you know taking people through the daunting process of buying a huge asset which generally speaking is the biggest decision maybe other than getting married that they've had to make in the in their lives so that's really exciting and then again you know there's a there's an opportunity for guys to have a small little starter home in a one bed or a slightly larger one bed and then all the way up to a big three-bedroom apartment so there's a wide spectrum and a wide variety of product that we we're bringing to the market. You know affordable beachfront property there's also an investment opportunity is not something a year too often so it's very nice to see that there's obviously been a gap in the market for it because because there have been a couple of developers like yourself they've ran for this because they understand just the value it brings and often when these already or these development properties are already in the phases that they're selling they start selling out so quick so it would be something that you need to jump on right now. Andrea my next question is something we were speaking about previously and you've mentioned a few times and that is the different bedroom and bathroom options you mentioned your one two and three bedrooms could you go into what you can expect with each of those unit types and also what the price points are when we want to purchase into one of them. Yeah perfect so again Chad I mean as I mentioned we've got a wide variety so let's start at the beginning with the one-bedrooms and in our belito village development you've got a option to have you know from a 50 square meter to just over 60 square meter one bed they range from about 950,000 around to about 1.2 and again that's a versatility of the product across any floor so you can purchase a one bed on the top floor with amazing views literally looking over simple belito and out towards the ocean or if you prefer a one bedroom on the ground floor there are those options available to you. Our two beds again versatility in the products starting very generously at about 80 square meters which is a very nice size for a two bedroom two bathroom apartment again across all different levels starting around the 1.4 million round mark and going just over two to 2.3 million again for a ground floor apartment and then our apartments also offer three bedrooms again across all the different levels and you've got a two different sizes in a 95 or 110 square square meter apartment and those range from about 1.6 million round which is really affordable and really competitive in the market for a for a three bedroom apartment and then those go all the way up to about two and a half to 2.6 million round on the ground floor with a large private garden. You mentioned something there that was quite interesting and that was all the different levels so if I wanted to purchase a three bedroom on the ground floor would that be possible and then conversely say my friend wanted some views and wanted to purchase it on the top floor and have you got it situated like that? Yeah a hundred percent Chad so basically any of the apartments are available on any of the levels so we don't have set design in the block where for example it's only three bedrooms on the ground and one bedroom is at the top so for example a whole block might be a one bedroom one bathroom apartment so you've got that versatility and then same to answer your question the three bed you've got a ground floor three bedroom in a variety of sizes and then obviously with the fully private garden which is beautifully landscaped and obviously managed for you and maintained for you as part of everyone's levies and in that same apartment can be on the top floor and then again you're looking at beautiful views through to central Belito and out towards the ocean. That is very very cool another question I wanted to ask and we touched on it earlier as well and that's the amenity so you mentioned the clubhouse what else can people expect in Belito Village? Just Chad there's quite a lot on offer for for our Belito Village development don't even know where to start really but obviously I mean being a being an estate we've got a clubhouse with all your standard amenities you know your pool price facilities and we've got a co-working space you know obviously now it's quite important to have the ability to work from home so we're going to be building some boardrooms and co-working space so guys can go out there it's obviously always fiber available throughout the throughout the clubhouse there'll be a restaurant in there so you know whether you want to just come and have a quick coffee and catch up on some emails or you know physically sit there and have a lunch and a meal and do some work and we've got a 5,000 square meter private park in the development which is going to be amazing and obviously Belito Village is pet friendly so you know people that want to have dogs and you know just bringing their families through to the through to the private park you can picnic and chill under the under the beautiful trees and just enjoy the nature and of that Belito has to offer I think my favorite feature would probably have to be our running trail and we've got a beautiful nature trail which you know basically snakes through the whole development which will be really really amazing so you can come out your door people that living in Belito and you know holidaying in Belito are going to live that active lifestyle so you know it'll be really nice just to get out the door put those running shoes on and you know literally run throughout your own development through the park through all the blocks and on the on the nature trail. Well I think this is the perfect time to take a moment and take a look at what Belito Village has to offer let's grab a cup of coffee and we will be right back after the break. Welcome back to the developer show my name is Chad and I'll be your host and if you've just joined us we are joined by Andrea from Arcus and Andrea is talking to us about their latest development down in Durban and that is Belito Village. Andrea before we cut to the break you were talking about the different amenities on offer and we went through quite a few things and it sounded actually amazing you've got your private parks you've got your running track it's obviously pet friendly shared working space which was huge I'm so nice to hear you talk about a shared working space because I do feel a lot of people are pushing towards working from home it's probably opened a lot of people's eyes in just how well your team or your different employees can function working from home and I think a lot of people have then went and decided maybe that office is an unnecessary expense so let's carry on