House hunting tips

[Ancalagon]

How did you guys decide on what house to buy? How did you know? How many houses had you seen before you bought?

I've seen about 8 so far, liked of them. But even those two have their issues, and I have no idea how to evaluate if it is worth continuing with either. Both match my hard requirements, but fail in the negotiables. The one has no lawn because the owners decided to put a pool the size of gariep dam in the back garden, as well as a log cabin. The other has 3 relatively small bedrooms.

 

[reactor_sa]

Flipped a coin.
Nah, tried an agent first, was mostly a waste of time, ended up driving around looking for show houses, saw one with a for sale sign, looked interesting, phoned number, organised viewing, signed offer to purchase, purchased, moved in.
The end-I mean beginning.

 

[cguy]

I've bought 3 times now - each time we saw about 20-40 properties. I know it's the right place when my wife tells me so.

 

[hawker]

I've bought 3 times now - each time we saw about 20-40 properties. I know it's the right place when my wife tells me so.

Obviously she isn't right since you've bought 3 times

 

[Yotch]

Just check on the number of house robberies in the area before you purchase. Some areas have much worse problems than others.

 

[RichardG]

When buying go to the local police station and ask them for a report of house break-in in the area. Sometimes they won't disclose this but if you have a friend who works in the force they can get this information for you.

as @yotch mentioned always check the crime stats. Use Google as well.

If you want a bargain sheriff of the court is the best place to start. Sometimes you can save R100 K+. An estate agent beat me 1,3 million for a residential area valued at R3,5 million. The problem purchasing houses as such, you need to get an eviction order/red ants and pay outstanding rates and taxes but sometimes you can ask the council to half it.

 

[Ancalagon]

Thanks guys.

Nope, no auctions for me, not willing to take the risk at this stage. Think I will carry on looking, one or two decent properties I've seen.

 

[cguy]

Obviously she isn't right since you've bought 3 times

Yeah, it does sound like that. All the properties are in different cities though (we've moved around a lot).

 

[The_Ogre]

I had no interested in a house until an agent approached me with "Plot-and-Plan" offers. So technically I didn't see my house before I bought it

I won't take up such an offer again, but I was young and its an investment. I was 24 at the time and I'm still staying in the house

 

[flarkit]

We looked at about 12 places over 3 months before finding a place we liked, so that's about 1 per week. Luckily we weren't in a major hurry, so we could take our time and weigh up all the options. I'd go batty if I had to look at more than 20 places before deciding

 

[Compton_effect]

If you can - get the Estate Agent to check the property's bond history on Lodestone (I think that's the name). You'll quickly see if it is being flipped.
And if you are really interested in one - go back and ask for a more detailed tour - and see if you can get a contractor or a builder along. Those guys will quickly pick up if you will have any issues. You are buying a place you will spend a minimum of 60% of your day in - No one can blame you.
And definetly check the crime-stats.

 

[biena]

How did you guys decide on what house to buy? How did you know? How many houses had you seen before you bought?

29 can even name them all wrote everything down in a binder. Took about 3 months. Had some fail conditions if a house met any of them then I did not even go and see it, if an agent took me to one in any case then I just refused to waste my time looking (flat roof/thatch, big pool, adjacent complexes/open fields, on these I were not willing to budge. semi fail were plastered houses (I like the low maintenance of facebrick))

Finally got the one in the area I wanted, place was standing empty for 5 months, made an offer far below the asking price and got it. Very old house so lots to fix before I am totally happy. Living there is fun, even fixing up the place is fun just takes time since I do almost everything myself.

I saw a lot of junk, place where people went willy nilly and built like the back end (stil remember the one where the ceiling was held up by ducttape and electrical wire was hanging all over the place)

Work out what it will cost to build per square meter, then take the house price subtract the land (estimated) and get the square meter price of the house you are interested in. If it is not new then keep in mind there will be maintenance required (somehow people living in a house for a long time think it is fine not to do any maintenance)

Keep looking you will find what you want. Both of these that you describe fail to me, granted you can fill in the pool but that costs money, the one with the small rooms I would pass up, nothing you can do about small rooms.

That log cabin may just be in contravention of municipal codes, you will need to check up on that.

One thing to add, check if the place has approved municipal plans, go check it yourself at the municipality or make it a condition of the purchase offer. It can cost a fortune to draw up new plans and get it approved. In some cases you would never get approval and have to actually demolish the building (saw a place that I knew was beneath the floodline, passed it up since the owner just decided to build and not even get approval. Later heard the place has to be demolished municipality is not willing to move the floodline)

 

[Ancalagon]

Thanks biena, great advice.

One of my colleagues also pointed out that I am single and will be living in a big house all alone. So, in other words, a smaller house on perhaps a smaller erf is a better idea.

I dont want a flat or any sectional title unit because I dont want people living on top of me, or too close to me. I want to be able to hang my laundry out to dry on my lawn if I so choose. I dont want to deal with paying special levies or retired school teachers becoming body corporate heads.

And I want a big lawn so that I can get a dog and give him decent space to run around (yes I will still take him for runs/walks).

And, I would also like the possibility of renting out 1 or 2 rooms for extra cash. But then, I need to be realistic, and it will probably be me home alone in the house most of the time. So, I need to get something more balanced.

