Assisted sales fuel Midrand market

Julie Davison-White, principal of the Aida Midrand office, reports that banks have been granting bonds of up to 100% to buyers with good credit records when they buy property in these areas, as well as some other parts of Midrand.

“This is not the norm, as most buyers still have to have deposits of at least five or 10%, but many buyers in Clayville and Tembisa have been purchasing via the assisted sales programmes offered by the banks to financially distressed homeowners. Through these programmes, buyers are often able to access 100% bonds as well as a 50% reduction in transfer costs, enabling them to get a foothold in the market much more easily.”

Aida is one of 10 companies countrywide that is assisting distressed sellers for all four major banks, she explains, “and Aida Midrand is proud to have assisted many distressed owners to sell their properties at reasonable prices instead of having them repossessed and having their credit records badly tarnished”.

Such properties, she says, have generally sold very quickly, at prices ranging from R350 000 to R550 000 for freestanding homes in Tembisa and from R550 000 to R700 000 for freehold homes in Clayville.

Meanwhile, says Davison-White, there is also strong demand for lower-priced properties in popular areas such as Vorna Valley, where unit prices average R550 000; Halfway Gardens, where townhouses are priced at between R650 000 and R900 000 and Noordwyk, where houses priced at below R1m “are selling like hotcakes”.

As for freehold homes in higher price brackets, Halfway Gardens is currently one of the most popular areas for buyers targeting suburban homes priced between R1,1m and R2,2m, and clusters costing between R1,4m and R2,5m, and sales are increasing, she says.

“What has declined is the demand for vacant land in Midrand, but developed agricultural smallholdings are still sought-after at prices starting from R1,2m.”

Meanwhile the rental market is very lively and stock has been boosted by softer selling prices. “It has been difficult for owners who bought their properties in the past five years to sell at a profit or even at a price equal to their outstanding bond and many have offered these properties for rental instead.”

Two-bedroom units renting for around R4000 to R4500 a month are in strong demand, Davison-White says, and three-bedroom homes readily draw tenants at rentals of between R5500 and R6500 a month.

“Smaller one-bedroom units at R2500 a month are also sought-after but there is little stock available in this category. Rental properties near the Gautrain station and bus routes are particularly popular now among Tuks students who can commute easily and quickly to the Hatfield university campus, and among professionals who prefer this method of commuting to their Pretoria or Johannesburg offices.”

Tips: 10 Ways to Prepare for a Showing Appointment

An agent left a message on your voice mail. She will be at your home, buyers in tow, in less than forty five minutes. Sound the alarms, all homeowners to battle stations, you are about to encounter a showing appointment!

Oddly enough, buyer showings seem to occur more often than not at the worst possible times. So what do you do when you need to prepare for a showing without a lot of time? Let’s take a look at 10 ways to prepare for a showing:

Mini mop ups

Sweep the kitchen, bathroom, and entry way. If needed, use a cleaning towel or sponge to clean any spots or debris.
Dust the furniture

A quick wipe down of the furniture, TV screens, and computer monitors can help make each room shine.
Clean off counters

All counters should be clean and clear. Remove clutter as well – small appliances, knick knacks, and odds and ends should be stored.
Beds made

All the beds in the home should be made. If your bed spreads are faded, dated, torn, or ripped consider updating them with new covers.
Garbage cans empty

All garbage cans need to be empty. Also wash them out once a week and give them a quick spay of disinfectant to cut down odors.
Carpets vacuumed

Give the carpets a quick once over to fluff them up. Focus your efforts on the entry and living room.
Lights on

A dark home is gloomy. Turn on all the lights in the home, and open drapes and blinds to brighten the home. Also be sure your windows are clean.
Load the dishwasher

Clear the dishes off the counters by loading the dishwasher but don’t start the cycle if it will be running during the showing.
Load the washer and dryer

Clothes should be picked up and either placed in a hamper or loaded into the washer or dryer. Again don’t start the cycle if it will be running during the showing.
Pick up every room

Work backward from the entry point of the home to the furthest bedroom picking up everything up off the floors and counter surfaces.

Thanks to trulia.com for this Article.

Mortgage Rates Drop; Approach New Lows!

As Congress and President Obama hammered out a debt deal over the past week, mortgage rates plunged — hitting new lows in some instances.






The 30-year fixed rate, usually the most popular choice for home buyers, fell to 4.45% from 4.57% last week — its lowest point since last November, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Meanwhile, the rate on the less popular 15-year fixed plunged to a new record low of 3.52%, down from 3.67% a week earlier.

Read the full article here.

Via: cnn.com

It’s never too early to start building a healthy credit record.

That’s the advice of Young Carr, CEO of the Aida property group, who notes: “Most homebuyers need home loans, but what many don’t appreciate is that the process of obtaining this credit actually needs to begin years in advance of the decision to buy property.
“The first thing banks will do on receiving a home loan application is to check on the prospective borrower’s credit history, which means that good management of monthly bills, including any clothing or furniture accounts and credit card payments, is critical even for young people who have no immediate plans to buy a home.”
It is also important for future buyers to open a savings or cheque account in their own name, to keep it balanced and not to overrun credit limits. “And a history of full payment on time for a major purchase, say a car, will be a great recommendation for any mortgage applicant,” he says.
“Getting an early start on building a good credit record in this way also means that if there are any minor misjudgements early in a working career, they will most probably be outweighed by a longer period of good credit management when the time does come to buy a home.”
Carr says it is particularly important for those who are working on their credit records to pay attention to the “due dates” on their bills. “For credit reporting purposes, overdue accounts are usually anything unpaid for longer than 30 days. So if the due date is the 1st of the month, say, the debtor must make sure that his payment will actually reach the creditor on or before the 1st – and inside the 30-day window. The advent of electronic banking has of course made this much easier to manage.”
It is also important for potential borrowers to pay attention to the implications of the National Credit Act, which provides that lenders must ensure, before they grant any new credit, that borrowers will not be committing too much of their income to debt repayment.
“They do this by compiling a complete debt profile including all other repayments the consumer has to make as well as regular monthly expenditure on such items as transport, food and school fees before they can approve a home loan.
“However, it must be said that this is not the only good reason to keep the total of your monthly debt repayment obligations as low as possible. The other is that doing so will also give you plenty of leeway to cope with any future interest rate increases without financial hardship, whether you are a homeowner by then or not.”

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