Wednesday 19 September 2007

Top 4 Legal Pointers when Buying Property


Before you buy, ask a conveyancer to check zoning regulations and title deed conditions so you know what your new neighbours are allowed to do. If you lose your view or find a business loading zone right next door, you have only yourself to blame.

If you are a first time buyer and wondering whether to buy in your own name or set up a cc, company or trust, remember that under the SARS regulations for capital gains tax, you now face 50 per cent tax liability on the nett capital gain when selling a property registered in a trust, cc or company, as opposed to 25 per cent as an individual.

If you buy into a sectional title and want to extend your unit, you will need the approval of the members of the body corporate before you go ahead.


If your neighbour at the end of the street paints his double-storey facade a lurid pink, there is nothing you can do. Grin and bear it!

101 Posts! Wooohooo


Ladies and Gentleman, oldsters and youngsters we've hit 100 posts.
Actually 101 posts so I'm a little upset that we missed the 100 post celebration but what the hell. Who am I to complain.

Anyway, just wanted to say thank you for the ongoing support.

And keep on reading.

WizardMan Out!

Tuesday 18 September 2007

Buying Property from a Developer!


People love this. Don't you want to buy from the developer. It'll save you thousands and thousands of rands, and often it does. but "Buying Property from a Developer" is it all that grand?

What the developers love to do, and it's a quick and sure way for them to sell their properties off plan is that they build one or two units. This way they have a sure way to show them off or as estate agents like to say put them "on show". You then see this great opportunity to buy "off plan". What falls into your lap now should you go for it is the following;

1. The responsibility to ensure that the time scale is realistic
2. He is a reputable developer
3. Checks are made on his credentials
4. Whether or not the developer is using a builder
5. Ensure you establish exactly what the development includes

A marketing tool that the developers use is the fact that "transfer duties are not payable". What the purchaser does not realise is that the developer is registered for VAT. and the VAT amount is included in the selling price. e.g. The purchaser buys for R600 000.00. This price includes VAT @ 14%. The purchaser is under the impression that he ahas bought a house that is worth R600 000.00 and wants to re-sell it for R660 000.00. He is not able tot get that price, because the house is actually worth R530 000.00 plus VAT.

Now don't get me wrong I'm not saying that buying off-plan is bad, just keep your eye out. There are some pitfalls.

I found a great article on the Top 10 pitfalls when buying from a developer. Read on here...
http://www.persfin.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=709&fArticleId=2495516

If you're interested in buying land for development. I have a list of developments currently for sale from Rawson Properties. For more information please contact the WizardMan

DEVELOPMENT LAND


ANDEON
2.04 Ha No Application corner stand R1.350 mill
10.50 No Application close to New Township establishment R9.00 mill
38 ha No Application adjoining New Township Establishment R22.0 mill

AMANDASIG
BEST BUY! 8.50 Ha Nice view No Application R8.50 mill +- 4.5 ha can be develop due to green belt Can get 25 to 30 units p/ha. Unique! All nestled against Magalies
15.9 Ha No application – R 9.500 mill –will loose portion due to green belt
2.1 Ha zoning in process, EAI in 1 months time– R6.250 mill

CLARINA
3.2 ha - Nestled between developments
Last land available in Area!! R10.5MIL

CHANTELLE
4.20 Ha – Zoning in process R 8 Mill
4.66 Ha – No application R9.5 Mill
7.00 ha – Prime Spot No application R23 mill

DERDEPOORT
3.5 Ha No application N1 front R7.500 mill
3.7 Ha No application N1 front R9.00 mill

HEATHERDALE
Best Buy! 5.2 Ha – No application R8.2 mill – will get 40 unit per ha
I need an urgent offer here currently offer on table of R7.8mill with 10% deposit &guarantees in 30 days!
2.2 Ha No Application Prime area R3.950 mill
6.1 Ha No Application close to schools R7.800 mill
2.1 Ha Zoning in Process 92 units R7.000 mill
1.38 Ha No Application in First Ave. R2.100 mill- need urgent offer! She wants R1, 850 nett – will get 40 units per ha offer can be subject to zoning period allowed 8 months
2.20 Ha No Application - Good location R5.20 mill
4.40 Ha Adjoining Pieces – Prime location R12.0 mill
6.00 Ha Adjoining Pieces - Prime location R15.0 mill
9.00 Ha Adjoining Pieces – Prime location R13.0 mill

HEATHERVIEW (above Brits Road)
2.10 Ha Zoning 25 units p/ha R6.50 mill
5.10 Ha No Application R10.500 mill

HESTEAPARK
22-ha Res1 143 stands on 5.4 ha, Res3 -40 u/ha 9 stands – 7.4 ha
Special Zoning 4 stands 2.3 ha, Special –offices /G- house1.1 ha
Streets/parks 4.6 ha R49 mill

PTA MOOT AREA
PRIME! PRIME! PRIME
Over looking PTA CBD!
Ideal for High Density – High Rise Flats etc
6 ha - No application - Price R21 mill neg

KARINPARK
OPPORTUNITY
4.2 Ha No Application can apply for 100 units / ha!!! JV will be considered! R15MIL

