First Time House buyer

[AchmatK]

:crylaugh: You did well, next thing they were going to slaughter a cow and invite you over.

I really don't see a problem with the chicken.

I live in Somerset West. I know there are few people in my suburb who keep chickens and I'm pretty sure some of them would slaughter them every now and then. Keeping chickens in a residential suburb is really not that bad.

 

[SaoirseB]

Been trawling around the popular property websites and it astounds me that some townhouse complexes have levies up to R1800 a month for a small 100sqm facebrick home with a garden no bigger than the space my car occupies. Nee sies man

The levies can sometimes be a tip off whether to run or not from a complex even before inspecting their financials. If the complex is not in the best of shape outwardly, but the levies are high, it indicates to me that the finances were not managed well in the past and they are now making up for lost time. If the complex is relatively new then low levies are usually justified, because they still have time before any major work needs to be done. But even at that I shake my head when I see some complexes charging levies as low as R500. When you factor in things like insurance, standard maintenance costs etc it doesn't really leave a lot to be saved for later major work.

I think the reason why you're seeing such high levies is because the government is now forcing complexes to save for the future. This made a lot of complexes realize that they weren't saving enough and have had to raise their levies really high. So IMHO take it as a good sign if the complex is in good shape and the levies are not below R1k.

 

[SaoirseB]

Ha,

The one place we looked at, and liked, the neighbours had a decent enough looking yard. We drove past it and could see through the palasade fence.
While we were in the for sale yard looking around outside those neighbours decided to slaughter a chicken!
Needless to say, we moved on.

The slaughtering is not the problem for me. It's the noise. As long as the chickens aren't making a ruckus every morning then it shouldn't be a problem I think.

 

[TedLasso]

The levies can sometimes be a tip off whether to run or not from a complex even before inspecting their financials. If the complex is not in the best of shape outwardly, but the levies are high, it indicates to me that the finances were not managed well in the past and they are now making up for lost time. If the complex is relatively new then low levies are usually justified, because they still have time before any major work needs to be done. But even at that I shake my head when I see some complexes charging levies as low as R500. When you factor in things like insurance, standard maintenance costs etc it doesn't really leave a lot to be saved for later major work.

I think the reason why you're seeing such high levies is because the government is now forcing complexes to save for the future. This made a lot of complexes realize that they weren't saving enough and have had to raise their levies really high. So IMHO take it as a good sign if the complex is in good shape and the levies are not below R1k.

Yeah especially if I think I get for my house I pay on average about 6,5k for monthly levies, garden and pool maintenance, security and buildings insirance for my little house.

And I still have to fork out for anything else like a replacement garage door motor (last month)

Complexes can make it easier to in this regards, but I guess for me thats the price having the freedom to do what I want on my property..

 

[rietrot]

Yeah especially if I think I get for my house I pay on average about 6,5k for monthly levies, garden and pool maintenance, security and buildings insirance for my little house.

That isn't normal somebody is ripping you of. Unless you downplayed it and you're paying for the upkeep of an entire golf course.

 

[rietrot]

Yeah especially if I think I get for my house I pay on average about 6,5k for monthly levies, garden and pool maintenance, security and buildings insirance for my little house.

That isn't normal, somebody is ripping you off. Unless you downplayed it and you're paying for the upkeep of an entire golf course.

 

[Snyper564]

That isn't normal, somebody is ripping you off. Unless you downplayed it and you're paying for the upkeep of an entire golf course.

That is insane, for my house I pay the following:

Security: R350
Garden services: R650
Building insurance: R1200

And this is a 4 bedroom house. Ripped off indeed unless you live in the heart of Sandton or something and then its still expensive!

 

[rietrot]

That is insane, for my house I pay the following:

Security: R350
Garden services: R650
Building insurance: R1200

And this is a 4 bedroom house. Ripped off indeed unless you live in the heart of Sandton or something and then its still expensive!

Your building insurance is also high. It should be R500-R600 monthly

 

[Snyper564]

Your building insurance is also high. It should be R500-R600 monthly

Sorry you are correct, my home insurance is R4800 for the year got building insurance and the other insurance mixed up there

 

[TedLasso]

2600 for rates and taxes, 1500 a month for garden and pool they come once a week , 600 for buildings insurance, 1300 for armed response , comunity membership and road closures, and some other small stuff .. yes it's in Sandton. FML

 

[Venomous]

I really don't see a problem with the chicken.

I live in Somerset West. I know there are few people in my suburb who keep chickens and I'm pretty sure some of them would slaughter them every now and then. Keeping chickens in a residential suburb is really not that bad.

When their chicken coup is less than 5m from the mainbedroom of the house we were looking at, 3 roosters .... That is a deal breaker.

Besides there are laws that very roughly state that you can place a chicken coup in such a way that it bothers your neighbours.

