Could you please explain how you structure and apply this, please, and how you guide the process with your tenant, and perhaps illustrate the steps with an example? Thanks.
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Things to look for when considering a property
- Thread starter newby_investor
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Noise:
Drive or walk around the area, including up and down the street and the parallel streets, at several different times of the day or night, and different days of the week.
Listen. Watch. Listen for parties, restaurants, tuck-shops, music venues, pubs, alcohol, drugs, prostitution, informal but regular gatherings. Listen for car mechanics/garages, people who tune their cars and bikes for fun. Check on activities in nearby parks, including, say, gatherings for indoor or outdoor church (check Sundays generally) or sports fields or clubs. Have a look to see whether the neighbours' lawns look like they're mowed daily. Listen for pool splashing and fountains, etc. Find out if there are child-care centres or pet-care centres nearby, and watch the patterns of transport to take children to school and fetch them, and if there are teenagers, whether they hang out near your place after school.
Noise is subjective. Not all sounds will bother you. Sometimes just knowing what a person is doing, and why, and for how long, makes it all makes sense. Some sounds may please you. In any case, you owe it to yourself to find out.
Drive or walk around the area, including up and down the street and the parallel streets, at several different times of the day or night, and different days of the week.
Listen. Watch. Listen for parties, restaurants, tuck-shops, music venues, pubs, alcohol, drugs, prostitution, informal but regular gatherings. Listen for car mechanics/garages, people who tune their cars and bikes for fun. Check on activities in nearby parks, including, say, gatherings for indoor or outdoor church (check Sundays generally) or sports fields or clubs. Have a look to see whether the neighbours' lawns look like they're mowed daily. Listen for pool splashing and fountains, etc. Find out if there are child-care centres or pet-care centres nearby, and watch the patterns of transport to take children to school and fetch them, and if there are teenagers, whether they hang out near your place after school.
Noise is subjective. Not all sounds will bother you. Sometimes just knowing what a person is doing, and why, and for how long, makes it all makes sense. Some sounds may please you. In any case, you owe it to yourself to find out.
Lupus
Honorary Master
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I also had a big leak that caused thousands of rands worth of damage. I know the plastic has nothing to do with the tiles, but while they were removing tiles and putting them back, they redid the plastic underlay as the only one had degraded after 35 years.
They took off all my tiles, replaced broken fascia, rotting trusses and brandering, than before putting the tiles back they removed the old broken underlay and put new one. Put the tiles back, waterproofed where necessary.
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KleinBoontjie
Honorary Master
Did anybody mention Asbestos, yet? Very expensive to remove Asbestos roofing, because only a few people qualified to do so and only few places in the country where you're allowed to dump them.
Unfortunately, there is still a lot of houses with these roofs. Nothing wrong buying a house with asbes roof, just make sure it's in good condition, because you're not allow to repair according to law, only replace.
Unfortunately, there is still a lot of houses with these roofs. Nothing wrong buying a house with asbes roof, just make sure it's in good condition, because you're not allow to repair according to law, only replace.
I know compliance very well. Quick way to check if Electrical was done properly . Db boards have label where feed derived from . Gate motors have isolaters as well as geysers . In roof no open boxes . All plugs secured . No broken conduit etc etc . But you not getting a newly wired house without maintenance issues merely a safe house up to code . If a aircon trips the power this is not a compliance issue and other tripping problems as well as the breaker or earth leakage is working as designed- maintenance issues .
Water compliance is mostly around the geysers and no leaks in taps etc and a stop cock inside the property .
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before any agreement is signed the tenant is made aware that I will allocate every month R2 000 towards maintenance of the property (used to be R1 000 ten years ago)
Every five years I paint outside, every three to five years I paint inside, wood maintenance done every two years etcetc
if during the incoming inspection there are issues which need to be addressed, this is put in writing and a schedule budgeted and agreed to- this doesn't happen very often though
unforeseen damage is covered by insurance
given my history of being audited, I pretty much have to have a solid documentation process for all expenses incurred and the maintenance schedule resulted more as a result of that than anything else
redspark
Expert Member
We bought not so long ago (in a quite coastal town).
