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The Western Cape’s top hotspots for buying a holiday home
With the summer tourist season now just about in full swing, people from all over the country, along with thousands of foreign visitors will once again descend on the Cape with its beautiful sandy white beaches and array of tourist attractions.

The Cape offers a wide range of options and prices, and with the subdued selling conditions, you may just find a good holiday buy this year. There is a wide choice of areas, property types and prices which range from around R2 million to as much as R200 million for a sea view, say Seeff agents.

Seeff’s agents highlight a few popular areas, and what you can expect to pay:
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Tips for buying a beach house - and a car to go with it
A beach holiday home is the ultimate dream for many people. Naturally, it needs to offer magnificent sea views and carefree living. It needs to be fully equipped too – from a dishwasher to a state-of-the-art entertainment system and a car.

We asked George Mienie, AutoTrader CEO and Peter Cameron, Managing Director of Cameron Owen James Luxury Real Estate and property specialist on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, to give us some practical advice:

What should you consider when buying the perfect beach holiday home?

"Firstly, make sure you spend time there before you make any decision,” says Cameron. "View the home in the morning and in the evening. The wind plays a crucial role in homes by the sea and a lot of people underestimate how the wind affects entertaining on your deck or patio."
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5 tech upgrades that will also boost your home’s value
If you’re going to pull money out of your home loan account or use some of your year-end bonus to make home improvements, a great way to spend it would be on some ‘smart tech’ upgrades.

“Making your home more tech-savvy will definitely boost its value - and your equity - while also improving your security and comfort and having the potential to lower your water and electricity bills,” says Rudi Botha, CEO of bond originator, BetterBond.

“Making use of smart technologies is also relatively inexpensive. For example, many homeowners are now replacing all of their existing light bulbs with various types of smart bulbs that can be remotely controlled via an app on a smartphone or tablet and programmed to give off more or less light, to turn on and off in various parts of your home to simulate occupancy while you’re away, and to turn outside lights on at sunset and off at sunrise.”
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Downsize early and start enjoying your 'golden years'
With their children grown and leaving for university, jobs abroad or homes of their own, an increasing number of people in their 50s and 60s are downsizing from big family homes to smaller, lower-maintenance properties in security complexes - and if this is on the cards for you next year, you may be dreading the thought.

“Even owners who have been planning their move for years can find it extremely difficult to start packing when the time finally arrives to do so, and usually that’s not because they are scared of getting older, but because family homes are associated with so many memories and emotions,” says Rudi Botha, CEO of BetterBond, national bond originator.

“In addition, even when empty nesters can see the financial advantages of downsizing, they often worry that it will also entail a drastic change in lifestyle. And then, of course, there is the hard work of the move itself, especially when it means having to sort through 20 or 30 years’ worth of possessions to decide what to pack and take and what to sell, give away or discard.
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