working from home and it's really nice to see you've catered for that so my next question which which then goes on to if I decide to and you did mention it but I just just in case people have missed it I think this is very very important is I did want to move in and I decided to call you up and say Andrea I want to purchase one of these what is the what is the steps that you're going to take me through what is a different kind of support I can expect from you and more importantly when would be the earliest date that I know I can move into the leader yeah so from a process point of view chat as I mentioned to to you and the viewers earlier it's it's super important that we've created a simplified process so you know obviously the majority of our purchases are first time home owners so it can be a very scary daunting task and you know I pride myself on being able to connect with the buyers and our customers and help them through that process it's a huge decision it's a daunting decision and I like to think that you know my ability to take people through the steps and guide them through the process you know is very important so simple answering all the questions you know I often get told by our customers you know I'm so sorry for asking all these questions but you know I love the questions it means that people are excited about it and you know guys don't know the process of how it works so what we've done is we've cultivated over the last 10 15 20 years of our experience in selling these properties to our customers a simple process in essence customers would either meet with me face to face or obviously you know in in the digital age we've got the ability to do it on all over the on the computer and we would select an apartment that made sense for that customer so do they want a ground floor or top floor are they looking for a one bed or a three bed do they like a bigger patio bigger living space so going through you know the pros and cons of the different sizes and prices and how hard would work for the customer and what works best for them once we've selected an apartment and we would then draw up an agreement of sale again we've simplified this into a four page agreement you know generally speaking in the industry property purchases come with a 20 30 page agreement which is very cumbersome to the average man in the street so we simplified that document and make made it really simple for our customers to understand and obviously we call this our digiti I would take a customer through the clauses and then we've got dedicated home loan consultants at the four major banks the beauty of that is you know at each of the various banks we've got dedicated employees who would handle all the bond applications for our customers so they know the product they've done the valuations so basically when our customers submit their fecal docs to the bankers within a 24-hour period they've got a quote and obviously they can have comparative quotes when they submit to multiple banks and then basically once they've accepted a quote the next step is waiting for the transfer to take place and we've got dedicated convencers who will take our customers through the transfer process and then very importantly Arcus covers all the costs so there's no hidden fees and you pay a small deposit of 20 000 rand which is part of the purchase price and ultimately the balance of the property is bonded and then we cover all your convincing costs and bond registration fees which is very important for especially first-time homeowners makes them feel comfortable there's no hidden expenses and then ultimately investors who are very price sensitive you know we need to make sure that the price that's quoted is the price that they get and then there's no hidden fees that you know throughout their throughout their investment yields now one of the first thing I want to mention is is evidently you're a one-stop shop that's it they come to you you're going to help them through every single step of the way it seems like you've got people in place across all the different sections of purchasing a property so all they need to do is give you a ring or give one of your sales guys a ring and everything's going to be taken care of they don't need to worry about it all it's going to come from you and you're going to help them every step of the way yeah that's exactly the the right I don't like to think we are one-stop shop you know it's got a bit of a negative connotation but that's precisely it you know customers can come through to us with all their various questions and you know concerns and and you know had the strangest questions in my life but you know that's that's the exciting thing about it is answering and helping people through this process so you know from selecting an apartment to concluding the financial arrangements to affecting the transfer with our attorneys and then obviously the most exciting part is is people getting their keys obviously when we do the handover you know it's an exciting process and as I mentioned most of our customers are getting their first home keys for the first time so you know that whole process is really exciting and again you know we not to hold people's hands through the process but we guide them through and make sure that they're comfortable with their purchase and with their decision and like to do with a smile on our faces the whole time now with the units being pushed out into next year when you start breaking ground in the year after when you complete what kind of flexibility is there if I decide I want to make some changes to the unit is that something you can cater for and if so to what extent will you be able to cater for it so and what we've done is we've tried to put in all the versatility in our product offering from the onset so you know like I said we've got a variety of different sizes in the various apartments the one bed is the two beds and the three beds so you know if you like a larger patio because you someone who likes to entertain and fry and obviously you know maybe you bought this property for a holiday home we cater to that type of buyer also someone who's got a larger bedroom you know the ability to put a big dressing table and large bed and more entertainment space or big kitchen so we've been very versatile in our product offering so we've ensured that customers obviously have the ability to choose what makes sense for their lifestyle obviously from a fittings and finishes point of view we will have variations and choices on our kitchens and then obviously the tile color throughout the apartment if I'm an investor watching this and you've completely sold me on the location who wouldn't want to stay in Belita who would want to stay close to the beach and who wouldn't want