Property fraud on the rise
South Africa - IolProperty
Property fraud is on the rise and buyers and sellers should be extra vigilant
There are different types of property fraud taking place, says Chris Tyson, CEO of Tyson Properties.
A property owner wanting to sell his property may learn an imposter obtained his signature for what he thought was a bank loan, only to find out that the imposter sold his property to a third party.
Then there i?s the problem of purchasers falsifying documents such as pay slips to secure bond approvals. When this is uncovered and a bond approval is retracted, the sale falls through.
In such instances, costs incurred by sellers, estate agents and conveyancers remain unsettled.
IolProperty
Property buyers value lifestyle over value-growth prospects
South Africa - BetterLife
Location, price and security are generally the "big three" for homebuyers, and that will no doubt continue to be the case, but the definition of what makes a great location appears to be changing, says Shaun Rademeyer of BetterLife Home Loans.
"The focus used to be on potential investment returns, and buyers would scramble to buy in areas which had proved themselves to deliver above-average property value growth, or where prices had continued to rise even when the economy was not doing so well.
"Now, however, lifestyle factors are coming to the fore. Buyers will, for example, target a certain school they wish their children to attend and then buy a home close to that school. Or they will choose to buy in an area close to work so they don't have to spend hours commuting, or perhaps in an area that is close to the beach or has a lively nightlife and so offers them great leisure facilities," he notes.
Buyers value lifestyle
Cut your price and get the jump on other sellers
South Africa - Rawson
Just about everyone knows now what happens when a home for sale is overpriced – but no-one wants to think that it could happen to them.
“However,” says David Jacobs, northern regions manager for the Rawson Property Group, “the latest statistics from FNB would indicate that at least eight out of 10 home sellers are at risk – unless they are brave enough to acknowledge the problem and take quick action to fix it.
“In fact, the FNB Property Barometer figures show that 88% of home sellers currently are having to drop their asking prices in order to get their properties sold, and that the average drop is 7%.”
What is more, he says, the average time taken to sell a property after it has been listed has risen from 78 days earlier last year to 98 days now – which implies that many sellers are currently putting themselves through almost three more weeks of anxiety before finally reaching the inevitable conclusion that they must either drop their price or take their home off the market because it is not attracting offers.
Rawson
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