Regarding the second house with the smaller rooms - it had 1 normal sized main bedroom, 1 medium sized bedroom that could fit a double bed, and 1 small bedroom that could only fit a single bed. And neither of the bathrooms were spacious. So, for just me, maybe it is okay. Its just that, while the living areas (lounge, kitchen etc) felt spacious, the bedrooms did not. The passageway is not wide.

The other thing that perhaps is not so good about the house, is that the pool is at the front, meaning the lounge opens onto a courtyard but not the pool. Not quite ideal for entertaining, although not the end of the world.
I suppose given my budget, I will need to compromise somewhere.

 

[biena]

One of my colleagues also pointed out that I am single and will be living in a big house all alone. So, in other words, a smaller house on perhaps a smaller erf is a better idea.

If you can afford it then so what, its your money. Having space is one of the best things for me. Just keep in mind a big place does have a lot of work, cleaning the house then doing garden work eats up a lot of time ! I don't mind since I would have spent the time sitting on my butt playing computer games this way I get some exercise Oh yeah if you get a big place cancel your gym membership if you have one, you will have enough work to stay fit.

Smaller erf also means closer to the neighbors which may just be a problem.

 

[Ancalagon]

If you can afford it then so what, its your money. Having space is one of the best things for me. Just keep in mind a big place does have a lot of work, cleaning the house then doing garden work eats up a lot of time ! I don't mind since I would have spent the time sitting on my butt playing computer games this way I get some exercise Oh yeah if you get a big place cancel your gym membership if you have one, you will have enough work to stay fit.

True, but I suppose I want to strike a balance. I mean, I dont care if people judge me for living in a 3 bedroom house alone, but then, I also want a manageable place.

 

[biena]

True, but I suppose I want to strike a balance. I mean, I dont care if people judge me for living in a 3 bedroom house alone, but then, I also want a manageable place.

Or get a big erf with a smaller house on it, fence off one part and just cut the jungle once a year, or put everything under grass and get a ride on mower

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

We only saw two places

Our plan was to get into the market and based on my original automated pre-approval, we where limited to what we could buy. We originally thought we would need to settle for a flat in a different neighourhood that was built using the same plans as the one we where staying in (65 year old flat).

By chance we saw a house we could afford and wife went to see it, she was in tears as it was a dump. Agent told her there was another house that was just sold but she should look at it to get an idea of what we could get for R100K more. Wife loved the house and then we found out buyers where struggling to get bond.

Ended up getting the house for only R35K more than the "dump" we originally looked at.

Must say that there where about a dozen other entry level homes we saw online but not a single estate agent contacted us. No regrets as we got what we wanted and would never sell this house.

 

[P924]

We only saw two places

Our plan was to get into the market and based on my original automated pre-approval, we where limited to what we could buy. We originally thought we would need to settle for a flat in a different neighourhood that was built using the same plans as the one we where staying in (65 year old flat).

By chance we saw a house we could afford and wife went to see it, she was in tears as it was a dump. Agent told her there was another house that was just sold but she should look at it to get an idea of what we could get for R100K more. Wife loved the house and then we found out buyers where struggling to get bond.

Ended up getting the house for only R35K more than the "dump" we originally looked at.

Must say that there where about a dozen other entry level homes we saw online but not a single estate agent contacted us. No regrets as we got what we wanted and would never sell this house.

Lol, sounds like you were duped, that is a typical estate agent trick to get you to buy the house they wanted to sell you...

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Lol, sounds like you were duped, that is a typical estate agent trick to get you to buy the house they wanted to sell you...

Actually not. There was a house across the road coming into the market (same plans) for R200K more than the one she showed us. I use to be salesman so I know all the sales tricks. Also we have become friends with the seller (his dad is now our neighbour) so we got all the facts.

 

[ToxicBunny]

Thanks biena, great advice.

One of my colleagues also pointed out that I am single and will be living in a big house all alone. So, in other words, a smaller house on perhaps a smaller erf is a better idea.

I dont want a flat or any sectional title unit because I dont want people living on top of me, or too close to me. I want to be able to hang my laundry out to dry on my lawn if I so choose. I dont want to deal with paying special levies or retired school teachers becoming body corporate heads.

And I want a big lawn so that I can get a dog and give him decent space to run around (yes I will still take him for runs/walks).

And, I would also like the possibility of renting out 1 or 2 rooms for extra cash. But then, I need to be realistic, and it will probably be me home alone in the house most of the time. So, I need to get something more balanced.

Regarding the second house with the smaller rooms - it had 1 normal sized main bedroom, 1 medium sized bedroom that could fit a double bed, and 1 small bedroom that could only fit a single bed. And neither of the bathrooms were spacious. So, for just me, maybe it is okay. Its just that, while the living areas (lounge, kitchen etc) felt spacious, the bedrooms did not. The passageway is not wide.

The other thing that perhaps is not so good about the house, is that the pool is at the front, meaning the lounge opens onto a courtyard but not the pool. Not quite ideal for entertaining, although not the end of the world.
I suppose given my budget, I will need to compromise somewhere.

I went through a similar thing when I bought 2 years ago..

I eventually just said screw everyone elses advice on size etc etc.. I found a nice 150sqm home (which I'm expanding already to over 230sqm), with a bit 1700sqm lot... i couldn't be happier, even if it does take a fair chunk of time to maintain.

If you do want a nice 3 bed home on a big erf, try get one that has a granny flat.. it will make the monthly bills easier to manage.