to stay in a village that has the kind of functions and features that this has got and I want to purchase I go through the process with you I find my my offer to purchase it's done and dusted if I want to rent it out am I able to approach you and ask you to assist me with that or is that something I'm going to need to sort out like I would say with some other properties I've already got in the market for sure Chad so basically what we will do is we have relationships with rental specialists in our market so what we would do is those particular rental agents we would train them in our product and make sure that they are able to convince a prospective tenant that it's a good place to live and you know explain all the amenities and the benefits and the features and why it's a great location so it's very important that an investor is comfortable with the tenant that's ultimately going to live in their property so definitely we would assist them in that process and ultimately the biggest thing is vetting the customer so we will make sure that the agents that we recommend are obviously certified and and they have the ability to do that so it's a really simple process for investors you know the purchase we've already discussed is really easy and then the next step is ultimately sourcing the tenants and you know placing them in the apartment the nice thing about what we also offer our investors is that we will give them ample notices to when transfer is likely to go through or you know when the phase handover will happen and then we recommend to our investors to start marketing the property a month or maybe two before they get their keys so that the day that the investor gets his keys the agent can obviously hand them over to a prospective tenant so you know there's no empty months in that apartment so then sticking on the investment track let's go through some quick fire questions almost the advice with Andrea and that would be the first one is what makes this a good financial investment if people are still on the fence what would you say that would completely sell them on this development I think it's it's two parts firstly it's an unbelievable location um you know Arcus has chosen this location because of how prime it is it's literally nestled in the heart of Belito where all the action is so from a location point of view it really really is unbeatable and you know Belito in general as I mentioned is a huge growing market it's really really quick growing and so there's a huge opportunity for capital growth the second thing is because we haven't started our construction development yet customers are basically buying now locking in their product their purchase with the 20,000 round deposit and taking transfer of that property in about 18 to 24 months time so they're able to benefit from in essence the capital appreciation on their asset without it costing them anything for the next 18 to 24 months so that's a real benefit to customers securing their price now and taking transfer when the assets will really grow and substantially now the next question for people who are maybe not so familiar with with development and this might be their first purchase within a development why purchase development what would you say to a customer that sees you look Andrea I'm looking at this house or you know I want to maybe rent or purchase within a development that's already been bought it's already been around for a good couple of years why purchase into a development off plan so I think the most important thing about buying into a development off plan it's you know it's the most efficient way to live and you know you you're paying towards levies which we've accurately calculated which covers all your maintenance for security the management of the estate I think living in South Africa is very important to to live somewhere where you feel safe and secure and I think living in a complex is very is very is a secure way to live you know you're not a freestanding house where unfortunately in South Africa you might be an easy target so you know our development offers 24 hour access control of security it's one of the biggest elements that we saw so very important to to be able to go for a run within your own complex and you know feel comfortable in living a live in a development which is well run and extremely secure I'm very very glad you mentioned security because it was going to be the next question out my mouth which is what security does it offer but I think you've covered that and it's also something that I agree with wholeheartedly is the security aspect coming from developments is unrivaled knowing that you can sit and and be almost within a community it's guarded it's got people patrolling it's got that access control it brings such peace of mind and that then segues me into my next question which is what kind of peace of mind has advertising with private property brought to Arcus and how has it changed the way you market your properties so yeah look I mean we're very grateful to to the likes of private property you know ability for Arcus to showcase Belito village and it's a beautiful platform it's simple it's easy all the information it's specified there you know we've got some beautiful renders and walkthroughs of our products so you know people that are looking for property generally speaking on private property and we love the fact that we can showcase our property to millions of people that are on your platform every day well there we have it folks Andrea from Arcus showcasing their latest development Belito village it looks absolutely incredible Andrea thank you so much for taking some time today to present it to us yeah thanks very much dad you know anyone is looking to get in touch with me you can give me a call on 082683881 or go check out our social media pages our handles are Arcus living on both Instagram and Facebook and then obviously you can just Google Arcus and go through to our websites and you know get as much information but you know I urge people to get in touch with me let me help you through the process and explain in a little bit more detail what we have to offer there you have it folks if you do want to get in touch with them and you've watched this podcast and you thought this is exactly right for me jump on to their social media jump on to private property the development is advertise their Arcus go on to their page on our on our site you can find all of their contact details there Andrea good luck for your flight now that you're heading up to Joe book and for everybody tuning in thank you so much for taking some time out on your weekend to sit down and take a look at this development with us and I look forward to seeing you all next week thank you very much and goodbye