The perception in the general public’s mind that property developers make huge profits on their developments is way off the mark.

The Cape Town City Council’s current revaluing of residential property has, as previously, resulted in his property group being flooded with questions from the general public as to the accuracy and reliability of these rates – and, in many cases, the policy on which the Council appears to be working.

When reading the life stories of successful entrepreneurs it becomes clear that, very often, at some point in their careers they have mortgaged their homes to finance their businesses.

Those who believe, probably correctly, that economic trends in the USA are always mirrored, to an extent, a few months later in South Africa will take heart from the latest US housing data published by Standard & Poor/Case-Shiller and analysed in a recent article by “The Economist”.

Some property investors often consider investing in property as part of a syndicate or group of people, but the problem with this sort of scheme is that you have to bring an equal amount of money to invest as the others in the syndicate do and there is a chance of arguments between shareholders.  

Confusion on estate agent mandates, fees and conditions apparently still exists and will have to be remedied now that the consumer protection act is in force

In the residential property sector a major highlight is the fact that in 2011 new developments dropped off by some 70% compared to the levels of 2006/2007

The stress test looks at what a loan applicant qualifies for and then calculates if his financial position is strong enough to enable him to take the same loan with a 1% or 2% higher interest rate

Although the United States has temporarily bought themselves a reprieve by extending the debt ceiling on its debt payments, the current precariousness of the western world’s economies is still creating uncertainty on a scale never before seen in his 19 years in property.

In today’s housing market property leaders are frequently asked if this is not a good time to rent