As soon as you can is the best time to buy property.
It almost always makes more sense to buy a home rather than
rent, says Rudi Botha, CEO of SA’s biggest bond originator BetterBond, simply
because being a tenant means giving away what you would have spent on housing
anyway, without anything to show for it.
“By contrast, home ownership is the easiest way for young
people, especially, to accumulate personal wealth. This occurs as the value of
the property appreciates over a number of years and the size of the outstanding
home loan decreases month by month. There are also several relatively easy ways
to accelerate this process, such as paying an extra amount off your bond each
month.
“You can also maximize the possibility of value appreciation
by buying in an area where your target price is in the lower tier of current
prices in that area. That way, your home will have less vulnerability during
any downturn and the higher-priced homes will help pull yours up during ‘hot’
markets.”
There are those, he says, who believe that the real estate
market is not yet at the bottom of its current cycle, and that they should wait
for home prices to become even more negotiable than they are at the moment.
“But even property experts can’t really time the market with any degree of
precision, because there are just so many factors to take into account.
“The reaction to major economic or political events,
improvements or declines in consumer and business confidence, interest rate
increases or decreases, crime, employment, supply, demand, migration,
urbanisation and densification vary literally from suburb to suburb, so
consumers should rather set their own purchase agenda and buy when the timing
is right for them.”
Botha says there is naturally some resistance to buying
among those who know they are going to have to move again in a year or two,
“and our advice to such consumers is often that it may be better to use this
time to save a substantial deposit for a home in their new location.
“However, those who are staying put should, we believe, be
buying as soon as they can possibly afford to do so, because overall market
conditions do favour buyers at the moment, in that there is a surplus of stock
for sale and that it is relatively easy to obtain a home loan.
“The banks are currently keen to lend to home buyers, as
evidenced by the fact that we have been able to secure approval for more than
80% of the bond applications we submit for the past six months – and that
almost two-thirds of applications are being converted now into formal bond
grants.
What is more, he notes, BetterBonds’ multiple-bank
submission process ensures that it is able to negotiate the best available
interest rate for every client – and in the process set them up to cut a
substantial amount off the total cost of their home over the life of the
bond.
Issued by etc.
Contact her today for no cost stress-free home-buying.
Anne-Marie Bamber
Home Loans consultant
Tel: +27 (0)21 851 3568 | Fax: +27 (0)21 441 1494 | Cell: +27 (0)82 071 1665
E-mail: anne-marie.bamber@betterlife.co.za
