Property in Cape Town

Gnome

Gnome

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Long story short, I recently moved to Cape Town and I've gotten quite accustomed to living here. Myself and SO have both got great jobs in CT so we don't really want to move back to Gauteng any time soon.

Which brings me to my problem. I want to buy a place to live. I currently rent in the City Bowl and work there also.

So my question: Is there such a thing as a "great deal" in the City Bowl? I was hoping to land a place that needs some work and hopefully costs significantly less. Imagine my surprise when complete and utter terrible looking tiny 2 bedroom flats go for R1.5m+ on property24

Even at R2m many of the flats need a lot of work or are located in terrible locations (Disa towers, blegh)

Looking for some input here: Am I looking in the wrong places for property for sale?

Just to be clear I want to live in the City Bowl, maybe Green Point. Reason being I've grown accustomed to living within walking distance of my job.

I really couldn't afford to go over R2.2m give or take.

Input appreciated :)
 
How about Hout Bay to increase your odds as what you looking for only has a limited supply .HB is less than 25 min commute to town.Has beaches,mountains,relaxed .
 
I realize now that when I select City Bowl on Property24 that means CBD only. Thought it would include Gardens, Tamboerskloof, Vredehoek, etc.

Found quite a few more now.

@Jambai:
Heard some scary things about security in Hout Bay...

Might have to considering buying outside City Bowl, prices there are just too crazy. Can't believe people are actually willing to pay these prices :p
 
You live in CT... the city in SA with probably the best public transport system.. use it, and you can end up living in some amazing areas.
 
ToxicBunny said:
You live in CT... the city in SA with probably the best public transport system.. use it, and you can end up living in some amazing areas.
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Don't really agree. Gautrain was substantially better than Cape Town's buses. Mostly because it covered vast distances in a short amount of time whereas the Cape Town public transport isn't much faster than driving your car. You just don't have to drive.

My problem with living far away from work isn't so much the drive, I don't want to spend 1 1/2 to 2 hours of my day getting to/from work.
 
Gnome said:
Don't really agree. Gautrain was substantially better than Cape Town's buses. Mostly because it covered vast distances in a short amount of time whereas the Cape Town public transport isn't much faster than driving your car. You just don't have to drive.

My problem with living far away from work isn't so much the drive, I don't want to spend 1 1/2 to 2 hours of my day getting to/from work.
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Fair enough..

I just know my brother lives in a nice suburb and it takes him 30 odd minutes to get to work on the MyCiti things... (when he decides not to ride to work)
 
ToxicBunny said:
Fair enough..

I just know my brother lives in a nice suburb and it takes him 30 odd minutes to get to work on the MyCiti things... (when he decides not to ride to work)
Click to expand...

Well those buses have special lanes for getting into the city but driving back they do not.

Driving into town takes about the same time as driving with your own car, even with their special lanes because the bus stops every so often to pick people up.

Driving back they do not have special lanes and get stuck in traffic just like everyone else, not to mention the stops to drop people off.

So yeah, not really faster :p

Tough choice in CT, pay off a cupboard for the rest of your life or spend an hour+ in traffic everyday. Eish. Need to give this some more thought...
 
Personally, I would never buy a property based on where I currently work, because a job is easier to change than a house. Always buy property in the best area that you can afford and that you want to live in.
 
I'd like to meet the genius that came up with the bus lanes, especially the lack of them leaving town... How difficult could it have been to get that right?
 
xrapidx said:
I'd like to meet the genius that came up with the bus lanes, especially the lack of them leaving town... How difficult could it have been to get that right?
Click to expand...

You need to come to Durbs and see our geniuses at work.. they're even cleverer than CPT's guys....
 
Gnome said:
Long story short, I recently moved to Cape Town and I've gotten quite accustomed to living here. Myself and SO have both got great jobs in CT so we don't really want to move back to Gauteng any time soon.

Which brings me to my problem. I want to buy a place to live. I currently rent in the City Bowl and work there also.

So my question: Is there such a thing as a "great deal" in the City Bowl? I was hoping to land a place that needs some work and hopefully costs significantly less. Imagine my surprise when complete and utter terrible looking tiny 2 bedroom flats go for R1.5m+ on property24

Even at R2m many of the flats need a lot of work or are located in terrible locations (Disa towers, blegh)

Looking for some input here: Am I looking in the wrong places for property for sale?

Just to be clear I want to live in the City Bowl, maybe Green Point. Reason being I've grown accustomed to living within walking distance of my job.

I really couldn't afford to go over R2.2m give or take.

Input appreciated :)
Click to expand...

There are always deals... I would hold out if you really keen.

Its a bad time to get a place because everyone moves down in Jan.
 
You could get a decent pad in century city for around R1.5m to R2m and the best thing is that you don't really get stuck in much traffic going to and coming from town. It took me about 15 to 20 min max every day each way in traffic. Really not bad!!

I lived there for 2 years after living in Rondebosch for 4 years and Claremont for 1 year. Best decision to move there. Look at Waterstone for very modern places and in that price bracket but there are plenty available.
 
At one point I bought a house in Fish Hoek and worked far out (Somerset West). My approach was to rent a small apartment near work, which was easily affordable since Fish Hoek is relatively inexpensive allowing me to buy a nice (ish :-) ) house, while still being near where I wanted to live (Simons Town, Kalk Bay, Cape Point, Scarborough, etc.).

The rented apartment was small and not much to look at, but it meant that during the week I could do things in the one location(Stellenbosch downtown, wine farms, restaurtants, etc...), and spend my weekends (Fri/Sat/Sun nights) at my house and nearby areas. If my wife and I wanted to go home one or two days during the week, we would do so, although for the most part, during the week I would work and go out afterwards, and only use the apartment to sleep anyway. This works well, at least until kids come along - although there is something to be said for not having them around during the week - lol, I'd be a crap dad :-).

So how about buying a nice house somewhere affordable, and renting a 40m bachelor across the road from work?
 
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There are always deals but it's 99% a timing thing. I've bought and sold a few great places in the CT city bowl BUT you have to be patient and watch the property market very closely. You also need to have your ducks in a row for finance.
Watching closely and knowing the market will mean you know a good deal when you see it and having the finance ready will mean you can act fast when you need to.
I used watch the papers and websites very closely. I went to lots of show houses so that I knew the areas I wanted to buy in so didn't get distracted by places outside those areas. A few weekends spent visit show houses will give you a good idea of price vs quality.

Having time is key though. You can't look for a deal AND time it to coincide with a rental agreement ending. Bare in mind that renting places in the CBD is easy. So if you find a place then go for it and get your landlord to agree to you finding them a new tenant for them instead of seeing out the lease and losing the place you want to buy.
 
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Gnome said:
Well those buses have special lanes for getting into the city but driving back they do not.

Driving into town takes about the same time as driving with your own car, even with their special lanes because the bus stops every so often to pick people up.

Driving back they do not have special lanes and get stuck in traffic just like everyone else, not to mention the stops to drop people off.
Click to expand...

Where do you get your intel - The lanes of myciti travel both ways, I take it every day
 
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