ONDERSTEPOORT
2.9 Ha - No application -On busy Lavender Road R4.9MIL

MIDRAND
25 ha - Last in this Class!
Zoned 25 - 30 units / ha
Opposite luxury developments
Electricity will be available! R57MIL

STRYDFONDTEIN - PTA NORTH
Next to new Developments
127 ha Adjoining pieces From R850k / ha
51 ha - Zoning in Process R65 mill

THERESAPARK
1.5 ha In Town Application 60 % coverage 3 story’s R5.90 mill
3300 sqm - zoning in place Res3 - 2 stories- 9 units R2.4 mill

WILLOW BREA
2.10 ha Zoned 41 full title stands or 55 sectional title units R6MIL

WONDERBOOM AH
Good buy!!
2.2 ha earmarked for Light Industrial R3.5MIL

PTA - NORTH
Half & Full Burger stands
Various stands available from R395K to R3.8 mill
Ideal for flats - zoning 10 to 30 units

INDUSTRIAL & COMMERCIAL


ROSSLYN
4.3 Ha Zoning in Process R6.80 mill
4.4 ha Zoned 25 000 m² Factories Services done by seller R8.80 mill
28.0 Ha Next to New Township Establishment Rights in Place
Industrial 1, Wholesale, Garage & Convenient Store
With Car Wash, Butchery, Bottle Store & General Dealer. R22. Mill – make an offer!!!

SILVERTON
Industrial park – R130 mill Good Yield! Strong Tenants!
Letter of Intend Needed for Appointment & Info!


LOW COST HOUSING LAND


SOSHANGUVE
130 ha – Zoning in process. R75MIL

SOSHANGUWE
86.33ha – Township establishment already approved but the rights lapsed, new application in. Mineral rights held by Johannes Hoolboom by Noterial Session 134/1903-5. Geo-
Tech has been done. No land claims R15MIL

PTA NORTH
8.5ha – 5min drive from shopping centre. AGRI zoned. Potential – Medium Cost housing, River frontage Central location. R9.8MIL

HEATHERDALE
2.1HA agri Potential 60units/ha. R4.5MIL

HEATHERDALE
6.12ha AGRI Services very close, Surrounded by various developments, Potential Sectional Title. R6.8MIL

RANDFONTEIN
120ha + 600ha AGRI, ROD, Geotech, EIA done on 120ha – 600ha formalities because of surroundings. Potential Medium cost housing, community facilities, business opportunity, RES component: Single res stands, semi-detached units, 2 story stack flats. R45mil

ATTRIDGEVILLE
20.3HA to develop –Very good soil (SCALIE up to 70m deep), little earth works, good location, easy accessibility to main roads / public transport almost completed ideal for affordable housing development. Suitable for shopping Centre. R4.5MIL


RANDFONTEIN
+-24ha Development land neighboring golf course, across the road from high school – tranquil vicinity –finalization of township establishment in progress rezoning approval expected within 6 months. EIA approval in place. Excellent location close to Highways, home lake station, rand gate shopping centre, Robinson private hospital\, ideal for town house and cluster development, lake facing full title stands.
Potential 658units. R55 500 000.00

Friday 14 September 2007

Rudco First NCR Now Scorpions!

Rudco Finance in the dwang again! Firstly, they were under investigation by the NCR, now they've been handed over to the Scorpions!

This makes me happy, a happy happy prson. What this means is South Africa is no longer taking CRAP from anyone. It also looks like we now have a governing body that's helping us fight corruption amongst the business ranks. Well done people. And congratulations to all who helped fight this fight.

To follow our news check out previous Rudco articles:

Rudco Home Loans 6%
Rudco under investigation

Also please check out the new article about Mortgage Fraud and Silvertale Investments

As soon as I get the Pretoria News this morning I'll publish the article for you all.

WizardMan Out!

Thursday 13 September 2007

Mortgage Fraud and Scandals! Watch Out People.



MORTGAGE FRAUDSTERS


You know when you wake up in the morning on the right side of the bed, with a bright big smile on your face and ready to take the world on without even blinking. You open up your mailbox and you've got a couple of leads and you decide to call one of them, and within 5 mins of listening to this guys story you want to cry...

Well it happened to me yesterday. It actually upsets me so that people get caught in these traps and schemes and loose thousands if not millions of rands. Well, I'm sick of hearing about them and I've decided to write about the story of Justin Peens and Silver Tale Investments CC. I hope to GOD that this story reaches the people it should reach and that it makes such a RA RA around South Africa that these people get caught and sent to jail!

Here's his story:
In February 2007 I went to a place called Silvertale Investments to apply for a mortgage and to consolidate all my existing debts. The lady I spoke to whose name was Suzanne, said she was very eager to help us. Very professional about the way they did things, she checked out our monthly income, did an affordability study and said we qualify for a mortgage of R1,300,000.00.