Things that were NB for me:
- Max. 30-min walking distance from schools
- Away from the main road (kids must play freely (skate, bite, walk/run, kick ball), not to mention road noise)
- House on hill or slope (I like to look out into the distance or future
This helps to clears the mind. My idea house of great location is not looking at my neighbours walls or trees)
Things that were NB for me:
- Max. 30-min walking distance from schools
- Away from the main road (kids must play freely (skate, bite, walk/run, kick ball), not to mention road noise)
- House on hill or slope (I like to look out into the distance or future
This helps to clears the mind. My idea house of great location is not looking at my neighbours walls or trees)Thank you. This is helpful. Okay, given your history of being audited... that's The Tax Man? So it makes sense that all your documentation is in order, of the expenses you incurr, and can legitimately deduct from tax. Good.
It also makes sense to a have a maintenance plan. I'd be very interested to read more about other items that you and other owners work on, cyclicly, like your painting, every x years.
This is the kind of planning that new owners just don't know how to do: how often will they need to replace the roof, gutters, electrics, electric fencing, generator or other, plumbing, outside paint, inside paint, windows, burglar guards, geysers, driveway, etc., and what else? And roughly what will each of those items cost? Is your figure of R2000 p.m. a figure you've gained from experience, that kinda works out in the long run, or do you quantify the known maintenance and spread it out over time (and over a spreadsheet)?
The other part I don't understand is why you discuss this with your tenant. At all. Do you have an obligation to do so? Or are you trying to set a limit, to start with, so they don't ask for more than you're willing to do? Or are you wanting to show them that you are a responsible owner? This is a genuine question: what to you gain from making your maintenance budget a topic between you as owner, and your tenant?
this is why I already mentioned the maintenance issue, as an area needs attention so I include it in my schedule, whats also important is finding a contractor you can trust and work with
its 2% of the replacement property value (excluding land), if the property is depreciating at 2% a year then it will take 2% of expense to maintain it, so far this rule of thumb has worked out for me
it is to be transparent so the tenant knows what to expect from me, it doesn't happen often, but sometimes tenants will actually incur the cost of something themselves and then set it off against future budget deductions because the amount is "certain" so to speak
Also I vet my tenants pretty strictly these days and in return I have proof of my ability to manage my property.
newby_investor
Executive Member
And this is a flat? Wow. So presumably you still have to pay levies on top of that?
no this is a stand alone property
newby_investor
Executive Member
Ok, that is useful information, thank you.
Damp
As you approach the property, and in the garden, and inside: use your nose. Smell. If it is musty or moldy, you might well smell it. If you can tell that bad smell from the curb, then save yourself the house inspection costs and just walk away from the property altogether.
If you do view, walk around outside and look for tell-tale white stripes or deposits from seeping water.
If you do go inside, walk around inside and touch the walls to feel for temperature and moisture differences between the main parts of the walls and the corners. especially if there is a pervasive artificial perfume in the house, sniff the taps, drains and flushed toilets. Breathe in. If you feel your lungs contract, the air might have spores in it.
See the "Effloresence" page on inspectapedia:
inspectapedia.com
As a general rule, if you intend to buy to fix a property up: if the water leak is known and comes down from above (e.g. leak in roof) it will be expensive, but much less troublesome to repair than water seepage that comes up from below (rising damp).
As you approach the property, and in the garden, and inside: use your nose. Smell. If it is musty or moldy, you might well smell it. If you can tell that bad smell from the curb, then save yourself the house inspection costs and just walk away from the property altogether.
If you do view, walk around outside and look for tell-tale white stripes or deposits from seeping water.
If you do go inside, walk around inside and touch the walls to feel for temperature and moisture differences between the main parts of the walls and the corners. especially if there is a pervasive artificial perfume in the house, sniff the taps, drains and flushed toilets. Breathe in. If you feel your lungs contract, the air might have spores in it.
See the "Effloresence" page on inspectapedia:
White Mineral Efflorescence
White Efflorescence salt deposits in or on buildings - diagnostic guide to rising damp, seepage causing white stains & deposits in buildings: white deposits on building surfaces are often effloresence, a mineral salt that some people mistake for mold. It's white powdery growth or stain on...
inspectapedia.com
As a general rule, if you intend to buy to fix a property up: if the water leak is known and comes down from above (e.g. leak in roof) it will be expensive, but much less troublesome to repair than water seepage that comes up from below (rising damp).
Nope. That's all, for the moment.