Further there are some areas where chickens are not allowed by municipal laws.

 

[Venomous]

The slaughtering is not the problem for me. It's the noise. As long as the chickens aren't making a ruckus every morning then it shouldn't be a problem I think.

With 3 roosters (that I could see) ruckus is likely to be an understatement.

 

[Venomous]

2600 for rates and taxes, 1500 a month for garden and pool they come once a week , 600 for buildings insurance, 1300 for armed response , comunity membership and road closures, and some other small stuff .. yes it's in Sandton. FML

1300?

We've just bought in a Res Ass area. There are 24/7 cameras monitored by londoloza, granted no booms but there is a patrol car in the area. If we sign up for AR and RA combined is R449.
So with booms and gaurding I would speculate that you guys should not be more than say R850-950.

 

[SaoirseB]

Yeah especially if I think I get for my house I pay on average about 6,5k for monthly levies, garden and pool maintenance, security and buildings insirance for my little house.

And I still have to fork out for anything else like a replacement garage door motor (last month)

Complexes can make it easier to in this regards, but I guess for me thats the price having the freedom to do what I want on my property..

2600 for rates and taxes, 1500 a month for garden and pool they come once a week , 600 for buildings insurance, 1300 for armed response , comunity membership and road closures, and some other small stuff .. yes it's in Sandton. FML

Perspective. I cry at my current rates and taxes, so I think I would probably hang myself if I was paying yours :crylaugh: It sounds to me like you're part of a HOA? Surely that means you should be able to get better deals pricing for services like gardening as a group?

I'm in a 24 unit ST scheme and our gardening costs works out to about R250 per unit. What are road closures?

 

[Sinbad]

Check there is fibre, preferably not openserve

 

[Venomous]

Perspective. I cry at my current rates and taxes, so I think I would probably hang myself if I was paying yours :crylaugh: It sounds to me like you're part of a HOA? Surely that means you should be able to get better deals pricing for services like gardening as a group?

I'm in a 24 unit ST scheme and our gardening costs works out to about R250 per unit. What are road closures?

Road closures are where some roads are gated/closed off with only some renaining open or are closed with a boom for security access. Almost like a giant complex I guess.

Also remember HOA are similar to sectional title in terms of the rules. LoL if you read the fine print it even means you have to ask permission if you wish to do alterations. And according to law should get audited financials and belong to CSOS Are the rules always enforced. Not really, unless there is some jack ass in the group.

RA or residents association you keep all the rights to your free standing house. RA are really more about general safety and keeping the area clean, so not really much rules.


While I cannot say I will never live in a retirement establishment ONE DAY.... Those are normally STs. I will personally avoid HOAs and STs for as many decades as I can.

 

[TedLasso]

Perspective. I cry at my current rates and taxes, so I think I would probably hang myself if I was paying yours :crylaugh: It sounds to me like you're part of a HOA? Surely that means you should be able to get better deals pricing for services like gardening as a group?

I'm in a 24 unit ST scheme and our gardening costs works out to about R250 per unit. What are road closures?

No it's a standalone basic house (IMHO) .. the security is negotiated for the whole area and it's a great deal. We only have about 52% paying to have closed roads , and a single security service provider. Service is amazing from them. 2-3 minute response times . Us 52% pay for the the road closures and the remaining 48% freetards get the benefit of security it does bring .. but as mentioned, most roads are boomed off most of the day and with specific entrances open 24/7

For everything else , we have to get our own service providers. My current gardening service is good value IMHO. They do garden, pool, bin washing, sweeping of all paving and washing windows once a month.

I do wish everything could be cheaper

 

[PhireSide]

Just mailed the agent to confirm interest in the house we looked at a few weeks ago.

If all goes well at the bank, I should be putting down an offer.

Do I put in my initial offer to the agent who will then pass this on to the seller, after which if the seller agrees it moves on to a formalized OTP? I hope I am understanding the process correctly

 

[Speedster]

Just mailed the agent to confirm interest in the house we looked at a few weeks ago.

If all goes well at the bank, I should be putting down an offer.

Do I put in my initial offer to the agent who will then pass this on to the seller, after which if the seller agrees it moves on to a formalized OTP? I hope I am understanding the process correctly

Yes, that is pretty much the standard process. Also, the bank normally requires the OTP as part of the bond approval process so, what you can do is to make an offer with approval of the required loan as a suspensive condition, I.e. If the loan isn't approved the OTP becomes void.

 

[Venomous]

Agent will give you OTP form. You will complete. Agent will give otp form to seller(s) who will then accept or decline.

That is the point at which counter offers/negotiations can be done if the sellers is open to such.

Once OTP is accepted. Formal papers are done that then goes to the banks.
Typically by this stage neither party can withdraw UNLESS the purchaser cannot secure finance in the form of either cash or a bond.
After that there is further paperwork that will be done at the attorneys.