We proceeded and gave her all our documents, Copy of ID, Salary Slip, 3 months bank statements, and copy of our marriage certificate. We were also told that we need to put down a initial payment of R500.00 as an admin fee(See the
Rudco under investigation article for other stories). We did just that. At first we were going to buy a farm with my family, but after a month she told us that the seller of the farm did no longer want to sell and that we should look for something else.

My wife and I decided that we would take out the mortgage of R1,300,000.00 and buy a house in Rustenburg instead. We started looking and low and behold we found the house of our dreams for R920,000.00. We signed the offer to purchase obviously having the mortgage secured for 60 days with Dolmcilum Estate Agents. A Mrs Lea De Kock the same day went to Silvertale Investments to hand the contract over to Suzanne and was informed that the mortgage should take 2 weeks provided our debts were settled. We gave them a list of all the debts and we received a pre-approval.

We then asked when we would get money to pay off the debts as we were really cash strapped and we had a baby (Little Emma) on the way. One of Suzannes co-workers said not too worry, all we needed to do was pay R50.00 to each place that we were indebited to and everything would be sorted out (maybe trying to convince them that starting a payment would clear your debt). Two weeks later we still had no reply. We went to see them again and we were told that an evaluation on the property needed to be done and that there was a fee of R750.00. Two weeks went by and the house was still not evaluated. Finally after 4 weeks they did a evaluation on the house.

A week later we got the final grant for the mortgage which said the money would be paid over in 7 - 14 days. On the 21st August my contract on my Offer to Purchase expired and now I'm in crap with them to as they're wanting to charge me a cancellation FEE. We called and called and called and every time we left messages no one called us back. We went to go see Suzanne from Silvertale Investments and she told us the file was at Head Office for payments.

Last we heard she went off to head office in Cape Town to see what the hold up was and when I called Venter Eiendomme the receptionist told me it was all a SCAM and FRAUD. Silvertale Investments CC was a fake company! Now I'm blacklisted with every bureaus in South Africa and I'm still trying to buy a house...


When I read this story people it really upset me.
Apparently there were 3000 people caught in this Mortgage Fraud scam and I'm glad that I heard about this.

People I urge you to spread the word of this story. I'm going to publish the names of the people and telephone numbers in involved in this scam for the world to see and read.

PLEASE PEOPLE, HELP OUT HERE. GIVE US YOUR STORIES. WRITE YOUR COMMENTS AND LETS STOP THIS FRAUD CRAP.

All I can say is, watch out Silver Tale Investments and everyone involved, I'm going to do my utmost to get your asses kicked!

FOR A DEBT A CRIME FREE SOUTH AFRICA FOR ALL!!

Lea De Kock Estate Agent - 078 131 8976
Venter Eiendomme - 082 909 9585
Johan Spamer - 082 351 1316 (Applied for Loan)
Deon Cockren - 072 998 6880 (Received Final Grant)

Monday 10 September 2007

Bond Originators - Is Extinction on it's way?


DYING DYING - NEVER, Alive and kicking man!

Questions I've heard frequently in recent weeks:

Are bond origination services feeling the brunt of the NCA?
Is it the end of the road for the bond originator?
Will banks take over the bond business?
When will bond originators cease to exist?

To be totally honest, I think it's the beginning! And please stop bringing all this negative energy into my SPACE people, it's not good for business ;-)

Really though, what I do think is that South Africa is going to sift out the little originators from the big originators. I believe that the bond originators that did no prepare for the changes the National Credit Act was going to bring to this country and home financing will be the ones and are the ones that are taking heat and feeling the strain. It's thrown a spanner in the works and they don't know how to deal with certain issues...


One reason I firmly believe bond originators will stay around and continue to be the number one source of bonds for banks in South Africa is due to the fact that so many real estate companies own a share in the bond market. For example Pam Golding and Mortgage SA. The reason they separate the two is so that Real Estate agents can focus on selling property while the bond originators can fight for weeks with banks to get bonds through :-). Yes, believe it, there's always a fight!


The fact is, if you can't afford a place, you will not get a BOND. If you can afford it, you'll get one! That's how it should've been from day one! That's how, I HOPE, it will stay!


What do you think???

Is the end near, or is it the beginning of a NEW ERA IN ORIGINATION!


A DEBT FREE SOUTH AFRICA FOR ALL!

Monday 3 September 2007

Levelling Off in House Prices - YEAH!!!!!!!




The growth in the median house price declined relatively sharply to 5.7% year to year in August from 10.4% year to year in July, signally a levelling off in house price growth.






This means that, even though with all the other financial factors in place, house prices continue to climb, albeit very slowly, this could change quite simple when and if any further tightening of monetary policy at the next Monetary Policy Committee meeting in October, which is seen by many as a strong possibility, will change the financial environment and thus the outlook for the housing market going forward.






C'mon TITO help us out here man.




Well this can mean its time to buy your dream house as the prices are more realistic.

Seriously, we think the inflationary control measures are fine and we can see that we are at the peak of interest rate hikes and should within the next 12 months see the downward trend come into place.




This together with decent prices could really spark some interesting property times.

TITO, thanks. Lets go downwards sooner. We want to see a 10% interest rate again and at least compete with everyone else in the world and get our slice of action